Over the past 20 years, Nicolas Cage has made no secret of his desire to play Superman on the big screen. Now, though, it appears the actor is finally ready to move on -- unless someone wanted to offer him the role of Lex Luthor, that is.

In an interview with The Guardian, Cage let slip that he seems to have come to terms with the fact that he probably won’t ever get to suit up as Superman again. But, when the possibility of playing Superman’s archnemesis was suggested, the actor came alive, exclaiming, “I’d make a great Lex Luthor!”

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The full exchange is below:

Cage has two sons: Weston, 27, from an early relationship; and 13-year-old Kal-El (the name Superman was given as a baby), from his third marriage to Alice Kim.

Because of his son’s name, I tell him, there’s an online campaign to make him the next Superman. “Oh, I think my Superman days are long gone,” he laughs with a little pat of his belly. He would be an amazing villain in it, I reply. His eyes light up. “Oh, that would be GREAT! I’d make a great Lex Luthor!”

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Cage, a lifelong Superman fan, was famously set to star in Superman Lives in the early 1990s. The film was to be written by Kevin Smith and directed by Tim Burton, only for Warner Bros. to pull the plug right before the movie began production.

Cage did eventually get a chance to play Superman on the big screen, though -- sort of. He voiced the last son of Krypton in Teen Titans Go! to the Movies earlier this year.