The Hilarious Reason Why Nicolas Cage Doesn't Care About Joining The MCU
Nicolas Cage has had a pretty remarkable resurgence over the past few years after having spent a long, long time making direct-to-video schlock. Between movies like "Pig" and "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent," the Oscar-winning actor is very much in high demand once again, and he's even returning to studio filmmaking later this year as Dracula in "Renfield." But what about the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Is Cage ready to join the biggest franchise on the planet? Not really, it turns out. At the very least, he's by no means eager to do so. Why? Simply put, because he's Nic Cage.
Speaking recently with Variety in honor of Cage being awarded the Variety Legend & Groundbreaker Award at Miami Film Festival, the actor addressed the state of superhero movies today and avoided saying anything bad about Marvel Studios, even if he wouldn't exactly praise them either. Cage said:
"I've gotta be nice about Marvel movies, because I named myself after a Stan Lee character named Luke Cage. What am I going to do, put Marvel movies down? Stan Lee is my surrealistic father. He named me. I understand what the frustration is. I get it. But I think there's plenty of room for everybody. I'm seeing movies like 'Tár.' I'm seeing all kinds of artistic and independently driven movies. I think there's plenty of room for everybody."
To put a pretty amazing button on the whole thing, Cage directly addressed the possibility of joining the MCU by saying, "I don't need to be in the MCU, I'm Nic Cage." If ever there were an interview equivalent of a mic drop, this is it. In short, it doesn't seem like Cage is waiting by the phone hoping to hear from Marvel head honcho Kevin Feige.
Could the MCU come calling anyway?
Given that the MCU remains the biggest thing in all of entertainment right now, it's pretty impressive that Cage is so uninterested in getting in on the action. Then again, let's not forget that this is the same actor who appeared in both "Ghost Rider" and "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" over a decade ago, when the superhero boom was truly starting to take off like a rocket. Of course, those movies were made outside of the confines of the MCU.
Having said that, Phase 4 and Phase 5 of the MCU have been all about opening up the multiverse, which allowed Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire to join in on the fun in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," for example. As fate would have it, "Avengers: Secret Wars" is on deck for a May 1, 2026 release, with Michael Waldron ("Loki") penning the screenplay. Recently, rumors have persisted that Kevin Feige is going to pull out all the stops, attempting to get many actors from Marvel's past to join in on the action for that one.
This to say, there could be a big, obvious opportunity to bring Cage back as his version of Johnny Blaze, aka Ghost Rider, in "Secret Wars." But would Cage agree to do it? Would he come back in a glorified cameo? It's hard to say, because it's clear the actor doesn't need the MCU. Though he didn't outright rule it out, so anything is possible.