Summary

• Nicolas Cage's cameo in The Flash is a reference to the canceled Superman Lives movie, in which he was supposed to play the titular role.
• Despite being a CGI-enhanced cameo, Nicolas Cage was actually filmed on set in a Superman suit that was originally made for the unproduced film.
• The appearance of Nicolas Cage's Superman confirms the existence of a version of the character within the DC multiverse.

Nicolas Cage appeared as a surprise Superman cameo in The Flash's third act, leading many to wonder if this appearance had any meaning behind it or if it was simply a random DC cameo from a well-known actor. The Flash took many queues from the popular DC Comics story Flashpoint, in which Barry travels back in time to save his mother's life, inadvertently creating alternate futures and timelines in the DC multiverse. The Flash emulated this, with Barry being taken to an alternate version of the DCEU all while dealing extensively with the multiverse across DC's illustrious film and TV history.

As such, The Flash movie included several DC cameos from modern portrayals like Ben Affleck's Batman and Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman to the divisive CGI recreations of Christopher Reeve, George Reeves, and Helen Slater, as their respective iterations of Superman and Supergirl. One of the other cameos in the film's final act alongside the older DC actors was Nicolas Cage's appearance as Superman. For those unfamiliar with the actor's history with the Man of Steel, here is the explanation as to why Cage made an appearance in The Flash.

Nicolas Cage's The Flash Cameo Is A Reference To An Unmade Superman Movie

Nicolas Cage's appearance in The Flash is actually a reference to the canceled Superman Lives movie from Tim Burton. After the filmmaker's work on Batman and Batman Returns with Michael Keaton's exploration of Bruce Wayne, Burton still found himself lured by the world of DC Comics on film. This led to the director g on to direct Superman Lives, a film based on the popular DC Comics hero and written by Kevin Smith with Nicolas Cage in the titular role.

Despite elements of pre-production, screen tests, and shooting schedules being mapped out for Superman Lives, the script underwent significant rewrites. Eventually, Warner Bros. put the film on hold after failing to nail down a final draft of the script, causing Burton to leave the project in favor of directing Sleepy Hollow. This led to Cage also departing the project, with Warner Bros. struggling to find replacements for both him and Burton. As such, the film was always regarded as the Superman film that never happened, leading to Cage's cameo in The Flash confirming that a version of the character is a reality in some sect of DC's vast multiverse.

What Superman Lives Would've Been About

Despite not making it past the pre-production stage, several details about what Superman Lives would have been about have emerged in the years since the film's cancelation. The film was expected to be heavily inspired by the popular DC Comics storyline The Death of Superman. This storyline has been used as a template for many Superman stories in the past, including in the DCEU with Henry Cavill's Superman. Zack Snyder opted to base the arc of Superman across Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice and Zack Snyder's Justice League on the comic arc, something Superman Lives also intended.

As such, Superman Lives was expected to include three major Superman villains from the comics. Despite undergoing several rewrites, the three villains were to be Lex Luthor, Brainiac, and Doomsday. In the film, Brainiac would have been searching for a way to kill Superman which he did so by blocking out the sun and stripping Clark of his powers before unleashing Doomsday on Metropolis. The various versions of the script included Luthor and Brainiac merging into a single being named Lexiac or Luthiac depending on which script is in question.

Another interesting element of Superman Lives' initial script was a mysterious Kryptonian being known only as K. In the film, K would have revived Superman after his death at the hands of Doomsday. In the film's final act, Clark would have had his powers restored by K, with the being revealed as the remaining life essence of his deceased Kryptonian parents. Superman, with the help of Lois Lane, would then have defeated Lexiax/Luthiac and Doomsday, saving Metropolis and the rest of Earth.

Why Nicolas Cage's Superman Fights A Giant Spider In The Flash Movie

One of the biggest unanswered questions about Nicolas Cage's Superman in The Flash is why he was fighting a giant spider. The scene can come across as somewhat random, given that none of Superman's comic book villains emulate a giant arachnid. The reason for this is also an homage to Superman Lives. When Kevin Smith was writing the film, he reportedly needed to get approval for various plot elements from the film's producer, Jon Peters, who owned the film rights to the character of Superman.

Similarly, Peters had a specific list of requirements for Smith's script for Superman Lives. One of these requirements was that Superman had to fight a giant spider in the film's final act for an unknown reason. Smith complied, including a giant arachnid in the script under the name of Thanagarian Snare Beast. As such, the scene in The Flash is a reference to this original plot point from the canceled script of Superman Lives. The scene shows Cage’s Superman being webbed up by the spider before breaking free using his laser eyes. After a brief grapple, Cage’s Superman burns through the spider’s head before viewing the collision of the multiverse.

How Nicolas Cage's Superman Cameo In The Flash Was Filmed

An interesting exploration regarding Cage's Superman cameo in The Flash is how it was filmed. Most of the big cameos in the film's final act were entire CGI creations, yet Cage's was slightly different despite looking similarly ethereal to the cameos of Reeve, Slater, and Reeves. How exactly Cage's cameo was filmed was divulged by The Flash director Andy Muschietti in an interview with Playlist via The Discourse podcast. Muschietti revealed that, despite the CGI feel to Cage's cameo, the actor was actually filmed on set in a Superman suit:

"We talked to Nicolas, and we decided to shoot him in his suit. And so, we built the suit with the same costume designer that built the suit for the unproduced ‘Superman Lives,’ which is a movie that would have been great, but nobody will see because it wasn’t made."

As revealed by Muschietti, the crew of The Flash included the costume designer who worked on Superman Lives, Colleen Atwood. This allowed Cage to be on set, filming as Superman in the same suit that he never got to officially wear on camera as part of the failed movie. While the scene in The Flash is obviously enhanced with CGI, it is good to know that Cage was still present on set if only for a short while, allowing the Superman that never was to finally appear on-screen in a DC movie.