Did you know Michael Jackson almost bought Marvel so he could play Spiderman?

Obsessed with superheroes, the late King of Pop also wanted to play the role of Professor X

It's difficult to imagine anyone other than Hugh Jackman even playing Wolverine or Daniel Radcliffe playing Harry Potter in the first place, let alone doing a better job than them.

But what if we told you that aside from Toby Maguire, your friendly neighbour Spiderman could've been essayed by the late King of Pop, Michael Jackson? We know it sounds crazy but it turns out that the singer was desperate to be in Spider-Man and X-Men, according to Ladbible.

During his life, Jackson was labelled the real-life incarnation of Peter Pan, as his mind continued to be stuck in his childhood. But according to Marvel legend Stan Lee, he had a particular liking towards the web-slinging super hero. This was in the 1990s, well before Maguire took on the role.

According to Telegraph, whilst speaking at the 2009 Comic-Con in San Diego, Lee had said, "Michael thought I'd be the one who could get him the rights to make a Spider-Man film and I told him I couldn't. He would have to go to the Marvel company."

Back then, Marvel was struggling financially but Jackson was genuinely interested in buying the comic book company. However, he knew simply owning it wouldn't get him the part.

To achieve that, he would also have to be the director, reported Movie Pilot. Eventually, Jackson was unable to secure the rights to Marvel and his dream of swinging through New York City vanished.

Lee told Moviefone, "I think he'd have been very good but I must say that Toby Maguire was wonderful. It would have been totally different of course, but maybe not as successful. Michael was not a great businessman."

However, this wasn't the Billie Jean hit maker's only attempt at foraying into the superhero world. According to X-Men screenwriter, David Hayter, Jackson also tried to get one of the biggest roles in the franchise: Professor X.

"I was brought on as they were casting so I was lucky enough to be there for some of the people who came in, like Terence Stamp for Xavier and Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey for Storm," Hayter recalled. "Michael Jackson came in because he wanted to play Professor X. It was amazing!"

One of Jackson's most notable credits in the film industry was in Men in Black II, where he appeared on screen for a couple of seconds as Agent M.

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