‘The Flash’: Nicolas Cage Comments His Superman Cameo

DC’s latest movie, ‘The Flash,’ was released last month after nine long years of development hell. Although the movie ultimately turned out to be one of the worst box-office failures in the history of this genre, it still got more-or-less decent reviews from fans and more mixed reviews from critics, who praised action sequences and performances but criticized visual effects, and the third act.

Still, the Ezra Miller-starring movie is one of the most unique DC movies to date since it presented itself as some sort of DC’s ‘No Way Home,’ and it featured a ton of cameos, not only from DCEU but from the entire DC Multiverse in general. Although bringing back Christopher Reeve’s Superman via computer-generated imagery sparked controversies, one other Superman that showed up in the movie was Nicolas Cage’s incarnation of the character from a movie that never happened.

Nicolas Cage opens up about his Superman cameo!

Back in the 1990s, Nicolas Cage was attached to play Superman in ‘Superman Lives,’ a project that was ultimately never realized. However, the idea of Cage playing Superman remained present among fans, and ‘The Flash’ tried to use it for the ultimate fan-service cameo when they depicted him as one of the Supermen from an alternate universe. Now, in an interview for USAToday, Cage finally commented on his role in the latest DC movie.

“Well, I was glad I didn’t blink. For me, it was the feeling of being actualized. Even that look for that particular character, finally seeing it on screen, was satisfying. But as I said, it’s quick. If you really wanted to know what I was going do with that character, look at my performance in ‘City of Angels.’

I was supposed [to play] Clark Kent after that [in ‘Superman Lives’], and I was already developing this alien otherness playing this angel. That is a perfect example of the tonality you would’ve gotten for Kal-El and for Clark Kent; Clark would’ve been a little more amusing but Kal-El [had] the sensitivity and the goodness and the vulnerability and all those feelings that were kind of angelic and also terrifying.”

Nicolas Cage for USAToday

The first ever cinematic Superman was portrayed by Christopher Reeve in the original Superman franchise back in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1996, ‘Batman’ and ‘Batman Returns’ director Tim Burton was attached to direct ‘Superman Lives’ with Cage set to play the titular character, while Sandra Bullock was expected to play Lois Lane, and Christopher Walken was rumored to play Brainiac.

The movie was ultimately canceled in 1998, and the story about that unproduced movie was told in the 2015 documentary called ‘The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened?’

In 2006, Brandon Routh portrayed Superman in ‘Superman Returns,’ a movie set in the same continuity as Reeve’s ‘Superman’ franchise. A sequel with Routh was canceled, and Henry Cavill was cast to play the new Superman in Zack Snyder’s ‘Man of Steel.’ The rest is history.

Ezra Miller-starring movie ‘The Flash’ was initially announced in 2014. However, with many changes in screenwriters and courses of the franchise, the movie was in development hell until Andy Muschietti was hired to direct a movie from a screenplay written by Christina Hodson, who previously wrote ‘Birds of Prey’ and ‘Bumblebee.’

‘The Flash’ stars Ezra Miller, Sasha Calle, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú, Kiersey Clemons, Antje Traue, and Michael Keaton. Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, and Jason Momoa (post-credit scene) reprise their roles as their respective DCEU characters. ‘The Flash’ is now available for digital purchase, but it’s unknown when it’s going to be streaming on Max, aka HBOMax, in some regions.

What are your thoughts on Nicolas Cage’s Superman cameo in ‘The Flash’? Let us know in the comments.

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