When we think of Spider-Man, we inevitably imagine the face of Tobey Maguire, the first actor to have embodied the superhero on the big screen. However, the spider-man might have been interpreted by Michael Jackson, if the plans of the pop star had materialized.
Michael Jackson dreamed of playing Spider-Man
Imagine a world in which pop star Michael Jackson lent his features to Spider-Man. This is what might have happened if the plans hatched by the King of Pop had come to fruition. Indeed, as reported Screen Rant, Michael Jackson desperately wanted to be the first to play Spider-Man in his big-screen adaptation. Renowned for doing nothing like the others, the singer did not intend to pass the casting within Marvel Studios in order to obtain the role.
No, Michael Jackson saw further: he intended to buy Marvel and thus make his dream of playing Spider-Man a reality. As Taj, the star’s nephew revealed in an episode of Popcorned Planet dating from 2020, it was not just a whim on the part of the artist: “I remember being with my brothers and him meeting with them to talk regarding buying Marvel. He wanted to do this with Stan Lee. They had talked regarding it and discussed it. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, I think they were prevented from doing so.”
Michael Jackson wanted to buy Marvel with Stan Lee
If Michael Jackson firmly believed in his project, it was because he had the support of Stan Lee, whom he met in the 90s. The two businessmen had decided to join forces to buy the Marvel company, suffering at a time of severe financial difficulties. The screenwriter revealed several years following that all the king of pop’s hopes were pinned on him, in vain : “Michael thought I would be the one who might get him the rights to star in a Spider-Man movie. And I told him I mightn’t. I’m not sure if he just wanted to produce it…Or if he wanted to embody the character”.
There is no telling us why Michael Jackson’s takeover plans failed. Nevertheless, the singer died on June 25, 2009, a few months before Disney put the hook on the Marvel company. The exploitation rights of Spider-Man were still held by Sony Pictures, which allowed Tobey Maguire to play the superhero for a trilogy and then Andrew Garfield to lend his features to the spider-man for both movies Amazing Spider-Man. Failing to interpret the superhero, Michael Jackson will be entitled to a biopic which however risks dividing more than one!
