Images via YouTube/Marvel

As I write this we’re in the early stages of December 2020 and if you’re with me in California, then there’s a good chance you’re sitting at home because the governor has ordered another COVID-19 lockdown.

2020 has been really hard to get through with COVID-19 shutting down so many businesses and canceling so many events. People have done their best to make things as normal as possible. Businesses that have been fortunate enough to stay open or at least reopen have had to make adjustments in order to accommodate their customers while following CDC guidelines, and many events have gone virtual in order to still take place.

One event that went virtual this year in an attempt to maintain normalcy was the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Honestly, unless you’re a New Yorker and or willing to spend your Thanksgiving in Manhattan to see it live and in person, watching the parade on television is probably one of the few events that many people are used to seeing on television rather than in person.

Normally, I don’t have that much interest in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I used to watch it here and there when I was younger because my dad was into it and also and it was something to do while waiting for the food but as I got older I just lost interest in it and just grew out of watching it. I never thought the Macy’s Day Parade would ever catch my interest again—that was until I saw this article on Cracked.com about these times in the ’80s when Marvel had floats in the parade. After reading the article and watching the videos and seeing how nuts those floats were I knew I had to go over them for my own site.

The first float that Marvel had in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was in 1987, and I’m not talking about just a giant Spider-Man balloon, they had actual float, carrying people dressed as Marvel Superheroes, and those people were not just standing there waving to the audience—they were performing for them.

The whole scenario starts with Dr. Strange using his magic powers to summon Captain America from the pages of an X-Factor comic book, saying that Wolverine needs to be saved from I’m guessing is either Lady Hydra or Polaris and Magneto before going off to confront Dr. Doom. After delivering a few sloppy punches to Doom, Captain America flips a switch that electrocutes Dr. Doom before leaving Power Man to clean up his mess. Cap then climbs up a scaffolding which is supposed to be on the side of Dr. Strange’s Sanctum Sanctorum while Emma Frost shoots streamers at him. He then stops the Hulk from going on a rampage by throwing him into a mini mosh pit made up of Power Man, Dr. Doom, and the Green Goblin. The entire thing is set to the Back to the Future theme song and for some reason also features Robocop.

With Marvel being the highly successful and lucrative entertainment juggernaut that they are today I’m sure many would be surprised at poor quality of the show but honestly you have to remember a few things about this:

1. This was in the ’80s.
2. These guys are performers in a parade. They had to come up with something they could do on a moving parade float in the amount of space they had and they had to be able to do it again and again as they rolled down the street.

The way they used Cap really bugs me. I just couldn’t get over the fact that he wore his shield on his back the entire time. I get it though he needs his shield because it’s part of his character, but they can’t have him swinging it around for fear of losing it or breaking it or worse, accidentally hurting somebody with it, but you would think the choreographers would have figured out how to incorporate it into the fight scene, and honestly the way they’re fighting there’s really no way Cap could accidentally hurt somebody with it unless they were doing shots or smoking something in the float between performances.

The Hulk I’m really surprised they gave him a actual costume instead of just painting a guy green like they did to Lou Ferrigno in the TV show. Sure, it looks like the costume my nephew wore for Halloween one year but it’s still a real costume. I’m guessing this was easier than finding a big buff dude to play a believable Hulk.

Looking at the costumes and performers, I’m pretty sure these guys are some of those costume characters who hang around Times Square and take pictures with tourists or they’re from those entertainment companies you call when you’re looking for a magician or clown for a children’s birthday party. I’m also pretty sure when these guys were hired, Marvel told them they had to provide their own costumes.

After watching the video it’s no surprise that the biggest questions in the YouTube comments are “what the hell is Robocop doing there?” and “why are they using the Back to the Future theme song?”

I’m guessing the Back to the Future theme song was used because it was the most epic song the producer was able to get the rights too, and honestly it actually fits the performance quite well. As for Robocop, I’m assuming this was done to promote the upcoming Robocop cartoon that Marvel Productions made in the ’80s as part of their Marvel Action Universe programming block, or some Marvel executive back then went over a list of properties they had lying around, saw that they had the rights to use Robocop in stuff so they decided to throw him on the float.

In 1989 Marvel made another appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade by bringing out the same float and same characters (or at least the same costumes) but instead of having their characters fight each other again, they decided to put soul singer, Melba Moore on their float to sing “Holding Out for a Hero,” a song made famous by Bonnie Taylor for the 1984 movie Footloose.

For the 1989 float, the performance starts with Melba being caught in the middle of an awkward game of tug of war between Magneto and Green Goblin when Daredevil shows up to break it up while Spider-Man and Captain America jump up and start striking poses while standing around Melba. Melba then looks as if she’s trying to find a way off the insanity that is Marvel’s float while Emma Frost is throwing streamers at her (seriously what is with Emma Frost and throwing streamers?). Dr. Strange and Wolverine guide Melba to a ladder which puts her back where she started before Daredevil and Spiderman lower her down to a section of the float where she can admire Cap’s muscles while the other heroes pose around her.

Watching the video I found it really funny that the hosts, Willard Scott and Deobrah Norville kept mentioning Wonder Woman and saying the city the float is based on is Metropolis despite the fact that those are from the DC Comics Universe and not Marvel. I guess the dialogue writers back in 1989 didn’t have fact checkers.

According to Willard Scott, Marvel’s performance was one of the bigger production numbers of that year’s parade. Honestly, I didn’t think it was that bad. It seemed better than the 1987 float at least. Doing a concert seemed a lot smarter than trying to choreograph and put together another fight scene. The only gripe I have about the 1989 performance is the Silver Surfer.

Just look him with those dead eyes and that menacing glare of teeth as he pretends to hang ten on an imaginary surf board. I’m pretty sure the mask for this costume was made by somebody going down to Party City, grabbing the first skull mask they could find and spray painting it silver. Most people are used to the Surfer being this really bland and featureless face, like a generic drawing of a man you would find in a textbook and not some demon straight out of somebody’s nightmares. But what do you expect? That’s the ’80s for you.