Michael Jackson's Canceled Musical Superhero Movie Sounds Absolutely Wild

One of the odd idiosyncrasies about music pop culture is the unusual frequency with which performers are depicted as superheroes. You may be aware of the many comic book appearances of Kiss or M.C. Hammer's ill-fated cartoon, "Hammerman", but you probably didn't know that Michael Jackson was close to starring in a superhero film called "MidKnight." While details about the project are minimal, this movie would have focused on a young man living in New Orleans (pictured below). During the day, he is meek and unremarkable, but when the clock strikes midnight, he transforms into the titular hero, wielding the powers of song and dance as he protects the innocent from criminals.

This prospective film was in Sony's production pipeline for a release in a window of 1992-1993. Unfortunately, the production was plagued by delays, issues in the writing room, and Jackson's own scandals, which ultimately resulted in the project being scrapped. With Jackson's passing in 2009, it's unlikely "MidKnight" will ever see the light of day again, but it would've been quite the wild film if it had ever been realized.

Rooted in Sony's acquisition of Epic Records, Jackson's music label, in 1989, "MidKnight" would have been an attempt to capitalize on Jackson's international stardom and follow his theatrical appearances in "The Wiz" and "Moonwalker." The project had lined up names such as "Edward Scissorhands" screenwriter Caroline Thompson, "Beetlejuice" writer Larry Wilson, and "Batman" production designer Anton Furst, who was tapped as director. The film made it as far as a completed script and concept art when things began to fall apart.

The first of which came about in 1991 when Furst tragically died, leaving the film without its director. This severely delayed production past its initial planned release date, which was later postponed indefinitely following Jackson's criminal allegations in 1993. It's anyone's guess whether "MidKnight" would've turned out to be a good movie or not, but, for what it's worth, Thompson said in a 2009 interview with Vice that they had considered putting the main character in a face-covering helmet because they didn't think audiences would take Jackson seriously as an actor. Not a great sign.

Among his movie credits, Jackson did appear in films such as "Men in Black II" and "Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls," and he wanted to make a cameo in "Blade 2," but that never happened. The idea of "MidKnight" certainly isn't the strangest source of superhero media, as prominent writers like George R.R. Martin and actors like Michael B. Jordan both produced superhero projects of their own.