disaster avoided

**Chris Moss Acid** · September 23, 2009

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I was always intrigued by the notion of Nicolas Cage as Superman. It seemed insane, but possibly brilliant, especially in a time before the craptastic fare that Cage has busied himself with recently. But man, if the above image is legit, we dodged the biggest bullet ever. Tim Burton JP revealed the above stunner, which is supposed to be one of Cage's costume tests for the production. It looks one teeny tiny degree away from rubber nipples. So much for my visions of Cage in stretchy cotton!

As IGN outlined, the Warner Bros. production of Superman Lives was gearing up back in the late '90s, with Cage playing Supes, and Tim Burton directing from a screenplay by Kevin Smith (that was rewritten by Wesley Strick). But the budget was expanding out of control, and after concept art and costumes were designed, the project was scrapped (Hallelujah!) and ultimately reworked into the less-than-stellar Superman Returns many years later.

I love the Burton, but he really would've rivaled Joel Schumacher for ridiculous superhero costumes if this made it to the big screen. Could this possibly be real? Could you have stomached Superman donning a cape and faux-muscled body suit?

http://www.cinematical.com/2009/09/22/crisis-averted-a-look-at-nicholas-cages-superman/