Shareholders of Marvel Entertainment, home of Spider-Man and the Hulk, have approved the company's acquisition by Disney, as expected.

The shareholders voted at a special meeting Thursday morning. The 70-year-old comic-book company says the $4.3 billion acquisition will close at the end of the day.

With the deal, The Walt Disney Co. gets Marvel Entertainment Inc.'s stable of more than 5,000 characters. Most of them are obscure, but several have been the basis for blockbuster movies in recent years.