Nicolas Cage’s Original The Flash Cameo Description Makes His CGI Superman Scene Even Worse

Nicolas Cage’s Original The Flash Cameo Description Makes His CGI Superman Scene Even Worse

When discussing his brief cameo in The Flash, Nicolas Cage recently revealed that the original plan for the scene was much more interesting than the version in the final movie. Cage had originally been slated to play the Man of Steel back in the ’90s in a film directed by Tim Burton before his cameo in the DCEU. The Flash could have given Cage a chance to show off his version of Superman, if only for a few seconds. However, the movie opted to replace Cage’s original performance with the eventual CGI version in The Flash.

Now, instead of the scene Cage actually shot, audiences were treated to a CGI recreation of Cage’s Superman fighting a giant spider. The spider is a reference to a behind-the-scenes story about the eventual downfall of Burton’s Superman Lives. Not only was it a strange choice to reference a story that many moviegoers probably haven’t heard of, it also hampered the overall impact of unveiling Cage’s version of the Man of Steel on the big screen.

Nicolas Cage’s Original The Flash Cameo Description Makes His CGI Superman Scene Even Worse

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Nicolas Cage’s Description Of The Flash’s Original Cameo Is Way More Interesting

In an interview about the cameo with Yahoo! Entertainment, Nicolas Cage detailed the plans for a much more interesting original scene. In that version, Cage’s Superman would be standing in an alternate dimension and witnessing the end of the universe. Cage describes that it gave him the chance to convey a lot of powerful emotions and really flex his acting ability, and revealed that he was a little surprised when he went to the theater and saw a CGI version of himself fighting a giant spider.

The original scene that Cage describes sounds a lot more somber and contemplative than the version in The Flash. This would have tied more thematically into what is happening in the movie at the time, since Flash is also being forced to witness death and destruction that he can’t stop. Conversely, Superman fighting the giant spider is not thematically appropriate for a moment that is about dealing with loss. While it may have provoked a few laughs, it wasn’t nearly as poignant as the scene Cage described.

Why The Final Nicolas Cage Cameo In The Flash Is So Different

Nicolas Cage as Superman in The Flash

The theatrical version of Nicolas Cage’s The Flash cameo is a reference to an old story that Kevin Smith told about working on Superman Lives. The Clerks director explained that one of the film’s producers had three strict guidelines for the movie: Superman couldn’t fly, he couldn’t wear his signature outfit, and he had to fight a giant spider in the end. Smith’s Superman Lives anecdote is relatively well-known among hardcore superhero fans, so the film was likely trying to give them a neat Easter egg.

Unfortunately, a reference to a decades-old story isn’t really as interesting as a scene that actually fits the themes of The Flash. Because this story is less well known now, several years down the line, it is also likely many of the younger viewers in the audience were simply confused about why Nic Cage showed up just to fight a big spider. As such, the original version of Nicolas Cage’s Superman cameo appears to have been preferable in a lot of ways for The Flash, especially in terms of emotional resonance.

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