Throughout his unique career, Nicolas Cage came close to playing several DC and Marvel characters – both heroes and villains. A huge comic book fan, Nicolas Cage was actually inspired by Marvel superhero Luke Cage when choosing his stage name, not to mention the fact that he named his own son, Kal-El, after DC’s most famous hero Superman. Nicolas Cage eventually got to play a few superhero roles, but cinema history could have gone in a different direction with Nicolas Cage in certain Marvel and DC movies.
When it comes to superhero roles Nicolas Cage did play, the first and most memorable mention is Ghost Rider. The Marvel anti-hero, who many now wish to see in the MCU, made his live-action debut in 2007’s Ghost Rider starring Nicolas Cage. Ghost Rider got a sequel in 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, which saw Cage reprising his role as Johnny Blaze. Despite an interesting performance by Nicolas Cage, the Ghost Rider movies, especially Spirit on Vengeance, were received with a lot of criticism. A year before Spirit of Vengeance, Nicolas Cage had played Big Daddy in the movie adaptation of the Kick-Ass comic. Cage also got to voice DC and Marvel heroes, with him voicing Superman in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies and Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
For any other actor, that many superhero roles would have already been a remarkable feat. However, for Cage, those were only a small part of what could have been a much bigger list. Here’s a breakdown of every Marvel and DC character Nicolas Cage almost played and why they did not happen.
Superman In Tim Burton’s Canceled Superman Lives
By far the most well-known unmade Nicolas Cage movie, Superman Lives would have seen Batman director Tim Burton tackling the Man of Steel. Despite not returning for a third Batman movie after clashing with the studio following Batman Returns, Tim Burton came close to teaming up with Warner Bros. once again for a superhero film in Superman Lives, which had a couple of different titles and writers attached to it before it was eventually scrapped. One of the attached writers was Kevin Smith, who rewrote the script after both Wesley Strick and Dan Gilroy had written a loose adaptation of the Death of Superman and Reign of Superman comic book arcs. Kevin Smith was the one who changed the title of the movie from Superman Reborn to Superman Lives, and the studio later closed a deal for Nicolas Cage to star as Superman.
That is when things start to get confusing regarding Superman Lives’ production. Kevin Smith claims to be the one who suggested Tim Burton as the Superman Lives director while Nicolas Cage says he is the one who chose Burton for the project. In fact, during an interview (via Rolling Stone), Nicolas Cage said he “cast Tim Burton” and not the other way around. Also according to Cage, the studio wanted Renny Harlin, but the vision Nicolas Cage had for Kal-El “was more of a Tim Burton-style presentation universe.” Despite being far advanced in pre-production, Superman Lives eventually fell down due to creative differences and budget constraints applied to all Warner Bros. blockbusters, especially superhero-related, following Batman & Robin’s disastrous reception. A Superman Lives screentest was eventually released in 2009, revealing a curious look at what is perhaps the biggest “what if…” in pop culture.
Scarecrow In Joel Schumacher’s Unmade Batman Unchained
While canceled superhero projects will forever be common, the 90s saw a significant number of DC movies being scrapped during different stages of production – and two of them happened to involve Nicolas Cage. In addition to Tim Burton’s Batman 3 and Superman Lives, Warner Bros. also decided not to move forward with a third Joel Schumacher Batman movie after Batman & Robin, which would have featured Nicolas Cage as the Scarecrow. Batman Forever, Joel Schumacher’s first Batman movie, had been an even bigger box office hit than Tim Burton’s Batman and Batman Returns. Therefore, even before Batman & Robin premiered, Warner Bros. was confident that the Batman franchise had found a new course, and thus early talks for a third Joel Schumacher Batman movie had already started.
After the lighthearted and often silly Batman Forever and Batman & Robin, Joel Schumacher wanted to bring back some of the darker elements of Batman’s mythos. The key for that would have been Scarecrow, which Schumacher later revealed he had envisioned as Nicolas Cage, messing with Batman’s fears. Scarecrow’s fear gas would have made Batman hallucinate with the Joker, and the idea was for Jack Nicholson to reprise his role as the Joker in one of those hallucinations. Nicolas Cage and Jack Nicholson sharing the screen in a Batman movie sounded very exciting, but Batman & Robin’s reception made it so that Batman Unchained never got made.
Green Goblin In Spider-Man
After Scarecrow, Nicolas Cage was considered for another scary comic book villain – this time for Marvel. In September 2000, EW reported that Columbia was eyeing Nicolas Cage to play the Green Goblin in the 2002 Spider-Man movie. While Sam Raimi was already attached to direct Spider-Man, the report of Nicolas Cage being considered for the role of Green Goblin came before the final draft for the film. As reported by EW, in addition to Norman Osborn, Columbia was also looking for an actor to play Doctor Octopus, who would have been Spider-Man’s other villain along with the Green Goblin. When reached out by EW on the matter, Stan Lee, who also served as a co-executive producer in Spider-Man, said that Nicolas Cage would be “a great Green Goblin”. Nicolas Cage’s publicist then confirmed that the actor was still in talks for the role, but that Cage’s schedule was packed. Outside of EW’s story in 2000, not much was reported regarding Nicolas Cage in Spider-Man, and the Green Goblin role eventually went to Willem Dafoe.
John Constantine in Constantine
Before Francis Lawrence’s Constantine starring Keanu Reeves hit the theaters in 2005, several different versions of the movie were considered at Warner Bros. One of those versions, which came close to becoming reality, would have been directed by Tarsem Singh, who had recently helmed The Cell (2000). Tarsem Singh was first announced as the Constantine director in January 2001, and in his version of the film, Nicolas Cage would have played John Constantine. However, a year later, Tarsem Singh exited the project, and thus Nicolas Cage’s status in the movie was no longer certain. By the time Francis Lawrence joined the project, Nicolas Cage was no longer part of the project and Keanu Reeves had been cast as John Constantine.
Bizarro in Strange Adventures
In October 2019, a DC anthology series named Strange Adventures was announced to be in the works for HBO Max. The show would have been focused on Adam Strange, who in the comics has the ability to teleport all over the galaxy thanks to the Zeta-beam technology. Strange Adventures would have been produced by Greg Berlanti, and it would have featured many different DC characters. After the Discovery merger and the Batgirl cancellation, Kevin Smith, who was working on the show, revealed that Strange Adventures had also been canceled. Kevin Smith did disclose that the Strange Adventures episode he was working on would have featured Bizarro and that he wanted Nicolas Cage to play the role. After almost playing Superman in Superman Lives, it would have been most fitting for Nicolas Cage to play the Superman clone Bizarro. Unfortunately, that is now just another character on the list of superhero roles Nicolas Cage almost played.