Warning: this article contains major spoilers for The Flash
Kevin Smith is the biggest fanboy in Hollywood, and that’s not a slight. The filmmaker and podcaster has referred to himself as such for nearly three decades. Different films have reciprocated Smith’s fandom over the years, but nothing compares to the reference that appears during a crucial scene in The Flash.
The scene in question sees the titular character (Ezra Miller) stumble upon the multiverse. He watches as portals open up to show different versions of Superman and Supergirl fighting their enemies. Some have gotten their own films in the past, and others were part of films that never actually saw the light of day. The latter is exemplified by Nicolas Cage’s Superman, who was supposed to be the lead of the abandoned film Superman Lives.
Superman Lives was going to be written by Smith and directed by Tim Burton. The former pitched producer Jon Peters on a story about Superman being killed by Doomsday and having to be resurrected to save planet Earth from total destruction. Things got complicated, though, when Burton hired Wesley Strick to rewrite Smith’s script and requested a budget that Warner Bros. was reluctant to green light.
The film was officially shelved in 1998, but Smith was more than happy to discuss the production and its various issues during his comedy special An Evening with Kevin Smith (2002). He revealed that producer Jon Peters had several bizarre demands, the most notable being that Superman shouldn’t wear his classic red and blue costume and should fight a giant mechanical spider in the final act. (Peters was able to shoehorn his spider idea into 1999’s Wild Wild West).
The anecdote became the stuff of Hollywood legend, and The Flash screenwriters thought it would be fun to show Cage’s Superman fight a giant mechanical spider. Smith told ComicBook.com that he was delighted to see the reference come to life on the big screen when he attended an advanced screening.
“For the earliest part of my career, I made lots of nods to pop culture,” he explained. “I can’t tell you how happy it makes me at the point in my life whenever pop culture nods back at me. For all the times I ever told that Superman Lives story, it delighted me no end to hear it was echoed in The Flash.”
Smith has always been a champion of the Flash character, so it makes sense that he would adore the new film. He called the trailer “magic” and claimed to have watched it 200 times during his Fatman Beyond podcast. He was also a guest director on CW’s The Flash, with fans considering his episodes to be some of the show’s best.
Superman Lives, meanwhile, is having a renaissance in 2023. At least, as much of a renaissance as an unreleased film can have. Smith is hosting a live script reading of Superman Lives at Smodcastle in July, allowing fans to see (or at least hear) what the film could have been like had Burton and Warner Bros. adapted it faithfully. You can get tickets to the event here.
