Tim Burton brought the Dark Knight back to the big screen in 1989's Batman and later delivered a pitch-perfect sequel with Batman Returns. From there, he planned to do the same for the Man of Steel, casting Nicolas Cage in the ill-fated Superman Lives.
The project fell apart long before cameras could start rolling and Supes remained on the shelf until Superman Returns attempted to recapture the magic of Superman: The Movie (it didn't work and Zack Snyder later rebooted the hero six years later in 2013's Man of Steel).
In the closing moments of The Flash this summer, Cage was finally given the opportunity to suit up as Superman as part of a peculiar CG sequence which saw him do battle with Superman Lives' widely discussed giant spider.
The Flash went through multiple iterations, with the movie originally set to end with Michael Keaton's Batman and Sasha Calle's Supergirl a permanent part of the DCEU (replacing Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill). After shooting his Black Adam cameo, Cavill was added to the movie, only to be taken out when DC Studios got involved.
It's unclear how much input James Gunn had on a project he'd later described as "the greatest superhero movie ever made," but we know he recruited George Clooney and potentially pushed for what was meant to be a series of fan-pleasing Multiversal cameos.
The CG sequence drew a largely negative response, with Cage previously criticising his appearance as Superman. Now, he's doubled down on that, suggesting he was pitched something a lot different to what ended up in the final product.
"You said it perfectly when you said, 'We made an agreement,'" the actor tells Wired. "That is the linchpin to it. There’s an agreement and a mutual understanding and a contract that you’ve gone into knowing both sides and knowing full well what we’re getting into."
"I’m not saying they used AI on the Superman thing. Maybe they did. I don’t know. Maybe it was just CGI, but whatever it was, that’s not what I did on the set," Cage added. "As much as I love [director] Andy [Muschietti] and [sister and film producer] Barbara [Muschietti]—and I do think they’re great—it’s still not what I was told to do on set."
It's troubling to hear that Cage was enlisted to do one thing, only to watch The Flash and see his performance had been taken and transformed into something else entirely. The legendary actor spent years waiting for his chance to play Superman, so we can only imagine how disappointed he was with what the movie delivered.
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