While his career playing Nicolas Cage loves the Man of Steel so much that he named one of his children after the Man of Tomorrow. When it comes to comic book characters, Cage has portrayed a handful of different roles, including Ghost Rider, animated and live-action versions of Spider-Man Noir, and Big Daddy in Kick-Ass. However, he's technically played two different versions of Superman, speaking to his love of the iconic DC hero.
Unfortunately, Nicolas Cage was incredibly close to playing Superman in the 90s with his very own movie. However, he's since been the voice of Superman in animation and technically played the Man of Steel in live-action at the end of the DCEU. That said, the biggest proof of Nicolas Cage's love for Superman comes from the fact that he named his second child after the Kryptonian hero.
Nicolas Cage Almost Played Superman In The 90s
Tim Burton's Superman Lives
Intended to be directed by Tim Burton with a script by Kevin Smith, the 90s nearly saw the release of Superman Lives with Nicolas Cage in the titular role. Despite the film going into pre-production and Warner Bros. spending nearly 30 million on the project, the movie was put on hold and eventually canceled following the departures of Burton and Cage. Kevin Smith was already gone by this time, having been replaced when Burton was attached to the project.
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Nevertheless, it was confirmed in the documentary The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened? that production did go as far as costume fittings for Nicolas Cage, additional casting, and even some set production. However, the primary reason for the movie's collapse was the numerous and often odd demands from producer Jon Peters. Some of the strangest demands included Peters not wanting Superman to fly, wanting Lex Luthor to have a robot dog for toy sales, and very much wanting the Man of Steel to fight a giant robotic spider.
In The 2000s, Nicolas Cage Named His Son After Superman
Kal-El Coppola Cage
Despite Superman Lives never seeing the light of day, Nicolas Cage remained a major fan of the Man of Steel. This was very much proven with the birth of his second child in 2005, whom he named Kal-El after Superman's original name from Krypton. Originally wanting to name his son Kyle, Cage's wife at the time reportedly wanted something more exotic, hence the change to Kal-El. Likewise, Cage shared his full reasoning for the name in an interview with Starpulse.com:
"My wife wanted a unique name and originally I thought of the name Kyle and then she said, 'No, something more unusual but beautiful.' Then I ed the old Superman comics and Kal-El was his original name on Krypton. So I wanted a name that stood for something good, was unique and American and that's all three. I just thought it was a beautiful name and it had kind of a magical ring to it."
Kal-El Coppola Cage is quite an impressive full name. Likewise, it's fun to point out that in 2018's animated film Teen Titans Go! to the Movies, Nicolas Cage was cast to voice Superman. However, Kal-El Cage was cast alongside his father, ironically voicing a young Bruce Wayne in a small role.
Nicolas Cage's Superman Dreams Finally Came True In 2023
A Brief (And Controversial) Superman Cameo in The Flash
Ultimately, Nicolas Cage did get his chance to play Superman in live-action...in 2023's The Flash. As seen at the end of the widely panned DCEU movie, Cage was shown as the Superman he would have played in the 90s, long hair and all. Shown witnessing the collapse of universes, Cage's Superman also fights a giant robotic spider (a nod to the demands of Jon Peters). However, the entire sequence is almost entirely CGI. Likewise, Cage himself would later confirm the sequence was not what was filmed when he was on set, acknowledging Tim Burton's frustrations over The Flash cameo in an interview with Yahoo! Entertainment:
"When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider. I did not do that. That was not what I did. I don’t think it was [created by] AI. I know Tim is upset about AI, as I am. It was CGI, OK, so that they could de-age me, and I’m fighting a spider. I didn’t do any of that, so I don’t know what happened there. … But I get where Tim’s coming from. I know what he means. I would be very unhappy if people were taking my art … and appropriating them. I get it. I mean, I’m with him in that regard. AI is a nightmare to me. It’s inhumane. You can’t get more inhumane than artificial intelligence."
Clearly, the final cut of The Flash cameo was not the best way to honor Cage's history with Superman. Perhaps one day Superman Lives can live again, either as a comic or in animation as has been suggested by Kevin Smith. At any rate, it's pretty cool to see just how big of a Superman fan Nicolas Cage is of the character despite it all, having named one of his children after one of the most iconic superheroes of all time.
The Death of "Superman Lives": What Happened?
- Release Date
- May 1, 2015
- Runtime
- 105 minutes
- Director
- Jon Schnepp
- Producers
- Robert Pierce
Cast
Jon SchneppSelf
Self (archive footage)
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Jon Peters
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