The 6 Biggest Bros Nicolas Cage Has Played In His Acting Career

With a career spanning over a third of a century, Nicolas Cage is no spring chicken when it comes to the film biz. Hell, he even has his own style of acting — now that’s Chuck Norris-worthy status, if you ask me. Although the actor is notorious for throwing himself into his off-the-wall psychotic roles, he’s also got quite the resume when it comes to playing some damn good protagonists, and really, he’s the epitome of a bro. Here are a handful of his finest.

Joe, Joe

If there’s one thing a bro (in this case, Joe) doesn’t tolerate, it’s violence towards the ones he loves; especially from a victim’s deadbeat dad. In the underrated drama Joe, Cage returns to his Indie roots as an easily irritated tree-removal foreman that befriends Gary, a directionless teen dealing with a physically abusive father. While sporting a furry mug that would make Grizzly Adams himself proud, Joe arrives home to notice a bruised and battered Gary. Gary informs him that his old man prostituted out his sister to scar-faced Willy, one of the neighborhood d-bags. Not on Cage’s watch, not on any bro’s watch!

Memphis Raines, Gone In 60 Seconds

What more can a millennium bro ask for then a shit-load of exotic cars and a young, bleached blonde Angelina Jolie? In the action thriller Gone In Sixty Seconds, Cage’s Memphis might as well be the envy of every adolescent male-minus the car thefts. When Jolie’s Sway and Memphis spy on a tryst between a man and woman, she queries him on if he prefers sex to stealing cars? Memphis chooses both, causing Angelina to pounce on him quicker than she had done to Billy Bob Thornton at the time off camera. Angelina straddling a not-so-Saint Nic’s lap in a Diablo SE30. Need I say more?

Johnny Blaze, Ghost Rider

There are times in a bro’s life when he must pick and choose his battles. Regardless, he always steps up to the plate for the greater good. Cage did just that via channeling his inner bad ass as a stuntman and superhero in Marvel’s Ghost Rider. Seeking revenge for humanity, Johnny Blaze must also rescue Eva Mendes’s Roxanne, and take the contract of San Venganza from the evil Blackheart’s possession. Upon turning into Ghost Rider, Cage does just that by opening up a can of whoop-ass on the Devil’s son. Ghost Rider’s flammability paired with Mendes’s drop dead gorgeous looks make for one smokin’ hot scene.

Charlie Lang, It Could Happen To You

If a CGI-flaming skulled Cage doesn’t do it for you, then perhaps romantic comedy Cage does. Nonetheless, nothing says bro like a recovery from a setback. In It Could Happen To You, our boy does just that when he stars opposite Bridget Fonda as a lotto-winning cop who agrees to split his winnings. After getting the boot from his gold-digging wife, Cage’s Charlie finally musters up the courage to hook up with Yvonne at The Plaza. Who knew small talk over the price of a terry cloth robe could lead to nookie?

Cameron Poe, Con-Air

When it comes to maintaining friendships, a bro always looks out for another bro. While Steve Buschemi “had the whole world in his hands,” Cage took his cellmate Baby O’s concerns over God and put them into his in Con Air. How, you ask? By going straight-up postal on a hijacked plane (without any snakes) transporting a slew of dangerous cons and quite possibly, five of cinema’s most notable 90s actors (Buschemi, John Malkovich, Ving Rhames, Dave Chapelle, Danny Trejo).

Stanley Goodspeed, The Rock

When it comes to getting shit done, a bro must sometimes put another man in his place. Such was the case in The Rock when the force to be reckoned with known as Nic Cage caught up to Sean Connery’s Mason-a prisoner being utilized to combat a rogue U.S. Recon Marine group stationed on Alcatraz Island. Cage arguably delivers one of the finest lines of his career with, “let’s cut the chit-chat a-hole.” Scripted or not, it takes a large pair of cojones to stand up to Scotland’s most popular thespian.

Although Six Degrees of Separation is a concept mostly associated with Kevin Bacon, it evidently doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that swapping the latter’s name for Cage’s wouldn’t be considered farfetched; a true testament to the man, his craft and the plethora of bro moments he’s given us throughout the years.