I wonder if Spring Street has any idea what they have just let themselves in for?

In fairness, the government had nothing to do with this deal. “This is a matter for the AFL,” a spokesman said on Thursday morning, perhaps sensing the tsunami of mockery that awaited the news.

Also in fairness, Disney didn’t own the X-Men brand in 2014. Fox did. But thanks to its imminent takeover of Fox, that property and a host of others in the Marvel Comics stable (including the Fantastic Four) will soon be back where they belong – in the arms of the biggest entertainment factory the world has ever known.

Disney made $US55 billion in revenue last financial year. Thanks to the staggering success of the latest Avengers movie and Black Panther (both Marvel products), it now has five of the top 10 box office hits of all time (Avatar, the all-time top grosser, is a Fox film – when that deal goes through it, and the four sequels currently in production, will presumably become Disney properties too).

Amazingly, though, movies aren’t even Disney’s biggest earners. The TV networks are, followed by parks and resorts (Disneyworld, Disneyland etc). Merch and spin-off products such as computer games come way down the list, making a measly $US4.83 billion last year.

That category was down 13 per cent year-on-year, and that’s where this stadium deal presumably comes into play. While Disney is paying an undisclosed sum to the AFL (previous naming rights deals have reportedly been worth up to $8 million a year), it isn’t just getting its name up in lights.

It will get to develop a Marvel store inside the stadium, it will have access to the stadium’s electronic signage, and exposure on the TV screens of everyone watching AFL and A-League games played in it on TV, and it will have access to those massive LED screens on which to promote its upcoming product.

“This partnership will allow us to take the stadium atmosphere to the next level and create memorable experiences for a vast array of audiences,” Melbourne Stadiums boss Michael Green said of the deal. “We hope to bring people together, and provide them with a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in the Marvel brand.”

Because clearly, there just isn’t enough opportunity for that in the world already.

Right now in Melbourne, you can sample the Marvel Avengers S.T.A.T.I.O.N. exhibition at Federation Square, an interactive experience that doubles as an inculcation for anyone a little hazy on how the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) works. Or you can go to any multiplex and watch Avengers: Infinity War, or take a Qantas plane to Darwin and watch Black Panther on a drop-down screen.

And soon, you’ll be able to go to the footy and watch the big men fly. Hulk, Thor, Iron Man and the rest.

You might decry this as cultural imperialism at its most avaricious. Or you might take a more sanguine view.

Perhaps this renaming is just the next inevitable stage in the evolution of a place that was conceived as “Victoria Stadium”, born as “Colonial Stadium”, reached toddlerhood as “Telstra Dome”, and spent its tweens as “Eithad Stadium”.