Nicolas Cage is a household name. He is an actor famous for movies like Face/Off, the National Treasure series, and Leaving Las Vegas, for which he won an Academy Award. But many people don't realize that he was one of our original superheros.
Yes, in 2007, Nicolas Cage played the Ghost Rider (AKA Johnny Blaze) in the movie by the same name.
The movie, produced in part by Marvel Studios, didn't do so well. It only made a profit of approximately $5 million and had a Rotten Tomatoes score of 26%. But despite its lack of success, it went ahead and had a sequel titled Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance in 2011.
But the Ghost Rider movies didn't grow to be a part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In fact, it preceded the first MCU film, Iron Man, by just one year.
Nicolas Cage recently told Yahoo! Entertainment that he feels like his superheroism would have lasted longer, or at least been more successful in the box office, if Ghost Rider had debuted a little later. He said,
"Had Ghost Rider been made in R-rated format, the way they had the guts to do with Deadpool, and they did it again today, I'm fairly certain it would be enormously successful."
He's not the only one who feels like the short series would have fared better if done with a higher rating.
Earlier this year, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance co-director, Brian Taylor told Cosmic BookNews that he wasn't a fan of the MCU. However, the exceptions to his rule were the ones that were rated R.
"For one thing, I kind of like making rated R movies. They don't make too many of those. Logan and Deadpool were fantastic. I think rated R comic book movies could really work, and they can be great."
Some people agree that the films would have fared better if approached in a more mature way.
But others think the problem lay elsewhere 😳.
Whether or not you agree with Nicolas Cage, there's no doubt that we are seeing a zenith of superhero movies.
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