As bizarre as it may sound,Michael Jacksontruly did attempt to purchase Marvel in the 90s. This was previously revealed by the late Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee. Now, Jackson’s nephew Taj, in a new interview, details some of what happened during this odd time, including revealing that Jackson was attempting to do this with Lee.
Taj Jackson recently appeared as a guest onPopcorn Planet. During the interview the subject of Michael Jackson’s attempt to purchaseMarvel, which largely had to do with his fondness for the character Spider-Man, came up. As Jackson tells it, the deal was shut down before it gained any real traction. Here’s what he had to say about it.
“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.”
In the 90s, Marvel was in hot water financially, with thecompany filing for bankruptcyin 1996. Micahel Jackson was also no longer at the top of his game, as he had come under fire for child sexual abuse allegations several years prior. Jackson’s legacy remains complicated, as the 2019 documentaryLeaving Neverlandshed new light on Jackson’s relationships with young boys. It has been rumored that part of what motivated the musician to push for this deal was to get the rights to Spider-Man, as he supposedly wanted to play the character on screen. Taj Jackson also touched on this a bit in the interview.
“Besides Spider-Man, he was a huge Marvel fan. He knew all the characters. So it was not only Spider-Man [he wanted to buy]. But yeah, he probablywanted to be Spider-Man[laughs].”
Ultimately, Sam Raimi went on to direct 2002’sSpider-Man, which was a massive success and saw Tobey Maguire in the role. That also helped bring the Marvel brand into the public consciousness in a huge way. Six years later,Iron Manwould arrive andkickstart the Marvel Cinematic Universeas we know it. Taj Jackson explained that he feels his uncle would have loved what happened with these characters in the pop culture landscape.
“He would be so excited about it. He was such a movie buff in that way that I think he would have thought this is the greatest thing since sliced bread, all these characters coming together.”
Disney stepped in to purchase Marvel in 2009 for $4 billion. Considering that the MCU movies have grossed more than $22 billion combined at the box office, that has proved to be one of the best investments in the history of entertainment. One can’t help but wonder what would have changed in the alternate universe where Michael Jackson purchased Marvel instead. Feel free to check out the full interview over at thePopcorned Planet YouTubechannel.
