20th Century Fox Corp

Luke Skywalker. Princess Leia. Kermit the Frog. Miss Piggy. Spider-Man. The Incredible Hulk. Buzz Lightyear. And now, Indiana Jones.

Together, they represent the defining characters and pop culture childhood memories of millions, if not billions. And in the past decade, they’ve all been snapped up by the Walt Disney Company.

The whip-wielding archeologist became the latest addition to Disney’s stable on Friday, when the company announced it had reached a marketing and distribution agreement with Paramount Pictures to acquire control of all future Indiana Jones films. (Paramount keeps the rights to the four existing Indy movies and “will receive a financial participation on any future films,” the studios said.)

It’s the latest gigantic pop culture acquisition for Disney, which has spent the last decade stockpiling many of the world’s most beloved franchises. First, Disney spent more than $100 million to purchase the Muppets in 2004. Two years later, the company shelled out $7.4 billion for Pixar, home of Toy Story, Monsters Inc., andCars. Marvel Entertainment came next (in 2009, for $4 billion) and then in October 2012, Disney snapped up George Lucas’ company Lucasfilm—and all rights to a little franchise called Star Wars—for $4.06 billion.

Disney’s decades of cultivating its own franchises–via movies, TV shows, its theme parks and of course, incessant merchandising–has given it a viable blueprint as it seeks to make the most of its new purchases. Under Disney’s watch, Marvel has kept a steady stream of blockbuster films in the pipeline, which is also becoming a major television presence on Disney-owned Disney XD (home to several animated series starring Marvel characters) and ABC (where Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.is one of fall’s biggest freshman hits), and recently announced an ambitious new deal with Netflix to create four new Marvel series beginning in 2015. That will be followed by a push into the Disney Parks, with an Iron Man-themed ride planned for Hong Kong Disneyland in 2016.