If there’s one thing the internet can’t seem to stop obsessing over, it’s the idea of Superman being portrayed on film by the enigmatic actor Nicolas Cage.
And with the upcoming The Flash film purported to take on a multiverse-traversing narrative that will see the likes of Michael Keaton reprising his role as Batman from the 1989 Tim Burton film, some hopeful fans are hoping there’s perhaps a glimmer of a chance we’ll finally get to see Cage don the red-and-blue suit.
There’s good reason for the hype, as Burton himself nearly helmed a Superman reboot after the success of his Batman movies, as a matter of fact. It was even set to star Cage himself for a tentative title Superman Lives. The planned film went through several redrafts with different writers, including Kevin Smith, and even had a release date planned for 1998. However, the project eventually disintegrated.
Though production didn’t go into full swing, self-confessed comic book fan Cage has been photographed for several costume fittings and it seems that Redditors on /r/DC_Cinematic can’t let the idea go. A user shared a picture created by Instagram user 𝐒𝐏𝐃𝐑𝐌𝐍𝐊𝐘𝐗𝐗𝐈𝐈𝐈 and it quickly went viral, getting hundreds of upvotes. You can check out the art below.
We’ll admit, seeing an older, more weathered Superman as portrayed in the illustration certainly does pique our interest at the idea of an in-universe counterpoint to Keaton’s Batman in the upcoming The Flash film. Would you like to see Cage don the red cape one day? Tell us in the comments below.