Sadly the Michael Jackson zombie will no longer dance it's way across your screen in Plant's vs. Zombies.

Michael Jackson's estate has threatened legal action against PopCap Games over the Dancing Zombie (seen below) because of it's resemblance to the King of Pop.  MTV Multiplayer's Russ Frushtick contacted PopCap and got this response;

"The Estate of Michael Jackson objected to our use of the 'dancing zombie' in PLANTS vs. ZOMBIES based on its view that the zombie too closely resembled Michael Jackson. After receiving this objection, PopCap made a business decision to retire the original 'dancing zombie' and replace it with a different 'dancing zombie' character for future builds of PLANTS vs.ZOMBIES on all platforms. The phase-out and replacement process is underway."

The new replacement will be Disco Zombie (pictured left) and he himself had a statement about working with PopCap;

“Dear Alive Peeples, I am pleazed too join the big brainz at PopCap and can’t wait to meat you all. And yes, I du my own heir.”’

[UPDATE] - Disco Zombie is part of the "Game of the Year Edition" of Plants vs. Zombies.  The Game of the Year Edition in addition to swapping out Dancing Zombie and swapping in Disco Zombie, will bring two other tidbits.  First you get 20 new achievements to unlock. Second is the "Zombatar™!" that allows you to create your own zombies.

I contacted PopCap Games and here's what they had to say on how to upgrade your copy.

"There is an update path… current owners can upgrade for free via the game or website…. Of course, you'll lose the original dancing zombie in the process, which may give some pause…  If they bought the game from PopCap.com, they can just download the current version from the site and it’s an automatic update.  If they bought it from another site, they will have to wait for that site to get the updated version and upload it, but that should just be a matter of time.  If they bought it on CD-ROM from a retail store, we can offer them a download version of the updated game."

So there you go.  Upgrade and loose MJ, but gain a GOTY Edition, or don't upgrade and MJ "lives" forever in you version.