Tim Burton's Cancelled Superman Lives Was Almost An Animated Movie

After he found success with Batman, Tim Burton was supposed to do a Superman movie called Superman Lives and it would have had Nicholas Cage starring as Clark Kent. The movie was famously canned by the studio, but Micahel Jelenic from WB Animation had the idea to turn it into an animated movie.

During a press conference (via CBR) for the release of the animated movie Return of the Caped Crusaders, Jelenic explained:

"I had a big pitch, and [Warner Bros.] took it seriously for a second – to do Tim Burton's [Superman Lives]…to do that animated."

Jelenic didn't go into details about the reasons why the movie didn't pull through, but when he was asked if Nicholas Cage would come aboard to voice Superman, Jelenix was was positive that Cage would ‘absolutely do it!'

The good thing about WB Animation is that they could make full-length movies based on comic properties that could be too risky to be live-action. Thanks to WBA, we now have animated versions of The Dark Knight Returns, The Flashpoint Paradox, and The Killing Joke.

Hopefully WB agrees to do Superman Lives at some point. A lot of people are already aware of the Superman Lives project, and there's even a full documentary on the movie's failure called The Death of Superman Lives. Check it out:

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