MUMBAI: The Walt Disney Co. has completed the acquisition of Marvel Entertainment Inc. for a sum of $4.3 billion.

Shareholders of Marvel approved the acquisition, broadening Disney's portfolio that has been appealing strongly with girls more than with boys.

Disney is expected to explore almost all the characters of Marvel Comics but has promised that there would be no "disneyfication" of Marvel's properties.

There are more than 5,000 characters in the Marvel franchise. Spiderman and Iron Man will now join Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Hannah Montana.

The next set of Marvel films to be released are Spiderman 4, Thor, The First Avenger: Captain America and The Avengers.

Marvel's chief executive and 37 per cent stockholder Isaac Perlmutter will continue to oversee Marvel's business after the Disney acquisition.

The acquisition of the 70-year-old Marvel Entertainment is Disney's largest acquisition after it acquired Pixar Animations that made films like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, WALL-E and Up.

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