Michael Jackson Almost Played Spider-Man Before Tobey Maguire

In an alternate timeline, legendary pop star Michael Jackson would have been the first live-action Spider-Man rather than Tobey Maguire in 2002’s Spider-Man from director Sam Raimi. Had he had his way, the King of Pop would have become Marvel Comics’ premier Webslinger, offering his own take on a live-action Peter Parker which would have likely been as iconic and unique as Jackson himself. While Jackson’s dream of becoming Spider-Man never came to be, it’s possible the MCU and superhero genre as a whole wouldn’t exist had he succeeded as a consequence, so what happened?

According to reports as early as 2012, megastar and noted comic book fan Michael Jackson decided in the ’90s that he wanted to play Spider-Man in a live-action film. This was confirmed by Stan Lee during promotions for Marvel Studios’ first Avengers film, with the legendary Marvel creator revealing that Jackson felt the only way he could convince Marvel to cast him would be to buy the entire company outright. As a result, Jackson took steps to do just that which would have seen him taking Tobey Maguire’s status as the first live-action Spider-Man in a feature film.

Jackson’s intentions were further confirmed in greater detail in a 2020 episode of Popcorned Planet where Michael Jackson’s nephew Taj was interviewed. Jackson was apparently quite serious about purchasing Marvel in his mission to play Spider-Man, a company that at the time was nearing bankruptcy (officially filing in 1996). However, Taj recounts that the negotiations fell through for reasons unknown, even with Michael having support from Stan Lee himself:

“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.“

It’s certainly quite the amusing tangent to wonder what Marvel Comics and any future Marvel films would have looked like had Jackson taken ownership in the ’90s. Going beyond Michael replacing Tobey Maguire as the first live-action Spider-Man, who knows if 1998’s Blade starring Wesley Snipeswould have ever been made or what 2000’s X-Men starring Patrick Stewart and Hugh Jackman might have become. Additionally, a Spider-Man film starring Michael Jackson would have likely been perceived as more of a vanity project for the King of Pop and less of a foundational film that proved the success of live-action superhero films at the box office.

While seeing Michael Jackson as Spider-Man would have been all kinds of entertaining as a one-of-a-kind film experience, it likely would have come at the cost of the MCU as it’s known today. Furthermore, it’s anyone’s guess if Michael Jackson would have been able to save Marvel Comics’ from its bankruptcy (he very well could have made it worse). In any case, it’s just as well that Tobey Maguire was cast as the first live-action Spider-Man in Sony’s 2002 film, setting the stage for the success of the superhero genre for years to come into the present era.

About The Author

Kevin Erdmann
(2513 Articles Published)

Kevin Erdmann is one of Screen Rant’s staff writers. With a major in Cinema Studies and a minor in Comics and Cartoon Studies from the UofO, Kevin is pretty sure he’s writing for the right site. While Kevin is a huge Marvel fan, he also loves Batman because he’s Batman and is a firm believer that Han shot first. Disney also shares a big part of his fan patronage. Kevin lives in Oregon with his wonderful wife and sinister cat who is no doubt currently plotting his demise.

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