VIDEO See the doc about the terrible-looking Nicolas Cage Superman movie which was never made

Superman Lives was almost an actual real life superhero movie starring Nicolas Cage and directed by Tim Burton - it was never made

Back in the 90s, Tim Burton was in pre-production on Superman Lives. It would have been an actual real-life Superman movie starring Nicolas Cage as the man in the cape. Yes really, that Nicolas Cage, fresh from his success in The Rock and Con Air but still full of all the crazy we know and love today.

The film was written, it was budgeted, a crew was hired and costumes were being made. Cage was even getting fitted for some really weird looking versions of the Superman suit when finally the studio realised it was a massive folly and canned the project.

But a story that good can't disappear forever, so filmmaker Jon Schnepp has stepped into bring us the documentary The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened? It's got interviews with all the key players and some behind the scenes footage you simply won't be able to unsee. Here's the first 10 minutes of the doc.

Given the way Tim Burton's career has gone in recent years, there's no doubt that this film would have been a massively over the top spectacle and some of the visuals sound really interesting. But it also very likely would have been a huge mess, especially in a decade where (as the doc says) comic-book movies just weren't attaining any kind of success. And bear in mind, the next attempt to reboot the series with Superman Returns was one of the most expensive movies ever made and didn't exactly set the world alight.

The documentary sounds really interesting though, and who doesn't like watching something they already know will crash and burn.

The Death of Superman Lives will be available digitally online from the 9th of July right here. You can pay extra for special features like commentary and more.