"Magneto and Titanium Man" | ||||
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Single by Wings | ||||
from the album Venus and Mars | ||||
A-side | "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" | |||
Released | 1 November 1975 | |||
Format | 7" single | |||
Recorded | January - April 1975 | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 3:16 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Songwriter(s) | Paul McCartney | |||
Producer(s) | Paul McCartney | |||
Wings singles chronology | ||||
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Venus and Mars track listing | ||||
13 tracks
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"Magneto and Titanium Man" is the B-side song to Wings' single "Venus and Mars/Rock Show" in 1975.
The song is in narrative form, and includes the Marvel Comics characters Magneto, Titanium Man and the Crimson Dynamo in its story. When asked his opinion of the song decades after its release, Stan Lee (who co-created all three characters) said he thought it was "terrific".
The song was included in the setlist for the band's 1975/1976 world tours. While it was performed, comic art of Magneto, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and Titanium Man & the Crimson Dynamo, created by Stan Lee and Don Heck, was projected onto the large screen behind the band. The Magneto figure on the backdrop is by George Tuska and John Tartaglione from X-Men #43 (April 1968, on sale February, 1968), the Titanium Man is by George Tuska and Mike Esposito from Iron Man #22 (February 1970, on sale December 1969), and the Crimson Dynamo is by Sal Buscema and Joe Staton from Avengers #130 (December 1974, on sale October 1974). The two BG figures are flopped from their original Comic Book presentation.
McCartney, a Marvel Comics fan and comic book fan in general, met with Kirby on the L.A. leg of the tour, giving him front row seats and back stage passes (his daughter was a big Wings and Beatles fan), and Kirby backstage gave Paul and Linda an original comic drawing he did of them.
The song can be heard coming from a radio, creating an argument, in a scene in the 1976 Mike Leigh play Nuts in May.