Much like Stan Lee, the legendary Sir Paul McCartney is one of the most recognizable and prolific writers in the history of his medium. From his time in the Beatles writing music with John Lennon to his wildly successful solo career, McCartney has penned literally hundreds of songs over the years. A songwriter that accomplished takes inspiration from anything and everything, including superhero comics. A song inspired by Marvel supervillains McCartney wrote for his band Wings in the ’70s would lead to a relationship with the creatives at Marvel that almost made McCartney himself a superhero.
Paul McCartney is a lifelong comics fan, in a 1963 interview with NME he joked his life’s ambition was to appear in his favorite childhood cowboy comic, The Dandy. When The Dandy printed its final issue nearly 50 years later in 2012, McCartney finally got his wish, not only being portrayed but leading the cast of characters in a “Hey Jude” sing-a-long. McCartney is also shown reading Superman comics in place of sheet music in the Beatles’ 1965 film, Help! McCartney would eventually share his love of comics with his children, buying a stack of Marvel Comics for them during a stay in Jamaica. Those comics inspired him to write a song, and that song got the attention of the biggest names to ever work at Marvel.
“Magneto and Titanium Man,” from Wings’ 1975 album Venus and Mars, is a story song about the two titular villains and the Crimson Dynamo planning a robbery. The song was on the setlist for Wings’ first world tour, and when Wings played the LA Forum, Sir Paul met backstage with the legendary Jack Kirby. Kirby gifted Sir Paul and his late wife and bandmate Linda with an original sketch of the couple being levitated by Magneto. That night McCartney gave a shout-out to Kirby, the co-creator of Magneto, before performing the song. Images of the villains were projected behind the band alongside paintings by René Magritte and David Hockney. “It’s all art,” remarked McCartney in a Rolling Stone interview. The song also inspired a John Romita sketch of Sir Paul as a bass playing Titanium Man, and led to a meeting with the other creator of the villains from the song, the one and only Stan Lee.
Upon Stan Lee’s passing in 2018, Sir Paul paid his respects online, sharing a story about a meeting the two had where they brainstormed an idea for a Hofner bass wielding superhero. While Sir Paul and Stan Lee’s superhero was never realized, McCartney did inspire a fan favorite Marvel hero with the creation of Rocket Raccoon in 1976. Named after the McCartney penned western folk ballad “Rocky Raccoon” from the Beatles’ White Album, Rocket Raccoon was called “Rocky” in his first appearance and multiple parts of his backstory are direct references to the song. Before the popularity of the Guardians of the Galaxy films, Rocket was also regularly depicted with a British accent, not unlike Sir Paul’s.
It’s fitting that creators from Marvel and a member of the Beatles, two pop-cultural crazes that helped define the shifting attitudes of 1960s Western society, would ultimately find and recognize each other’s brilliance. “Magneto and Titanium Man” is a deep cut, originally released as a B-side, but it sent a message to the creators at Marvel that Paul McCartney was a true fan. What started out as a way for Sir Paul McCartney to entertain himself and his daughters during long recording sessions ended up inspiring a song that would bring Stan Lee and other all-time greats of their respective fields together to share art and mutual appreciation for each other’s work.
Sources: Rolling Stone, Bleeding Cool, Collected Jack Kirby Collector Vol. 1
