Nic Cage in a shiny 'Superman' bodysuit is everything you want it to be

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s Nic Cage in the ’90s.

1997 was a different time. Bill Clinton was president, Friends was still airing new episodes and Nicolas Cage was apparently flexing his muscles for the doomed Superman Lives.

The Los Angeles Times got a peek at behind-the-scenes footage of Cage’s costume test for the film from the creators of the upcoming documentary The Death of ‘Superman Lives’: What Happened?

The would-be superhero movie starring Cage as the titular hero was directed by Tim Burton. The documentary’s director Jon Schnepp sat down with Burton, along with his director’s assistant Derek Frey and the film’s costume designer Colleen Atwood to discuss what they call the “holy grail of superhero footage.”

Superman Lives, sadly, never came to be, which left the rest of us to only dream of Cage and his light-up super suit — until now. Some valuable information that we can conclude from the footage includes:

  1. Sculpted muscles made out of shiny spandex really do look good on anyone.

  2. Suit or no suit, Nic Cage actually does have a superhero bod. Or at least he did in 1997.

  3. Men’s long, wavy hairstyles of the ’90s really need to make a comeback.

  4. The exclusive video can be viewed on the LA Times‘ website, but in the meantime, here are some very important GIFs that perfectly sum up Cage’s Superman.

A new package from China may offer our closest look yet at Apple’s rumored foldable iPhone. This isn’t the...
Scientists just found a wolf pup so well preserved, you can still see the taste buds on her tongue. She has been...
Four wheels, two wheels, or none at all. It does not matter. These people found a way to break records anyway. A...
Homemade aircraft, fearless teams, and the funniest moments when flying goes wrong Red Bull...
A sailboat reached 103.93 km/h without an engine but just wind. That incredible moment came when ROCKWOOL...
Most people never go faster than a commercial airliner. Louis Skupien just broke the sound barrier twice, hit Mach...
Forget 220 mph race bikes for a second. Before the lights even went out at the 2026 Thai GP, MotoGP's biggest...
An expert takes a closer look at AI-generated history videos and separates fact from...
This Rolex is smaller than a pea. And it came loaded with problems that almost ended the whole restoration before...
Imagine spending months nursing a wild animal back to health, then finally opening the cage door and watching it...
A puppy-filled interview full of chaos, laughs, and unexpected moments. Zendaya and Tom Holland’s...
He quit his job to build toy cars. Then a millionaire called. Six months ago, 164Luke walked away from his...