Superman and Batman are about to team up with someone you never expected: actor Nicolas Cage. Rolling Stone reports that Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #19, set to ship in September, will sport a variant cover by artist Dan Mora in which the dark knight and the man of steel meet the Oscar-winning actor, who has adopted his own superhero persona and joined the duo in the Batcave.
The suit worn by Nicolas Cage on the cover is an amalgamation of Superman and Batman’s, though the man of steel’s costume is clearly the main inspiration for the look.
Cage’s appearance on the cover is a fun nod to a few aspects of the actor’s life. For one, Cage is a well-known Superman fan, having named his son ‘Kal-El’ and having been the owner of a copy of Action Comics #1 for a number of years before selling his copy for over $2 million. Cage was also set to play Superman on the big screen in the Tim Burton-directed Superman Lives, a project that sat in development hell for years before ultimately being scrapped. Still images and test footage of a long-haired Cage in various Superman suits have been floating around the internet for decades, and interviews with Burton and Kevin Smith, who wrote an unused screenplay for the film, have only stoked fan interest in what might have been.
The variant cover for the series is the latest by Mora to feature Batman and Superman meeting a celebrity. The first issue of the title saw the two team with comedian Jerry Seinfeld in a supercharged version of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee, while a variant cover to World’s Finest #10 had Superman, Batman, and other members of their respective families singing Christmas-themed karaoke with Paul McCartney.
Look for Nicolas Cage to grace the cover of Batman/Superman: World’s Finest #19 in September.
