Nicolas Cage he is a man of many talents. With an Oscar, a SAG Award and a Golden Globe, the actor has appeared in many different genres over the past four decades, which made him the perfect recipient of the Variety Legend & Groundbreaker Award at the Miami Film Festival.

While accepting his award, Cage reflected on the numerous projects he has worked on, even those that never got made. Although it deals with the world of superheroes, it has never been a part of the cinematic universe of superheroes.

“I must be good with Marvel movies because I got my stage name from a Stan Lee character called Luke Cage. What can I do, leave Marvel movies alone. Stan Lee is my surreal father. It gave me a name,” he said when asked about the state of superhero movies today. “I understand the frustration. I understand. But I think there is enough room for everyone. I watch movies like “Tár”. I watch all kinds of arthouse and independent films. I think there is enough space for everyone,” he added.

As for whether he would like to be in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)? His response was immediate: “I don’t need to be in the MCU, I’m Nic Cage.”

In the 1990s, he was to venture further into the world of comics, taking on the title role in Tim Burton’s Superman Lives. However, the film’s shooting was canceled three weeks before it was due to start, even though it had been pre-produced. “To this day,” he said, “I’m not 100 percent sure why.”

“They wanted Renny Harlin to make the movie. I sat with Renny. I did the shoot, the trailer was prepared and we talked. I liked Rennie…” said Cage, who explained that he then thought he wanted to make the film with Tim Burton. “I called Tim and said, ‘Would you do this?’ He said yes. Tim didn’t put me in the movie, I put him. I really liked what he did with Michael [Κίτον] and Batman and I was a big fan.”

He then said that Warner Brothers had lost a lot of money on the movie “The Martians Attack!” (“Mars Attacks”) and therefore did not proceed with the production of the film “Superman Lives”.