Who doesn’t seem to love the Marvel Cinematic Universe nowadays?

We’ve spent over a decade falling in love with the Avengers and now they’re coming to life in their very own theme park land in Disney California Adventure at Disneyland Resort. But, could an Avengers Campus ever come to Disney World? Well, it’s not as straightforward as you might think. Read on!

What is Avengers Campus?

Let’s start with the basics. What is the new Avengers-themed land? Avengers Campus is a whole new area coming to Disney California Adventure on June 4th. It’s themed as a big campus where the Avengers “recruit the next generation of superheroes.” And that means YOU!

The land will feature two attractions when it opens, the existing Guardians of the Galaxy — Mission: BREAKOUT and the new WEB Slingers: A Spider-Man Adventure. In Phase Two of the land, another E-ticket attraction will open where guests will join the Avengers in battle in Wakanda!

The land will also feature four new dining locations — Pym Test Kitchen, Pym Tasting Lab, Shawarma Palace, Terran Treats — plus plenty of character encounters.

That all sounds pretty neat, so why aren’t there already plans for the same thing in Disney World!?

Click here to learn more about Avengers Campus!

You won’t see (most) Avengers in Disney World.

As you might have noticed, the Avengers have been a meet-and-greet fixture at Disneyland Resort for some time now. But, you’d be hard-pressed to find any of the Marvel supers represented in Disney World (with VERY rare exception!). So, why is that?

This is due to the fact that Universal actually owns some of the theme park rights of Marvel. They bought the rights before Disney owned Marvel under the stipulations that they had to use the intellectual properties to keep the rights, and that there were two zones of the country where the rights could apply — east and west of the Mississippi River.

Because Universal had a whole Marvel-themed land in Universal Orlando, they’ve retained rights for any heroes represented in the park east of the Mississippi. Since Universal Hollywood did NOT have any Marvel content represented, Disney now controls the theme park rights west of the Mississippi. Thus, California gets a Disney Marvel land and Florida gets a Universal Marvel land. 

The only way for Disney to control the rights to these supers is if they buy the rights from Universal, which, as far as we know, is not a deal that’s currently on the table or in the works.

Want to learn more about the Marvel rights? Click here!

But you will see SOME Marvel characters in Disney World!

Now, we know what you’re thinking. But we’ve DEFINITELY seen Star-Lord in Disney’s Hollywood Studios? And what about the MAJOR Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind rollercoaster that’s coming to EPCOT!?

Well, as we mentioned, Universal has to USE the rights in order to keep them. They haven’t used a lot of the characters that are now big names in the Marvel Universe. The Guardians of the Galaxy are not represented in Universal Orlando, so they’re exempt and can be used. This is also why Dr. Strange has been a meet and greet in Hollywood Studios in the past!

The exact details of this caveat are private but could this mean we’ll see other unfeatured heroes like Deadpool, Shang-Chi, and The Eternals in Disney World? Maybe!

To learn more about the Guardians of the Galaxy ride, click here!

So, could Avengers Campus come to Disney World?

So, will we see an Avengers Campus come to Disney World. Nope! At least, not the same version that’s coming to Disney California Adventure and/or not for some time. 

One day, Disney may be able to purchase the rights from Universal and have free rein to bring all of the Avengers and Marvel folks that they want to Disney World. Or, Disney could start producing new media based on Marvel comics that AREN’T represented in Universal Orlando and then base a theme park land off of those (cough Shang-Chi and the Seven Rings cough Eternals cough).

Either way, these options could be waaaaaaay far out in the future, or they may not happen at all. Still, we can dream, can’t we? In the meantime, we’ll just have to pop over to Universal for our Avengers fix or enjoy the few Marvel characters we CAN see in Disney World (lookin’ at you, baby robo-Groot!).

Click here to learn more about Avengers Campus!

Would you like the Avengers to come to Disney World? Tell us in the comments!