Warner Bros. barely finished unpacking after its 2022 Discovery merger, and suddenly, the real estate sign is back up… again. Interested buyers include the usual entertainment giants: Paramount, Netflix, and Saudi Arabian investors. And every time the for sale sign goes up, you know what fans ask: “Could Disney buy them?” The dream is to mash Marvel and DC together in a superhero smoothie so sweet, fans would be eating (drinking?) for years to come.
Unfortunately, Disney’s CFO Hugh Johnston shut down that fantasy faster than the Batgirl movie production. During the company’s Q4 2025 earnings call on November 13, he responded to questions about a potential move on Warner Bros. He kept things corporate-friendly and slightly smug (via The Wrap): “We actually feel like we’ve got a great portfolio, and we don’t need to do anything.”
Well, they do own Fox, Lucasfilm, and Pixar. They can barely fit another franchise in the garage.
The question came loaded with concern about an industry full of “companies being broken up” and a potential incoming wave of media mergers. Johnston brushed it aside again: “We actually feel like we’ve got a great portfolio, and we don’t need to do anything.” Yes, he said it twice.
He added that Disney will “let this play out” while they “see how the various moves play out, but we like the hand that we have right now.”
The word on the street says Paramount-Skydance currently leads the bidding war. There’s a reported deadline set for Friday, November 28, meaning executives are likely rewriting offers until the last minute.
Even if Disney keeps its wallet holstered, fans aren’t giving up. The idea of Captain Marvel chilling with Wonder Woman, or Iron Man trading tech tips with Bruce Wayne, is any comic book fan’s dream. The MCU’s been king of the cape crowd since Disney scooped up Marvel in 2009. But suddenly the DCU, now under James Gunn’s direction, looks like it might actually stick the landing. In fact, Superman outperformed all of the other superhero titles this year.
If Disney ever wanted to make a bold move, now would be an interesting time. The MCU’s future doesn’t feel as bulletproof as it once did. Buying DC would flip the genre upside down. But according to Johnston, Disney is pretty happy with its red-and-gold logo collection.
Besides, some Marvel characters are still stuck in awkward licensing situations. Spider-Man is still phoning home from Sony. Hulk is living part-time with Universal. If Disney were to go shopping, rescuing its own characters seems more logical than owning Superman.
For now, Disney says no. But in Hollywood, no doesn’t always mean forever.
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