12 Actors You Didn't Know Almost Played Superheroes

6. Nicolas Cage As Superman

Superhero Movie Casting Spiderman Leonardo DiCaprio
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Riding off the high of his successful Batman films in the '90s, Tim Burton was set to add a Superman installment to the DC Universe he was creating. And the actor tapped to don the cape was none other than Nicolas Cage in a film set to be called Superman Lives. After years in development, with multiple scripts written by the likes of Kevin Smith, Dan Gilroy and many others, the movie was eventually cancelled.

From then on, the failed film became internet urban legend, with leaked photos of a long-haired Nic Cage donning a terribly made Superman costume, as well as a sullen look on his face. In 2015, however, the tale of failure was brought into the spotlight yet again with the documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? The doc explores what exactly went wrong to take this once-promising project off the rails, and why Cage was denied his spot in the DC Universe. But hey, at least he got a second chance at superhero-dom with Ghost Rider?

Contributor
Contributor

Holland Baker is based in New York City, where she is an editor, writer and co-host of Whatever It Takes: A Degrassi Podcast. In her free time, you can find her searching for bodega cats, eating mass amounts of pizza and using humor as a defense mechanism.