Nicolas Cage is still scratching his head regarding his surprising appearance as Superman in the DC film, The Flash.

Image of Nicolas Cage alongside the longer-hair '90s Superman.

Nicolas Cage still wonders what the purpose of his cameo in The Flash was after his surprise appearance as the Man of Steel in the struggling DC Extended Universe film

Speaking with Deadline, Cage spoke about the production process for The Flash and how what ended up appearing in the DCEU movie wasn’t what he initially shot, expressing concern with the technology used to portray his version of the Last Son of Krypton.

With his sequence in The Flash heavily enhanced with CGI, Cage found the experience bewildering. “I wasn’t upset, I was just perplexed. I was just like, ‘It wasn’t what I shot,’ and I was worried about it,” Cage said. “Like, ‘Did you just tell me that I was witnessing the destruction of the universe so you could take pictures of me and then animate me?’ Whether it was through CGI or AI, that wasn’t the conversation we had. So I was confused.”

Nicolas Cage reflects on his confusion over his cameo in The Flash and where he draws the line with AI using his likeness.

Cage didn’t delve into what exactly he shot for The Flash, with the sequence included in the theatrical cut seeing his version of Superman battling a gigantic spider in a scene that divided fans.

Though he was confused by the final product, Cage looked at the positives as well. “But I was still happy to look at it. I still wanted to see Colleen Atwood’s suit, which I maintain is a beautiful suit, and 50% of that [character] was my design.

I wanted Superman to have the long, kind of black Samurai hair and a vulnerable feeling — almost no blinking, a stillness in his eyes. And so it was 50/50,” he said. “It was Tim and myself, we had designed something, and it never came to light, so when I saw it moving, I was very happy that Andy Muschietti wanted me to do it.

I did get some satisfaction from seeing the character, but to me, it didn’t look [right]. But then, Superman is an alien. Kal-El is from another planet. So in that way, the CGI kind of looked right, because it’s alien. It doesn’t look real. It doesn’t look like it has a heartbeat. So I can look at it that way and think that it worked.”

Director Andy Muschetti previously revealed that the spider scene involving Cage’s Superman was an inside joke, with the scene being a part of a Hollywood legend about Tim Burton’s canceled film, Superman Lives. Cage also said last summer he wished he had more screen time in The Flash despite being happy to appear in the movie.

The Flash failed to get moviegoers speeding to cinemas, however, with the DCEU blockbuster earning $271.3 million at the international box office against a budget of $220 million.

Despite getting good reviews critically, the movie reportedly lost around $200 million for Warner Bros. as the fleeting DCEU went out with an array of commercial failures in 2023.

Nicolas Cage describes dealing with his work becoming a meme, and his eventual disappointment that more critical discourse didn’t materialize from it.

Cage has since starred in films such as the crime comedy pic, The Retirement Plan, and the black comedy fantasy, Dream Scenario. Among his upcoming projects. In 2023, he also portrayed Dracula in the action comedy horror film, Renfield, which flopped at the box office amid mixed reviews.

The Flash features Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle and Ben Affleck.