In the late 1990s, a Superman movie directed by Tim Burton was in development but was ultimately canceled. Here's what happened with Superman Lives.

In addition to exploring Gotham City, Batman, and the different threats living in that world, Tim Burton was close to making a Superman movie titled Superman Lives, but the project never came to be – and here’s what it would have looked like. Tim Burton has become known for his unique style as a filmmaker, as he often brings together horror elements with comedy and more family-friendly content, and he has brought that “Burtonesque” touch to well-known worlds that didn’t originate in his imagination.

Burton paid a visit to the superhero genre in 1989 with Batman, which introduced Michael Keaton as Bruce Wayne and Jack Nicholson as Jack Napier/The Joker. The critical and financial success of Batman made way for a sequel, Batman Returns, released in 1992, which is still considered by many as one of the best superhero movies ever. For Batman Returns, Burton fully embraced the darkness of Batman and Gotham City and mixed it with his peculiar style, which didn’t appeal to many, and so plans for a third Batman movie were canceled. However, Burton’s time with Warner and DC Comics wasn’t over, and he was close to directing a new superhero story but with a different protagonist: Superman.

Titled Superman Lives, the project was being rewritten by Kevin Smith in the late 1990s and it was he who suggested Burton as director. Burton and Warner Bros. reached a deal and Superman Lives got a projected release date for the summer of 1998, but the movie was ultimately canceled. However, as years pass, more and more details about Superman Lives have been brought to light, including who would have played Clark Kent, some plot details, and the reasons why the movie never happened. Here’s what Tim Burton’s Superman Lives would’ve looked like and why it didn’t happen.

Nicolas Cage Would Have Played Superman in Superman Lives

The best-known detail about Tim Burton’s Superman Lives is that Nicolas Cage was cast as Clark Kent/Superman, a choice that many have questioned, criticized, and analyzed for years. Nicolas Cage was reportedly cast as he could portray Clark’s sense of “alienation”, as the script that was very close to becoming the final product – written by Dan Gilroy – saw Clark’s biological parents, Jor-El and Lara, placing baby Kal-El in his rocket and so he had no idea of who he really was and where he came from. Speaking to IndieWire in 2014, Gilroy explained that in his draft for Superman Lives, Kal-El’s biggest fear was that he was an alien, and so the story saw Superman in therapy at the beginning of the movie. Cage and Superman Lives made it as far as screen tests, which is why fans can now have a clear idea of how Cage would have looked in full Superman costume, and in the end, the world never got to see this darker, more emotional version of Clark Kent/Superman.

Superman Lives Would Have Been Loosely Based on “The Death of Superman”

Superman Lives went through various rewrites, but what most (if not all) of them seem to have in common is the crossover comic book event The Death of Superman, which was the base for the plot. The Death of Superman was published between December 1992 and October 1993 and is divided into three arcs: “Doomsday!” (which ends with Superman’s death), “Funeral for a Friend” (where the DC Universe mourns his death), and “Reign of the Supermen!” (which introduces four Superman imposters before the original one returns). Gilroy’s script saw the death of Superman and his return through a mysterious Kryptonian force known as “K”, which is the remaining spirit of Krypton protecting the planet’s last son and which also acts as a temporary costume/armor, producing all of his powers.

Lex Luthor, Brainiac, & Doomsday Were The Villains

Tim Burton’s Superman Lives has been described as so crazy that it would have made Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin look good – and that’s a lot to say. Those claims are mostly due to the villains planned to appear in it and their roles in the story, as there were some crazy events happening thanks to them. First, there’s Brainiac, an extraterrestrial cyborg and one of Superman’s greatest enemies in the comics. In Superman Lives, Brainiac was the one responsible for the destruction of Krypton and thus the death of Kal-El’s parents, and vowed to hunt down Kal-El as he was the sole survivor of the Krypton massacre. Then there’s Lex Luthor, Superman’s archenemy, who was close to discovering Clark Kent’s identity, and when Brainiac arrives on Earth, they join forces to destroy Superman – and that’s where the craziness begins.

Brainiac and Luthor merge into one cyborg identity named “Lexiac”, who looks like Luthor but acts like a robot, with Brainiac emerging from time to time by splitting out of Luthor’s head. Together they create Doomsday with the purpose of getting rid of Superman, and so a battle between Superman and Doomsday takes place, culminating with the superhero’s death, but that’s not the end of Lexiac’s plans. As the world mourns the death of Superman, Lexiac begins to plan the destruction of Earth just like Brainiac did with Krypton, but those plans end once Superman returns (with the help of K, as mentioned above). Superman defeats Lexiac by destroying the Brainiac part of it, and some have described a scene where a defeated Lex Luthor, wearing a red, white, and blue thong, is taken away in an ambulance. To add more life to the image of Brainiac, Luthor, and Lexiac, Christopher Walken was rumored to play Brainiac (though Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman were also rumored to be considered), and Kevin Spacey was approached to play Lex Luthor, which he eventually did in Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns.

Chris Rock Was Cast as Jimmy Olsen

Aside from Nicolas Cage being cast as Superman, the other actor confirmed to appear in Superman Lives was Chris Rock, who was set to play Jimmy Olsen, the young photojournalist working for the Daily Planet and thus Lois and Clark’s coworker. Jimmy Olsen was mostly a humorous character in Superman comic books, so it makes sense to have a well-known comedian like Chris Rock playing the role. Speaking to Yahoo! Entertainment in September 2021, Rock opened up about Superman Lives and shared that he went as far as to have wardrobe fittings and “seeing the miniature sets”, adding that a part of him wonders where’s his superhero movie, as he came very close to appearing in one two decades ago.

Sandra Bullock Could Have Played Lois Lane

Of course, Lois Lane was included in Superman Lives. In it, Lois and Clark meet at the Daily Planet and as his identity is close to being revealed thanks to Lex Luthor, he considers telling Lois about it, but they already have some problems as Clark can’t commit to their relationship because he doesn't know who he is or what is going on with him. Other details about Lois’ role in Superman Lives are that after Superman’s death, Lexiac tries to woo a grieving Lois in non-subtle and actually cringey ways, and by the end of the movie, she reunites with Superman and reveals she’s pregnant with his child. As for who could have played Lois Lane in Superman Lives, Sandra Bullock, Courteney Cox, and Julianne Moore were approached, though producer Jon Peters wanted Bullock for the role.

Why Tim Burton’s Superman Lives Didn’t Happen

Superman Lives went far into the pre-production process, with the above-mentioned casting choices, screen tests, wardrobe fittings, scouting (with Burton choosing Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania as the main location for Metropolis), and was set to start filming in early 1998. However, while some elements of pre-production were moving forward, others were facing various obstacles, most notably the script. Warner Bros. ordered another rewrite from Dan Gilroy for “budgetary reasons” and filming was delayed, and the project was finally put on hold and effectively canceled in April 1998. The budgetary reasons were the result of a series of box office misfires Warner Bros. went through in the 1990s, including Batman & Robin, The Postman, and Sphere, and even though Superman is a big name that is almost guaranteed to perform well even if the quality of the story isn’t the best, Warner had to be extra careful with the projects they chose to invest in. This, along with the many creative differences with the story and characters, and pre-production already costing the studio a lot of money, led to Superman Lives being canceled, though not forgotten.

Since then, Burton has expressed his frustration and regret over spending almost a year working on Superman Lives only for it to come across a lot of interference (with producer Jon Peters pointed out by many as the one responsible for the failure of the project), but ultimately, he went on to work on other interesting projects. Once Superman Lives was over, Burton directed Sleepy Hollow, and some of his most notable works since then are Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, and the live-action version of Dumbo. As for the future of Superman Lives, it's highly unlikely the project as it’s known will happen, and what it could have been will live in fans’ imagination, which as Nicolas Cage has put it, is not bad at all as it “might resonate more deeply than the finished project”.

Next: What Tim Burton's Batman 3 Would've Looked Like (& Why It Didn't Happen)