With The Flash set to hit the theatres on June 16, 2023, Nicolas Cage’s Superman will make a cameo with some mind-bending multiversal action. Veteran Superman comic lovers are in for some great surprises by the veteran actor.
What Was The Story of Superman Lives?
The storyline for this exciting project did not reach completion as it was still in the construction stages when the project was scrapped. However, the outline of the movie was surrounded around the destruction of Krypton by the villain Brainiac which would warrant Kal-El’s return to Earth. The story was to jump to the modern day where Kal-El falls for Lois Lane and protects the city from petty crimes. Moreover, Brainiac and Lex Luthor join forces to become Lexiac and devise a plan to kill the Man of Steel.
Lexiac would create Doomsday to fight Superman which ends up killing both of them and his body is found at the Fortress of Solitude. Superman is brought back to life after constant nursing and Krypton’s K force. After coming back to life, Superman would return to Earth to fight Lexiac with the help of Lois and finish them. And the movie would end up with Lois revealing her pregnancy.
Why Was Nicolas Cage’s Superman Lives Cancelled?
That’s right, Nicolas Cage is set to make a grand entry in The Flash movie reviving his role as Kal-El/Superman. In 1996, Warner Bros. Studio employed a team of writers and directors to go ahead with the movie called Superman: Lives. Director Tim Burton was set to direct the movie and Kevin Smith was hired to write the screenplay. Nicolas Cage was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood at that time and he was picked to play the lead role of Superman. However, the movie never got to see the light of day as Warner Bros. cancelled the project citing budget reasons.
Director Tim Burton was very excited to work with Nicolas Cage and bring Superman Lives to realisation as it was a fresh concept. In 2015, Jon Schnepp released a trailer for the Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? which talked about all that went behind the scenes for making the project a reality. We see Tim Burton, Dan Gilroy, Wesley Slick, Michael Anthony Jackson, and more who were part of the project talk about how much they were looking forward to working on the movie.
The documentary revealed the idea behind Superman Lives and why it was cancelled. During the 90s superhero movies were not really doing so well at the box office. But the team behind this project were keen on making some unique. Kevin Smith said,
“Superman Lives was meant to be kind of like, let’s kickstart Superman again in a little bit more earnest way.”
While watching Nicolas Cage in a full-fledged Superman movie might be a pipe dream, Andy Muschietti made sure that we will get to see a glimpse of Kal-El. The director revealed that Cage will make a cameo in The Flash as Kal-El, 25 years after the movie was cancelled. In an interview with Esquire Middle East, Muschietti revealed that Cage was “absolutely wonderful” to work with.
“I dreamt all my life to work with him. I hope I can work with him again soon,”
