MOVIE NEWS – Nicolas Cage is joining Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 as a playable character named Nick Cage in the game’s next major update. The actor is finally stepping into a medium that, surprisingly, he has largely avoided throughout his long career.

Nicolas Cage has enjoyed a very visible return to the center of pop culture in recent years, with the critically acclaimed 2024 hit Longlegs standing as one of the clearest high points of that resurgence. He has since starred in Spider-Noir, while upcoming projects include the Lord of War sequel Lords of War and the long-awaited Spider-Man: Beyond the Spider-Verse. His film and television schedule is clearly full, but video games have remained a strangely untouched part of his career. That is about to change, because Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 is putting him directly into the middle of its escalating digital war machine.

Season 4 Reloaded arrives on June 25 as part of the game’s Summer of Action campaign, bringing Nick Cage in as a playable operator. The short teaser throws Cage into the action as a one-man army taking down an elite soldier, and he wears the military gear with the confidence of someone who has been doing this for decades. He has rarely had the chance to play a Ranger on screen, yet the trailer makes the casting look far more natural than anyone could reasonably have expected. At this point, it would hardly be shocking to see him turn up in one of Taylor Sheridan’s future film adaptations as well.

Cage joins a long list of celebrities who have appeared throughout the history of Call of Duty, including Idris Elba, Kevin Spacey, Jeff Goldblum, Gary Oldman, and Michael Keaton. Snoop Dogg and David Hasselhoff have also appeared in the franchise in forms closely tied to their own public personas, while Cage’s earlier gaming history has been largely limited to his voice role in Dead by Daylight. Call of Duty now spans 22 games, and Black Ops 7 has not necessarily been the most warmly received entry in the series, but Cage’s arrival could give the current season an extra appeal even for players who have not been especially impressed so far.

Social media erupted with Nicolas Cage memes and film references as soon as the reveal landed. One fan argued that the character is actually John Travolta, an obvious nod to the premise of Face/Off. The overall response has been largely positive, even if a few skeptics have made themselves heard. People may question Cage’s willingness to accept almost any kind of role, but it is hard to argue that he has ever delivered a performance without committing to it completely.

Cage has also spoken about a few major directors who mysteriously “lost his number” after he declined their original offers. Woody Allen, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Christopher Nolan were all included in that list, with Nolan having approached him for Insomnia. Cage is now getting another major opportunity with David O. Russell, playing legendary NFL coach John Madden in Madden, which is planned for a November release.

Six more Nicolas Cage films are currently lined up for release, four of them already in post-production. He has appeared in at least one film every year for the past 37 years, and the momentum is not slowing down: Cage is also set to return in the now-confirmed Longlegs follow-up, scheduled to arrive on January 14, 2028.

Source: MovieWeb | Call of Duty