In the mid-90s, Warner Bros. and Batman producer Jon Peters enlisted Tim Burton for a reboot of the Superman franchise, hoping Burton could do for the Man of Steel what he did for the Dark Knight back in 1989.
After several years in development, the studio opted to pull the plug on what ultimately became one of the most infamous cases of ‘what might have been’ in Hollywood history: Nicolas Cage as Superman, Thanagarian Snare Beasts (a.k.a. a giant spider, later recycled for Wild Wild West), a Lex Luthor/Brainiac combo called Lexiac, and a Superman ‘Regeneration’ suit that would surely have broken the internet.
Sadly, we never got to see this spectacular trainwreck, but during a Facebook Q&A, filmmaker Kevin Smith – who wrote a first draft of the film’s screenplay – has revealed that he’d like to see Warner Bros. producing an animated adaptation of the movie:
“I’m not going to lie, that would be fun to see,” said Smith said. “That’s something I worked on 20 years ago at this point, so that would be really amazing to kind of see them turn it into a cartoon and get the people to do the voices. Nic Cage is still around and stuff. And I wanted Michael Rooker for my Lex Luthor so that would be amazing. You know, I’m game, but that ain’t up to me kids. That’s up to the good folks at Warner Bros. and stuff, but if they were ever to call and say hey we want to do a cartoon version of that Superman script we wrote, believe me I’d be like (melts), that’d be dope man. You know you close all loops in life, one way or another, and that would be a nice way to close that loop.”
SEE ALSO: Nicolas Cage talks Tim Burton’s Superman Lives
If you want to learn more about Superman Lives, then I’d recommend Jon Schnepp’s fascinating documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened?, and you can read my review of the film here.
Would you like to see an animated adaptation of Superman Lives with Nic Cage as the Man of Steel? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below…
Via Comic Book
Originally published November 25, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
