Nicolas Cage Explains Why You Won’t See Him in a Marvel Role
The actor recently opened up about his refusal to join the MCU–and that one time he almost portrayed Superman.
Nicolas Cage may sound like a natural-born superhero name, but the actor says he has no plans to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Cage, 59, confirmed his refusal to join the MCU while making a speech on Sunday night in Florida.
"I don’t need to be in the MCU, I’m Nic Cage," he told the crowd while accepting the Variety Legend & Groundbreaker Award at Miami Film Festival. "I’ve gotta be nice about Marvel movies, because I named myself after a Stan Lee character named Luke Cage. What am I going to do, put Marvel movies down? Stan Lee is my surrealistic father. He named me."
"I understand what the frustration is. I get it. But I think there’s plenty of room for everybody. I’m seeing movies like ‘Tár.’ I’m seeing all kinds of artistic and independently driven movies. I think there’s plenty of room for everybody," Cage shared, adding that he'd rather take part in a horror or drama.
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“My personal favorite is independently spirited family drama, I like movies that take place at home and the struggles we have at home and how we’re trying to either succeed and become better people or succumb to the pressures of the human experience," he continued. "My other favorite genre, I would say would be horror. Some of the most talented artistic people now are making horror films. I think you can do so much. The reason why science fiction and horror is so important to me is that it gave me a format where I could express some of my more surrealistic and abstract dreams with film performance.”
Cage also believes science fiction movies allow creatives a freedom other genres don't. "Everybody is very sensitive right now. If you look at the science fiction format, you put it on a different planet, you put it in the future, what have you, you can pretty much say what you want, because it’s not right now. Oh, I didn’t I didn’t mean that — it was on a planet called Exeter or something. That’s where it happened. I didn’t mean that! You can get your freedom speech mojo on and do what you want."
While Cage isn't completely opposed to working on superhero films, as he's literally credited as the voice of Superman in Teen Titans GO! To The Movies, if his past experience is any clue, they don't always work out as expected, as the projects can be "more challenging" to produce and sell.
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Recalling a time in the '90s when he was set to take on the titular role in Tim Burton's Superman Lives, Cage explained that he was looking forward to portraying the role of an "emo" superman.
“It was more of a 1980s Superman with like, the samurai black long hair. I thought it was gonna be a really different, sort of emo Superman, but we never got there," he said.
"They wanted Renny Harlin to do the movie. I sat down with Renny. I was doing another picture, he came to the trailer and we talked. I liked Renny… but I thought if I’m going to do this, it’s such a bullseye to hit," Cage explained. "I said, this has to be Tim Burton. I called Tim and said, ‘Would you do this?’ Tim didn’t cast me, I cast Tim, and Tim said yes. I loved what he did with Michael [Keaton] and Batman, and I was a big fan."
Cage continued, "I love Mars Attacks. I thought Mars Attacks was just a fantastic, groundbreaking movie. He’s a groundbreaker! But they were scared at the studio because of Mars Attacks. Warner Brothers had lost a lot of money on the movie. These movies that are really weird, that challenge and break ground, they piss a lot of people off. I think they got cold feet. They’d spent a lot of money already building the sets and the costume and what have you. But you never know. I don’t mean to be cryptic Cage, but you never know!"
Unless Warner Bros. or Burton decides to address Cage's recent comments aimed at the decades-old drama, the world may never know why viewers didn't get to see him as Superman when we had the chance.
