When Wrestling Almost Met Marvel Comics (Seriously)

The crossover appeal. Back in 2008, Iron Man hit movie theaters and became the launching point for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Over the next eleven years, the movie franchise would become one of the biggest of all time, with some of the most financially successful films in history. Everyone wanted a piece of the comic book company action, and it turns out that wrestling almost tied into the idea way before the boom hit.

Superheroes and superhero style characters have been used in wrestling for years. There are more examples than can be asked for, including the Hurricane, Super Piper, that time that Batman came to Memphis (seriously) and Super Cena. The ideas kind of go hand in hand, but back in 2000, WCW wanted to do something in a way that you probably would not have seen coming.

According to Cracked.com, Marvel Comics pitched an idea in 2000 that would have seen WCW wrestlers facing real life versions of Marvel superheroes in wrestling matches. This would have included Wolverine vs. Chris Benoit, Sting vs. Spider-Man and Hulk Hogan vs. the Incredible Hulk. This came around the time that Marvel was releasing a mini comic book with a line of WCW action figures. WCW passed on the offer.

There are some superhero moments in wrestling history. Check out some of the better ones:

Opinion: This is one of those things that you could see in wrestling, but at the same time, what does it say that WCW in 2000 actually turned things down? It was one of the darkest times a wrestling company has every seen and yet WCW was still saying no to something like this. Of course it wouldn’t have worked out all that well, but dang it could have been fun to see WCW try to make this work.

What do you think of the idea? Which combinations would you like to see? Let us know in the comments below.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his- Amazon author page with 30 wrestling books. Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. Thank you for reading!