Disney fans are still talking about Star Wars Land and all the other new attractions that Disney announced at its D23 Expo in Anaheim this month. But there was one word that local theme park fans had hoped to hear at the event that was barely mentioned at all.

Marvel.

Sure, a representative of the iconic comic book studio that Disney now owns talked a lot about their upcoming movies. Disney even shared a clip from the upcoming Iron Man Experience ride that’s coming to Hong Kong Disneyland. And Marvel’s own Stan Lee even made a surprising appearance at the Disney Parks and Resorts presentation, earning what might have been the loudest and most enthusiastic standing ovation of the weekend.

But when it comes to Marvel in Disney’s U.S. theme parks? Even Wolverine would have had a hard time hearing that news.

The only mention of a Marvel attraction at Disneyland was buried within the news release for the Star Wars Launch Bay exhibition that is taking over part of the old Innoventions building in Tomorrowland.

That release noted that the rest of the Innoventions building would become a “reimagined Super Hero HQ, featuring opportunities to meet and take photos with super heroes like Captain America and Thor, as well as experience the returning Iron Man Tech Presented by Stark Industries.”

In other words, later this year we’re getting more of the same Marvel stuff that Disney’s been putting into Innoventions for years. Where’s the love?

Ultimately, this is a “First World” problem for Disney. It owns so many wildly popular franchises that even its level of success doesn’t give the company the time or space to develop attractions for all of them. If it did, we’d all be queuing up for “Anna & Elsa’s Star Wars Adventure with Captain Jack and the Avengers” next spring.

But why has Marvel slipped to the back of the queue? Two reasons.

First, while Disney owns the rights to do what it pleases with Marvel in Disneyland, the company does not own those rights at its other theme parks. In Orlando and Japan, Universal owns the theme park rights to the Marvel characters, thanks to a deal signed in the 1990s, long before Disney bought Marvel.

Among Disney fans online, speculation about that Marvel deal has inspired more comments than there are cat videos on YouTube. But fans don’t need to speculate. If they can read legalese, fans can see the contract for themselves online, on the federal Securities and Exchange Commission website.

Universal Orlando owns the rights in perpetuity. Marvel must give reasonable approval for new attractions, and no other theme park in the area can use any characters in the character families depicted in Universal Orlando. That means no Avengers, X-Men or Spider-Man at Walt Disney World.

And that tips any decision on which franchise to develop in Star Wars’ favor. Disney can spread the development cost of new Star Wars attractions across both resorts. With Marvel, Disney can recoup its investment only from the smaller Disneyland Resort.

Fans might remember that Universal Studios Hollywood once had the Marvel characters, too, but Universal gave up the rights to those characters on the West Coast when it chose not to develop a major attraction based upon them and pay an option fee. A few years after that, Disney bought Marvel, leading Universal managers and fans to wonder what if Universal had paid that option and locked out Disneyland from using the Marvel characters, too.

The second reason is demographics. People think about Disney appealing to children, but it’s really their parents, ultimately, who make the decisions and spend the money. And today’s parents – people in their 30s and 40s – are the “Star Wars” generation. Marvel has stronger appeal among teens and those in their early 20s, but Disney is betting that the new “Star Wars” movies will help turn those younger viewers into fans, too.

Even with a new, 5,000-space parking garage, Disneyland will barely have the space to accommodate all of the expected new crowds coming to see Star Wars Land when it opens. There’s no way that Disneyland could accommodate a major new Marvel attraction, as well.

With a revitalized “Star Wars” franchise appealing to fans across multiple generations (Disney hopes), Disneyland doesn’t need to add Marvel to Star Wars Land to appeal to younger visitors. After all, there’s no point in pouring more water into an already full cup.

Robert Niles is the founder and editor of ThemeParkInsider.com.