Spoilers: This article contains spoilers for The Flash
Nicolas Cage in The Flash? The Ezra Miller-led film is so full of cameos and callbacks to other iconic films it will satisfy every hardcore DC fan. The trailers and teasers already revealed that Michael Keaton will reprise his role as Batman in the movie. However, he isn’t the only dark knight in the film. Ben Affleck reprises his role for a short while, and in the end, George Clooney’s hero too steps in, albeit sans the bat suit.
In this barrage of Batmen, there are quite some supermen as well. The trailers already revealed that Henry Cavill’s Superman appears, albeit faceless. Then there’s the highly polarizing Christopher Reeve cameo in the end. However, the one that shocked everyone was Nicolas Cage. The actor was set to star in the canceled 1980s Superman Lives film. So what changed?
Why Was Nicolas Cage And Tim Burton’s Superman Lives Canceled?
For years, hardcore DC fans have known about the existence of Nicolas Cage’s Superman. Behind-the-scenes costume fittings footage got leaked years back, and they show the actor having long hair while putting on a plasticky-looking blue Superman suit. However, the 1998 film, which was titled Superman Lives, never saw the light of day.
It got shelved even though Tim Burton was helming it after he made the hit Batman and Batman Returns. In a Variety interview, Cage explained what went wrong. He said his Superman movie was shelved because Burton’s 1996 movie Mars Attacks tanked at the box office. The film raked in only $101 million on a $80 million budget.
The actor said:
“They wanted [director] Renny Harlin to do the movie. But I thought, if I’m going to do this, it’s such a bullseye to hit … I said, this has to be Tim Burton. I called Tim and said, ‘Would you do this?’ and Tim said yes. These movies (like Mars Attack) that are really weird, that challenge and break ground; they p*ss a lot of people off. I think they got cold feet.”
The actor also talked about his Superman and explained that his Kal-El would have been different from anything we have ever seen till now.
Nicolas Cage Talked About His Version Of Superman In The Canceled Film
Nicolas Cage has always been a huge Superman fan. He even named his son Kal-El after Superman’s actual name. The Ghostrider actor talked about what his version of Superman would have been like. He said:
“It was more of a 1980s Superman with, like, the samurai black long hair … sort of emo Superman, but we never got there.”
Tim Burton also talked about the film and said in an interview with Howard Stern in 2019 that he wanted to give Superman the depth he deserved. He said:
“That was the one character that was never really portrayed with any depth… I thought for the first time, with Nic, you could see a guy who you could see the change [from Clark Kent to Superman].”
While that film isn’t going to get made ever, seeing Superman Nic Cage fighting a huge spider for a few seconds in The Flash probably gave closure to many.
The Flash is now in theaters.
Source: Variety
