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DC’s latest superhero flick The Flash saw plenty of cameos, but one that got the crowd cheering was Nicolas Cage as Superman. Some folks were likely stunned to see the Face/Off actor as the last son of Krypton – and fighting a spider no less – but believe it or not, Cage was meant to play Superman at one point. It never happened, but if it had, it would’ve been a national treasure.
In 1998, Tim Burton wanted to make his own Superman movie with Cage in the lead role. The movie, titled Superman Lives, didn’t make it past pre-production and Cage never got to play a DC hero.
“They wanted [director] Renny Harlin to do the movie,” said Cage (via Variety). “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?’ Tim didn’t cast me, I cast Tim, and Tim said yes. I loved what he did with Michael [Keaton] and Batman, and I was a big fan.”
Written by Kevin Smith and produced by Jon Peters, Superman Lives featured the titular hero fighting Lex Luthor, Brainiac and Doomsday. Smith specifically wanted to add a giant spider into the script and Peters wanted to adapt the Death of Superman comic. So what did they do? Combine both concepts together.
In Superman Lives, Brainiac comes to Earth and teams up with Lex Luthor to block out the sun. Doomsday is then unleashed to wreak havoc. Since the sun is blocked, Superman becomes weaker and Doomsday succeeds in killing him. In other words, Brainiac is the giant spider.
Unfortunately, the movie was axed because Burton’s 1996 movie Mars Attacks was not a box office hit.
“They were scared at the studio because of Mars Attacks. Warner Bros. had lost a lot of money on the movie. These movies that are really weird, that challenge and break ground, they piss a lot of people off. I think they got cold feet,” continued Cage.
A Polaroid photo of Cage in an unfinished version of the hero’s iconic red and blue costume was also leaked and fans at the time were not convinced that the actor could play Clark Kent. Thankfully, the actor still got a shot at being Superman years down the road when he voiced the character in Teen Titans Go! To The Movies animated movie.
New life may not be breathed into Superman Lives, but at least we got this brief cameo in The Flash.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.
Natalie
