Will Marvel and Pixar be teaming up to make superhero-based shorts before Marvel films?

Might we be seeing a Pixar/Marvel team-up for reals in the next few years?

Awhile back, Disney bought Marvel, and O, how the geeks of the world did tremble. The fanboys of the world were concerned that we'd suddenly be seeing a bunch of Disney-fied Marvel movies, that Captain America might be soon singing to a whistling blue-bird on his shoulder while fighting the Red Skull. Marvel's been adamant that the tone and quality of their films wouldn't change post-sale, but still the suspicion remains. Now the rumor's hit that Disney/Marvel is planning on making a series of ten-minute superhero shorts to air before their big superhero-based blockbusters, and we're wondering if that might not open the door to some Pixar/Marvel team-up's (the world of comics loves team-up's, after all). Keep on reading for the speculation, my gentle Examiner readers...

First of all, let's make sure that we're all on the same page here: Marvel has been purchased by Disney (this happened awhile back-- where you been?), and right now the company hasn't confirmed anything... but the rumors are hitting a fever pitch. So, while a lot of what's going around is speculation, this is educated speculation, and that's the best kind of internet chicanery there is. Late this weekend Lation Review started running the following rumor:

Marvel/Disney are looking at doing 10 minute short films in front of their feature-length movies that will introduce secondary characters like Black Panther, Luke Cage, Dr. Strange, etc."

If you've seen a Pixar film over the past decade, then you know what this "short films" business is all about. You'll also be familiar with this practice if you're part of the generation prior to mine (I'm in my late 20's), where shorts that aired before major films were commonplace. So, Marvel/Disney are thinking of introducing some of their "not quite good enough for a full feature-film" characters in short-film form, huh? Sounds like a great idea to me. If the alternative is a 110-minute film based entirely on Luke Cage, I'm definitely going to support the idea of a series of shorts.

But wouldn't this be the obvious starting point for a Marvel/Pixar mash-up? Back when the Marvel/Disney partnership was announced, there were plenty of rumors and whisperings that this might be the business deal that ultimately resulted in an Ant-Man movie (you'll recall that Pixar was briefly attached, but for now the film's thankfully gone back to Edgar Wright). If you're going to make a ten-minute short film about Dr. Strange, who better to imagine the psychedelia and shenanigans of that character's world than Pixar? Or what about Swamp Thing? Oh, he's a DC character? Well, let's campaign for a Pixar/Swamp Thing movie, anyway: that sounds awesome. Or what about a Spiderman short from Pixar? That'd be a good way to get some of those second-tier villains introduced to the masses, right? Marvel could kind of audition to see which villains audiences respond to without investing $100m to bring them to life.

That, right there, is the very reason that Marvel/Disney are considering this live-action short stuff in the first place: it's cheaper to produce something on a much smaller scale and trot it out before audiences to see if they like it. Who knows? Audiences might really respond to a Luke Cage film, and if the response is good enough, that short might get developed into a feature. Letting Pixar tackle some of these characters-- particularly the ones that would require a lot of CGI to bring to life-- seems like the obvious next step in this process. Don't you guys agree? Sound off in the comments section below, folks: we wanna know what you think about all this!

That's all we've got for you for now, folks, but stay tuned for more as it becomes available. In the meantime, we've got all manner of funny videos, news, reviews, interviews, recaps, funny pictures, and more to keep you entertained all summer long, so hit the "Subscribe" button up top to get all of it delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge, the moment it's published. Why, if that wasn't enough, we've also got some other recent Comedy Examiner articles for you to look over while you're here:

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