The Role: Superman/Clark Kent Cast Instead: Brandon Routh (Sort Of) Cage is legitimately a Superman nut: he named his child Kal-El, remember, and the revelation that he wasn't going to play Superman must have hit him harder than any of the other near castings on this list. Cage would have been a new Superman, a different Superman, and quite possibly, a weird Superman, since Tim Burton was in charge of the project, and taking into account Kevin Smith's infamous claims about producer meddling and giant spiders. It's safe to say the collapse of the project was a mercy, and even Cage concedes some positive has come out of it:
"Tim is a genius. He's a great artist, and I'm sure he would have done something really magnificent with the story of Superman, and I knew I was going to go towards something quite unique and different than anything you've seen with Superman, but having said that, in a way it was a win-win for me that it didn't work out, because the power of the imagination imagine what that might have been like. That might be even more powerful than the finished product, so I think it worked out."
Eventually Brandon Routh was cast, primarily because of his uncanny resemblance to Christopher Reeve, and Superman Returns came out, sparking outrage so giant it spawned a website called ObsessedWithFilm.com (the famous precursor to WhatCulture.com no less.) Why He Would Have Ruined It... Superman actors need a certain, intangible grace about them to be successful. Christopher Reeve had it, Brandon Routh had a version of it (by virtue of looking exactly the same as Reeve) and Henry Cavill managed it as well, even in a more realistic, understated Superman universe. Cage does not possess that aura. He might be an all-American-feeling action hero to a degree, but it's crucial to remember that Cage cut his teeth with indies, and he's never been better than when he plays slightly fractured indie-friendly characters, with surface-level idiosyncracies, rather than the kind of jaw-grittingly wholesome heroes that Superman would feel at home with. Frankly, we just know too much about Cage for his Superman to have ever worked - he has darkness in him, and audiences would end up waiting for the inevitable explosion of emotional energy or anger that wouldn't fit the character. And that would have ruined the impact of the performance. In short, Cage would have been neither the Superman we wanted, regardless of how entertaining it all might have been, or the one we needed. Do you think Nic Cage would have worked in any of these roles? Share your thoughts below.
