Spiderman Leaves Hasbro, Marvel In the Lurch

Beyond the movie, the big dollars for superheroes -- especially for Marvel (MVL) and Hasbro (HAS) -- are sales of licensed toys. If Bank of America analyst Michael Savner is right, Spidy may not be the superhero either company had hoped for.

While sell-in to the retail channel of Spiderman toys was strong, landing a big one-time payment of $70 million for licensee Marvel -- Savner, who has a neutral rating on Hasbro -- says his contacts "at a major big box retailer reveal Spider-Man 3 toys sales are not showing the magnitude of sales increases that were anticipated.

"Further, NPD toy sales data corroborates our checks, as many SM3 SKUs fall in the action figure category..." Such a slowdown, he says, "could impact future results" of Hasbro. And, by implication, Marvel, especially as it negotiates future contracts for the next wave of toy deals. After all, if Spidy's web can't lure kids, who can?