Nicolas Cage reveals why his samurai version of Superman was axed

Fans of DC Comics are in for a delightful surprise when they watch The Flash on the big screen, as they get to witness Nicolas Cage's cameo as Superman fighting an enormous extraterrestrial spider.

His cameo in The Flash finally made Cage Superman after his samurai version of the superhero for the unproduced 1998 film, titled Superman Lives, got cancelled. 

Cage spoke to Variety about his experience with the ill-fated Superman Lives, stating, “it was more of a 1980s Superman with, like, the samurai black long hair … sort of emo Superman, but we never got there.”

“They wanted [director] Renny Harlin to do the movie,” he continued. “But I thought if I’m going to do this, it’s such a bullseye to hit … I said, this has to be Tim Burton. I called Tim and said, ‘Would you do this?’ and Tim said yes.”

Cage also mentioned that his Superman never saw the light of day, primarily because Tim Burton's 1996 movie Mars Attacks failed to do well at the box office.

“These movies that are really weird, that challenge and break ground, they piss a lot of people off. I think they got cold feet.”

Director Tim Burton also got candid about the cancellation of Superman Lives in a 2019 interview with Howard Stern, saying, “that was the one character that was never really portrayed with any depth… I thought for the first time, with Nic, you could see a guy who you could see the change [from Clark Kent to Superman].”