A little over a year ago, Disney bought Marvel for $4bn (�2.5bn), a move that has been extremely contentious for both fans of the Mouse and has introduced some level of uncertainty for the fans of the spandex wearing heroes and heroines in the Marvel cannon. There were questions about what this would mean for the films in the pipeline, as well as the theme park attractions that have been, in the case of The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman, dazzling people at Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Florida and Universal Studios Japan. There has also been some trepidation for what this might mean in Disney�s 11 theme parks around the globe. Not to mention the legions of comic book fans who worry about the darkness of the medium becoming more juvenile in form.

So far in the public domain there has been some talk of new films and the synergy of marketing has worked its way into the Disney retail experiences in the US, Europe and Asia. However, at the same time, there has been little mention of live experience entertainment featuring the Marvel Characters. Other than the licence agreeing that the existing Marvel/Universal attractions would remain, there were few signs of visitor attraction life until Madame Tussauds announced their new exhibit in March 2010, which opened on 2 June 2010.

The jury is still out on what this means for the future of Marvel at Disney operated attractions, however this licensed experience is a lot of fun for fans visiting the museum here in the UK. It is not the first time there have been Disney links with Madame Tussauds, last year saw the addition of Hannah Montana and High School Musical exhibits as well as the Tinker Bell added in November 2008 to celebrate the release of her debut movie on DVD. The synergy always seemed a little different as Merlin Entertainment (owners of Madame Tussauds) is the second largest theme park operator after Disney, hence the surprise of such a partnership, then again Lego has had a long presence in Downtown Disney, and Merlin has stuck ground on a new Legoland park in Florida opening in 2011.