The Flash featured a surprise cameo appearance of Nicolas Cage as Superman during the multiverse sequence near the end. A lot of fans were delighted by the brief moment as it gave us the wish fulfillment of an infamous Superman project in the '90s that was never made.
In case you're not familiar, Cage was attached to play the Man of Steel in an unmade movie project in the '90s titled Superman Lives that was supposedly directed by Tim Burton, written by Kevin Smith, and produced by Jon Peters.
Smith himself has also told the story many times on various occasions and it has become one of the most popular stories amongst the fandom and a documentary was even made about the making of the project.
Now that the film has made that project turn into a reality even for just a small capacity, the famed writer-director has shared his reaction to the Superman Lives reference.
Kevin Smith Reacts to the 'Mind-Melting' Nicolas Cage's Superman Cameo in The Flash
In an interview with Rolling Stone, Smith opened up about his reaction to Cage's cameo as Superman in The Flash where he called it "mind-melting" and admitted that it gave him an insight that the project could have worked after all.
"I got to go to the premiere the other day, and then I watched it again last night here at the movie theater I own, SModcastle Cinemas. I’m watching it again Friday and Saturday at the movie theater with audiences. It’s mind-melting," he said.
"One of the first things I thought when I saw it at the premiere is, 'Goddammit, it would have worked.' As much as I used to make fun of Jon Peters, that looked badass. He wasn’t wrong. Like, it totally could have panned out."
Smith recalled the story again regarding how Cage ended up being cast to play Superman as Peters was eager to have Sean Penn play the role.
"Jon Peters was like, 'I want Sean Penn to play Superman.' He had just seen Dead Man Walking, and he goes, 'Look at his eyes in that movie. He’s got the eyes of a violent animal, a caged killer.' And I was like, 'Bro, it’s Superman!'" he shared.
"So he’s like, 'Who do you see?' I always loved Nic Cage, so I was like, 'Nic Cage loves Superman. He talks about knowing the comics real well. You guys should go after Nic Cage.'"
Despite arguing with Peters during the development of the film and his opposition to the idea of Superman fighting a giant spider, Smith was still happy to see it come to life and he is delighted that he was able to witness it after all these years.
"And so when Tim Burton got hired, and suddenly they were going with Nic Cage, I was like, 'Wow, I had an idea and somebody took it seriously.' So there’s some sense of weird closure to everything In seeing that moment in The Flash," he added.
"And I feel like both Peters and I, who couldn’t be more different from one another, but are two people that are incredibly satisfied by seeing that moment he finally got his giant spider fighting Superman. And I finally got to see Nic Cage be Superman. It has been an absolute delight for me."
Whether the '90s project should have really happened in the end or not, it is still satisfying for plenty of fans to see the hypothetical scenario of Cage as Superman come to life and it became a good easter egg during the sequence.
As we can see in Smith's comments, he was really happy that the idea eventually happened even for just a brief amount of time and his infamous story has now become part of the DC cinematic canon.
Also Read: The Flash Producer Addresses Ezra Miller's Rumored Recasting
The Flash is still showing in theaters everywhere. You can check more details about it here.
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