Here’s a cool bit of Marvel Comics trivia I didn’t know until today! Long before Disney swooped in to purchase Marvel in 2009, Michael Jackson and Stan Lee teamed up to try and buy it!
Apparently Michael Jackson was a huge Spider-Man fan. He was such a big fan that he actually wanted to make a Spider-Man movie and take on the lead role for himself.
Stan Lee has said in the past that Jackson approached him about acquiring the rights to Spider-Man, but when Lee told Jackson he would have talk to Marvel about it, the story goes that Jackson considered buying Marvel outright!
Popcorned Planet recently spoke with Jackson’s nephew Taj, and he confirmed the story that Jackson actually did enter into a legitimate attempt to purchase Marvel Comics! He says that Jackson had specifically mentioned the plan to him, but obviously, nothing ever came of it. Taj said:
“It was Marvel and I remember that. I remember being with my brothers and him talking about purchasing Marvel. He wanted to do that with Stan Lee. They had been talking and discussing that. Unfortunately that didn’t happen, I think they were shut down from doing that. I don’t know the reasons why but they were adamantly in the process of doing that.”
Wow! It makes you wonder what Marvel would be like today if Jackson and Lee actually managed to close the purchase! I can’t help but think the future of Marvel would have been much much different. I’m kinda glad that things didn’t work out, but at the same time, I’m curious to know what that alternate Marvel future would have been like. It would have also been cool if Stan Lee ended up back as one of the owners.
Also, now I can’t get that image of Michael Jackson as Spider-Man out of my head! That would have been one hell of a weird and crazy movie!