The 2022 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Male Character

It's that time of year again when the ComicBook.com staff votes on their favorite movies, shows, comics, games, and more from the year. 2022 was a big one, but each category can only have one winner. This year, the ComicBook team voted on the Best Male Character of 2022, and there was some stiff competition. The contenders were Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, the role played by Tom Cruise in Top Gun: Maverick. This marked the first time in 36 years that Cruise took on the part. Another contender was Stephen Strange/Doctor Strange, a role Benedict Cumberbatch played yet again in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Cumberbatch made his debut as the character back in 2016 and has appeared in multiple MCU films ever since. Our list of nominees also featured Teth Adam/Black Adam, the DC character Dwayne Johnson waited 15 years to play in Black Adam. The line-up also included Nick Cage, the role Nicolas Cage was quite literally born to play in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and finally, Bruce Wayne/Batman, the iconic hero that Robert Pattinson portrayed in Matt Reeves' The Batman. 

And the winner of the 2022 ComicBook.com Golden Issue Award for Best Male Character is...

Nicolas Cage's performance as Nick Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent! 

In the film, the Academy Award-winning actor plays a version of himself who is hired by a billionaire named Javi (Pedro Pascal) to attend his birthday party. Javi is a Cage superfan, and hijinks ensue when the CIA recruits the actor to keep an eye on Javi after he's suspected of a high-level kidnapping. Not only is Cage playing "Nick Cage" (the real spelling of his name is Nic Cage), but he also has a villainous alter ego, "Nicky Cage." This other version of Cage, who is based on an appearance he made on Wogan in 1990, encourages himself to lean more toward his movie star status and less toward his craft. In addition to playing two versions of himself, Cage should also be praised for his extremely wonderful chemistry with Pascal. "Nick Cage" is not only a hilarious character with a rich real-life history, but Cage's portrayal is both tender and raw. 

"I would say that Nick Cage in Massive Talent was the most challenging role I had to get into character for because I had the added component of trying to protect a person named Nick Cage and also facilitating the director's absurdist vision of so-called Nick Cage and it was a highwire act every day," Cage previously shared in a Reddit AMA. 

Cage has become notorious for some of his over-the-top performances and there's even a Community episode dedicated to asking whether or not he's a good actor. However, if you've seen enough of Cage's work, you know that Massive Talent is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his, well, massive talent. In honor of the movie's release earlier this year, some of the folks at ComicBook took part in a "Month of Cage," in which we watched one of his films every day leading up to Massive Talent's release. Some of us watched 22 of his films in 22 days to prepare while others got overzealous and watched 32. Even those of us who started the project as die-hard Cage fans came out of the experience with even more respect for him.

If you have any doubts that Cage is a skilled performer, watch his Academy Award-winning turn in Leaving Las Vegas. The film chronicles one of the most extreme displays of alcoholism ever put to screen, so it's pretty remarkable that Nic "Freak Out" Cage played it with such nuance. That film is all the proof you need that every wacky acting choice he makes in other projects are carefully calculated. Cage himself has named Leaving Las Vegas along with Marton Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead and last year's Pig as his three best performances. If you haven't watched Massive Talent yet and are looking for more Cage recommendations before you do, we also composed a list of every single Cage movie that's referenced in the film. 

"Nick Cage" may be a character, but Nic Cage brings him to life in a very special way. The refined role is specifically designed to please fans of Cage, but even viewers who go into the experience completely unaware of the actor won't be able to resist his charms. 

Congratulations to Cage on his Golden Issues win!

The nominees for Best Male Character are:

• Teth Adam / Black Adam (Dwayne Johnson, Black Adam)
• Nick Cage (Nicolas Cage, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent) – WINNER
• Pete "Maverick" Mitchell (Tom Cruise, Top Gun: Maverick)
• Stephen Strange / Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness)
• Bruce Wayne / Batman (Robert Pattinson, The Batman)