With Disney’s acquisition of Marvel Comics, it was only a matter of time before they started to incorporate their new superhero IP into Disney parks, but even though official announcements have been made to that affect, this is the first time we’ve seen a concrete announcement of changes promising an actual Marvel themed park extension.
Unfortunately for the majority of our audience, it’s not going to be anywhere near them.
Yesterday, Hong Kong official John Tsang Chun-wah announced that while the city might have the smallest Disney park in the world, that wouldn’t keep them from being the first to offer Marvel-themed attractions. Disneyland Hong Kong is majority owned by the city government of Hong Kong, so this was all part of an announcement about the annual budget.
According to local press accounts, the Marvel-themed area will be completed by 2017. Decisions will be made within the next few months about the one or two characters that will be introduced as the core of that extension.
At least two of those characters are likely to be Iron Man and Spider-Man. Both The Amazing Spider-Man and The Avengers made it into the top 10 highest grossing foreign films in China last year, and Iron Man 3 is highly anticipated.
Back in the U.S., we’ll just have to patiently wait a little longer. After all, if we really need a fix of a Hulk-themed roller coaster, we’ve had one for almost fifteen years.
(via The Hollywood Reporter.)
