Washington: The Walt Disney Co. announced on Monday it has agreed to buy Marvel Entertainment Inc., whose stable of characters includes “Spider-Man”, “Iron Man” and the “X-Men”, in a stock and cash deal valued at $4 billion.

“We believe that adding Marvel to Disney’s unique portfolio of brands provides significant opportunities for long-term growth and value creation,” Disney president and chief executive Robert Iger said. “We are pleased to bring this talent and these great assets to Disney.”

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“Disney is the perfect home for Marvel’s fantastic library of characters given its proven ability to expand content creation and licensing businesses,” said Marvel chief executive Ike Perlmutter.

“This is an unparalleled opportunity for Marvel to build upon its vibrant brand and character properties by accessing Disney’s tremendous global organization and infrastructure around the world,” he added.

Besides “Spider-Man”, “Iron Man” and the “X-Men”, Marvel’s cast of 5,000 characters also includes “Captain America”, “the Fantastic Four” and “Thor”.

In a statement, Disney and Marvel said Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own.

It said that based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately 4$ billion.