Hasbro is welcoming such luminaries as Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, X-Men and Captain America into its stable of action characters. The toy marketer just secured a new, five-year deal with Marvel
Entertainment for the rights to use Marvel's 5,000 characters for toys, board games, and puzzles in return for guaranteed royalty payments of $205 million. The first toys are scheduled to reach the
market Jan. 1, 2007. To cut the deal, Marvel canceled its licensing agreement with Toy Biz Worldwide Ltd. on Dec. 31, a year earlier than scheduled. It will book a cash charge of $13 million to $16
million in the fourth quarter of 2005 to cover expenses associated with the early termination of the Toy Biz deal.
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