Carmelo Anthony Almost Ended Up in the Marvel Universe — Here’s What Happened

Spider-Man, Captain America, Carmelo Anthony? During an interview on the hit YouTube series Hot Ones this week, retired NBA star Carmelo Anthony revealed that years ago, late Marvel creator Stan Lee met with him to talk about an idea he had to bring the then-Denver Nuggets rookie into the Marvel universe.

Anthony was making an appearance on Hot Ones to plug his new podcast, 7PM in Brooklyn, with The Kid Mero.

After diving into hot sauce No. 5, host Sean Evans asked Anthony if there was any truth to him having a conversation with Lee about a new superhero character that would’ve been designed around Anthony’s basketball prowess. Apparently, it was going to be a “DVD comic where [Anthony] plays basketball by day and fights crime by night.”

Anthony seemed genuinely surprised that Evans knew the story. “You did some research, man,” Anthony said. “People don’t know that.” He then told Evans that the conversation happened at Lee’s office circa 2003-2004.

“He was like, ‘I wanna make you a character,’” Anthony said. “He created an actual comic book.” Anthony then said that he has no idea where that comic book is today. That’s a helluva thing to misplace if you ask us!

Anthony was humble about referring to the comic character Lee was planning on creating for him as part of the “Marvel” canon, but if Lee was creating it, that’s exactly what it would’ve been. Imagine Anthony dunking basketballs on Thanos’ head as part of The Avengers!

Watch the entire Hot Ones episode with Carmelo Anthony below. The superhero conversation begins at the 8:10 mark.