Courthouse News reports that Walt Disney Co. announced today that it would buy Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion, giving Disney ownership of a huge stable of comic book characters, including Spiderman, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, the Silver Surfer and others.

The stock-and-cash deal is valued at about $50 per Marvel share - $30 a share plus just under 0.75 Disney shares for each Marvel share - a 29 percent premium on Marvel stock.