If you have not seen Andy Muschietti’s superhero extravaganza The Flash, starring Ezra Miller as the time-stopping/time-hopping superhero, you might want to stop reading now because we’re about to spoil one of its major cameos.
Toward the end of the film, Barry Allen/The Flash uses Speed Force to travel back in time, giving us a glimpse of numerous DC multiverses. In one, we’re treated to Superman, played by Nicolas Cage, squaring off against a giant spider. This Cage-as-Superman sequence is a nod to a story filmmaker Kevin Smith has amused audiences with for years on the talk circuit. Here it goes: In 1996, the man behind Clerks wrote a fun Superman screenplay that caught the attention of producer Jon Peters (famously embodied by Bradley Cooper in Licorice Pizza). Smith met with Peters at his palatial Los Angeles home, where the sketchy fella who co-produced Tim Burton’s Batman told the up-and-coming moviemaker he wanted to make his Superman, with a few caveats: Superman could not fly, he could not wear the suit, and the third act had to have him battling a giant spider.
Tim Burton eventually signed on as director and, at the suggestion of Smith, cast Nicolas Cage as the Man of Steel. Then, the project fell apart. The entire experience is documented in the late Jon Schnepp’s 2015 documentary Superman Lives: What Happened?
Smith recently spoke with Rolling Stone’s Brian Hiatt all about the Cage-as-Superman cameo in The Flash, saying, “What I think about it is, you know, in a weird way, even though I’ve been making films for 30 years, and I got my own career, I feel like, ‘Oh, I finally made it.’”
In honor of Nicolas Cage’s big cameo as Superman in The Flash, DC Comics and artist Dan Mora have joined forces for a new comic book cover to the upcoming issue Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #19 featuring Cage as Superman on the cover. Other covers in the Batman/Superman: World’s Finest series will include Jerry Seinfeld, Paul McCartney, and Jack White.
“I grew up watching Nic Cage’s movies and am a big fan his. I was excited that he finally got a chance to play Superman in The Flash and I did my best to pay tribute to him in that role,” Mora tells Rolling Stone, adding, “Nic is a great actor that injects so much energy into his roles. You can’t help but imagine what his Superman would be like.”
Cage is also a huge Superman fan in real life. He named his son Kal-El (the birth name of Superman), and owned a copy of Action Comics #1, featuring the first appearance of Superman, which sold at auction in 2011 for over $2.1 million.
The issue of Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #19, written by Mark Waid with art by Travis Moore, officially drops on September 19, 2023. But you can check out the cover exclusively right here at Rolling Stone:
Nicolas Cage as Superman on the cover of ‘Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #19.’
Dan Mora/DC Comics