The lifelong and typically bizarre intertwining of Nicolas Cage and comic books
Comic books and superheroes have become bigger business than ever in 21st century cinema, but Nicolas Cage has been shaped by splash pages and costumed crimefighters since his very earliest days.
His evolution from part of the sprawling Coppola dynasty into an eccentric and esoteric Academy Award-winning purveyor of on-screen absurdity has been well-documented, without even mentioning his detour into blockbuster leading man territory and his time spent as the most famous slumming B-tier journeyman in Hollywood.
Along every single step of the way, though, comic books have always been there. Whether it’s personally or professionally, Cage has always returned to his favoured form of media for influence, inspiration, and acting gigs, ensuring that his lifelong adoration has never been too far away from his decision-making.
Of course, that went without saying from the very beginning when he was partially inspired to change his nepo-tastic name in the first place, with Marvel’s Harlem-dwelling hero Luke Cage. In another ironic twist, the makeup team were forced to cover up his tattoo of Johnny Blaze when he played the character in both Ghost Rider and its sequel Spirit of Vengeance.
His performance in Kick-Ass was inspired by Adam West in the kitschy classic Batman series of the 1960s. He got to play an alternate universe version of Spider-Man in the Oscar-winning animation Into the Spider-Verse, and he’ll be reprising that role in a live-action TV series. And yet, there’s always been one superhero he’s loved more than any others, not that it needs pointing out.
On a performative level, Cage came agonisingly close to portraying the ‘Man of Steel’ in Tim Burton’s Superman Lives, but he did at least get to suit up and embody the Kryptonian in The Flash. However, he wasn’t exactly best pleased at being turned into a dead-eyed artificial-looking monstrosity, admitting to Yahoo that what he did on set wasn’t quite what unfolded on-screen.
“First and foremost, I was on set,” he explained, before confirming he had no idea what was going to end up in the movie. “When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider. I did not do that. That was not what I did.” By that point, though, he’d already realised his dream of being Superman by making a voice cameo in the animated Teen Titans Go! To the Movies.
This is also the same guy who named his son Kal-El, spent an estimated $150,000 purchasing the very first appearance of Superman in 1938’s first issue of Action Comics, before it was stolen in the year 2000. It was eventually discovered more than a decade later when it was auctioned off for over $2million after he’d described it as an “heirloom,” and there were once plans to turn Cage’s involvement in a real-life comic book heist into a movie that ultimately didn’t come to fruition.
Befitting his self-styled ‘Nouveau Shamanic’ approach to acting, he even co-created the limited series comic Voodoo Child alongside his son Weston in 2007. Where Cage goes, comic books tend to follow, and in a fashion befitting his reputation, it’s rarely taken the obvious or straightforward route.
