We all know Uproxx’s perennial source of fascination Nic Cage is a fan of comic books. He even owned a copy of Action Comics #1 that was stolen. Now we’re learning that the guy who based his stage name on Luke Cage is not much of a comic book fan these days. He dropped the news to Metro, and he also spoke about something he rarely mentions in interviews: that time he almost played Superman in Tim Burton’s Superman Lives.

“Look, the truth is I’m not obsessed with comics. I don’t read comics as a 49-year-old man. Not that there’s anything wrong with that but I have other interests that are more in tune with where I’m at right now. But I’m loyal and I will never forget the impressions that comics gave me as a child.” […] Pictures of you dressed as Superman for Tim Burton’s aborted movie surfaced online. How close did you come to making the film? Very close. Look, I’m not going to be one of these guys that’s going to be, like, lamenting things. But is Tim Burton one of my favorite directors? Yes. Did I see some of the drawings of where he wanted to go? Yes. And I will tell you, they were fantastic and it would have been a mind-blowing experience. Did I have a concept of how to play the character? Yes, and I can tell you it would have been gutsy. So maybe Warner Brothers got scared because they had two artists that weren’t afraid to take chances. [Metro]

We don’t know why they’d be trepidatious about throwing millions of dollars and a huge franchise behind a gutsy version of Superman by Nic Cage and Tim Burton…

Nope. Nothing to worry about at all.

(H/T: Bleeding Cool and IFC)