Nicolas Cage is back in the news after recent Ghost Rider MCU rumors kicked up again. Cage starred as Ghost Rider in the first Marvel movies about the supernatural demonic antihero. He starred in two Ghost Rider releases, and when the rumors started that Avengers: Doomsday might involve a version of the Spirit of Vengeance, fans thought Cage could return. That has been shot down in more recent updates, but with Avengers: Secret Wars possibly introducing a lot of variants on Battleworld, there is still a chance Ghost Rider could end up there. Honestly, it should be Robbie Reyes who ends up in the MCU as the anti-hero and not Johnny Blaze.

When it comes to Nicolas Cage, however, he doesn’t seem bothered if he never returns as Ghost Rider. When Cage was asked in an interview about his role as Ghost Rider and whether it was part of the MCU, Cage was blunt in his answer. Cage admitted that his version of Ghost Rider is not part of the MCU, but he is okay with that. He then sent out a zinger that got the audience excited. “I don’t need to be in the MCU,” he said. “I’m Nic Cage.”

This isn’t the first time that Cage spoke about his relationship with the MCU. In a previous interview, he said that he named himself after Luke Cage. His real name is Nicholas Coppola, but he changed his last name to allow himself to break away from the pressure of his family’s legacy, as he is Francis Ford Coppola’s nephew. “What am I going to do, put Marvel movies down?” Cage asked. “Stan Lee is my surrealistic father. He named me.”

Could Spider-Noir Make Nicolas Cage Part of the MCU?

Image Courtesy of Sony

Nicolas Cage is a huge comic book fan and was known for buying Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman, for $150,000. He was supposed to play Superman for Tim Burton before he played Ghost Rider. He then debuted in live-action as Superman in The Flash, but he never reprised his role as Ghost Rider when other characters popped up in Deadpool & Wolverine. Now, Cage is appearing as Spider-Noir on Prime Video.

There is an idea that Avengers: Secret Wars could introduce several characters, even from the animated shows. The third and final Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie will hit before Secret Wars, and Miles Morales could make his MCU debut in that MCU movie. This could also mean Nicolas Cage could realistically pop up as Spider-Man Noir as well. As he said in the past interview about his love for Marvel, “I don’t mean to be cryptic Cage, but you never know!”

The truth is that Nicolas Cage will almost definitely not be the main Ghost Rider in the MCU when the character likely debuts in the upcoming Midnight Sons movie. If Ghost Rider is part of that team along with Blade and Black Knight, it will almost surely be Robbie Reyes. The only way Cage should appear is if he is an older Johnny Blaze, such as the version from the video game Midnight Suns, whom the team finds and asks for help. While having Spider-Man Noir in Secret Wars could be fun, it might be better lip service to have Cage in Midnight Sons in a small supporting role that finally writes Johnny Blaze into the MCU.

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