Every Nicolas Cage Superhero Role Including Spider-Noir, Ranked Worst to Best

Nicolas Cage is one of Hollywood’s most unpredictable and genuinely fascinating performers. He can easily switch between subtle, dramatic acting and completely unhinged, larger-than-life performances. He has a unique relationship with superhero roles, being a fan of certain Marvel and DC characters for a long time. He has been open about his love for comic books, mentioning that he “grew up reading the monsters, like Ghost Rider and the Incredible Hulk” (via ET).

While there have been many superhero roles that he missed out on, there are many where he handled the material skillfully. In his latest superhero outing, Spider-Noir, he was exceptional as Ben Reilly, aka The Spider. Here are all the superhero roles of Nicolas Cage, ranked from worst to best.

8 Superman in Superman Lives (Unreleased)

Of all the entries on this list, ranking an unreleased film feels most peculiar. Yet Superman Lives demands acknowledgment. Directed by Tim Burton and scripted by Kevin Smith in the late 1990s, the project collapsed before cameras ever rolled on a finished product. What remains is the stuff of Hollywood legend.

The eccentric costume tests and bizarre production demands for robot spiders didn’t sound promising at all. The 2015 documentary The Death of “Superman Lives”: What Happened? explored the project’s tragic demise. Interestingly, Cage, a lifelong Superman devotee who literally named his son Kal-El, poured genuine love into this doomed role.

7 Superman in The Flash (2023)

The idea of Nicolas Cage finally appearing as Superman on the big screen should have been a triumphant moment. Instead, it became a cautionary tale in how not to handle such legacy cameos. Cage performed the motion capture himself in The Flash, yet whatever he actually delivered was buried beneath CGI so unrecognizable that he publicly expressed dismay at the final result.

He shared with Yahoo! Entertainment, “When I went to the picture, it was me fighting a giant spider. I did not do that. That was not what I did.” While the robot spider callback, referencing Superman Lives, was clever in concept, the Cage cameo remains one of the worst mistakes committed by this poorly-made multiverse movie.

6 Dr. Bill Tenma in Astro Boy (2009)

Strictly speaking, Dr. Bill Tenma is not a superhero himself in this movie. Astro Boy featured Cage’s voice as the grief-stricken creator behind the film’s titular robot hero, making him absolutely central to the story’s emotional core. Cage connected with the character’s sadness, sharing, “The sadness of the story is exactly what drew me to ‘Astro Boy.’ I can’t help but feel for him especially when his father rejects him” (via LA Times).

In the movie, Tenma loses his biological son and builds a robotic replacement, only to reject that creation for failing to be an exact replica of the child he mourned. It is a restrained and poignant performance that was quite unusual for Cage.

5 Superman in Teen Titans GO! To The Movies (2018)

After decades of near misses and frustrating almosts, Nicolas Cage finally voiced Superman in an actual released production. And the result was genuinely charming. His role in Teen Titans GO! To the Movies is admittedly small, but it carries delightful meta-weight.

Cage’s Superman appears in the scene where Justice League members criticize Teen Titans for their childish behavior and bring up why they do not have a feature-length film to prove their legitimacy. Cage clearly enjoyed the absurdity of finally inhabiting his dream character, even in this unconventional context.

4 Big Daddy in Kick-Ass (2010)

Nicolas Cage’s Big Daddy is unintentionally hilarious despite the character’s dark past and very serious motives. Damon Macready is the masked vigilante Big Daddy in Kick-Ass, who trains his preteen daughter to wage war on organized crime. His role comes across as a parody of Adam West’s classic Batman.

In the role, Cage gives every scene an unhinged, unpredictable energy. Cage’s performance is funny mostly, but he also lends the character surprising emotional weight. Despite limited screen time, Big Daddy became the film’s most iconic presence.

3 Ghost Rider in Ghost Rider (2007) & Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)

Few superhero roles in Hollywood history were pursued with the fanboy ferocity that Nicolas Cage brought to Ghost Rider. A lifelong fan of the Marvel character, Cage was determined to honor Johnny Blaze’s tortured spirit in both Ghost Rider (2007) and its sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011). He went so far as to wear Ghost Rider contacts on set to fully inhabit the role.

Both movies suffer from tonal inconsistency and narrative weakness. However, we appreciate Cage’s sheer commitment to the role that elevates every scene he occupies. He transforms what could have been a forgettable genre product into something memorably unhinged. Even flawed, these movies have a cult appeal just for Cage’s turn as the flaming anti-hero.

2 Spider-Man Noir in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

When Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse promised to bring variants of the web-crawler, we were excited to see what the movie had to offer. Satisfying our expectations, the movie introduced a brooding, black-and-white Spider-Man detective from a 1930s noir universe. Nicolas Cage voiced this character called Spider-Man Noir and turned a supporting role into one of animation’s most beloved characters.

His performance perfectly balanced hard-boiled gravitas and deadpan absurdity. In a film overflowing with spectacular, award-winning craft, Spider-Man Noir still manages to steal the screen. It announced a character the world immediately wanted to see more of. It may have paved the way for his role in the live-action show eight years later. He is reprising the role in the upcoming animated sequel, Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse.

1 Ben Reilly/The Spider in Spider-Noir (2026)

In Spider-Noir, Nicolas Cage plays Ben Reilly, aka The Spider, in 1930s New York, set in an alternate Marvel Noir universe. Cage’s new show has already won over critics, with FandomWire’s Joshua Ryan rating the series a solid 8 in our review of Spider-Noir. With Nicolas Cage at its helm, a noir-themed setting, and an authentic black & white watch option, Prime Video nailed this Spider-Man spinoff show.

During his interview with Esquire, Cage described the role’s inspiration as 70% Humphrey Bogart and 30% Bugs Bunny. The role demands both physical commitment and the kind of wildly eccentric emotional range that few actors can pull off convincingly. Cage does impressions, squirms through interrogations, and delivers genuine dramatic weight.

Nicolas Cage’s Character	Movies
Ben Reilly/The Spider	Spider-Noir (2026)
Spider-Man Noir	Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Ghost Rider	Ghost Rider (2007) & Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011)
Big Daddy	Kick-Ass (2010)
Superman	Teen Titans GO! To The Movies (2018)
Dr. Bill Tenma	Astro Boy (2009)
Superman	The Flash (2023)
Superman	Superman Lives (unreleased)

What do you think of these Nicolas Cage superhero roles? Which one of them is your favorite? Let us know in the comments below!

Spider-Noir is now available for streaming on MGM+ and Prime Video.