It's been confirmed - at long last - that from today, Disney will now own Fox's film studios and several other assets in a landmark deal worth $66 billion.

The deal, which will see Disney take control of characters such as Deadpool, X-Men, The Simpsons, and many others as well as brands such as National Geographic and FX. Rupert Murdoch, meanwhile, will retain control over Fox News and its local stations. The sale is made up of $52.4 billion in stock with an additional debt of $13.7 billion, with the Murdoch family gaining approximately 4% stake in Disney.

Meanwhile, Disney say that bringing the likes of X-Men, Deadpool and other Marvel characters under their control will automatically save them approximately $2 billion - and that's not even including the possible billions more that can be made from new films made from Fox's previously-controlled characters and intellectual properties.

However, many analysts believe that there will likely be no movement on any Marvel movies featuring these until at least 2020, if not later, as the deal has to go through regulatory stages and there's the fact that Disney has slated the Marvel Cinematic Universe well into the future.