Nicolas Cage loves comic books. He named his son Kal-El. He played Ghost Rider twice and Spider-Man Noir three times over. So when he says the Marvel Cinematic Universe has become "a well-funded and glorified WWE," it lands differently than the usual auteur grumbling.
Speaking onstage at Fan Expo Dallas, Cage said he admired how the early MCU wove characters' stories together, "but lately, I do say this with love, when I see these 50-plus, otherwise intelligent, remarkably gifted thespians putting on these ridiculous outfits and getting ready for the fight, it's hard for me not to be reminded that the MCU is becoming a well-funded and glorified WWE."
His complaint is specific and it's about craft: everything cuts to the fight. He held up his own Spider-Noir series, which premiered on Prime Video and MGM+ in May, as the counterexample. "It wasn't cutting to the fight. It was a detective story. There was a mystery there," he said. "I would like to see it get back to telling the stories and not just cutting to the wrestling match."
Key facts:
Cage made the remarks onstage at Fan Expo Dallas on Saturday
He praised the early MCU's interwoven character storytelling before the pivot to spectacle
He contrasted it with Spider-Noir, his 1930s detective take on Spider-Man (Prime Video/MGM+, May 2026)
Cage has played Ghost Rider, Big Daddy in Kick-Ass, and voiced Spider-Noir in the Spider-Verse films
He next plays John Madden in David O. Russell's Madden biopic for Prime Video, out in November
Why this matters: Cage is making an actor's argument, not a snob's. His point is that 50 gifted performers are being used as set decoration for third-act brawls instead of being given stories to play. For working actors, that's the real stakes of the franchise era: the biggest stages in the business increasingly ask you to stand in a mo-cap suit and look concerned at nothing. Cage built his career on going too big in the service of a character. He's asking the machine to give actors something worth going big for.