Ryan Gosling officially joins the MCU as Ghost Rider
Yet another fantastic product of Comic Con
Comic-Con news is already abuzz with the A* casting of David Jonsson as Black Panther in the upcoming sequel, but the MCU panel wasn’t stopping its starry slew of announcements there. Whilst it may feel like Ryan Gosling is already part of the MCU as it seems he's a part of every blockbuster release, the Canadian actor has officially joined the legendary world in a new reboot.
After years of rumours (and hope), Ghost Rider is returning to Marvel Studios, and Ryan Gosling is taking over Nic Cage’s shoes (or combat boots) and stepping into the role of Johnny Blaze. Talk about hot news.
Continuing the hot streak of starry names attached to the project, Star Wars Starfighter director Shawn Levy is set to direct Gosling’s MCU debut.
Call it proof you’ve got to (very publicly) go after what you want, as Ryan Gosling’s casting comes after some pretty unsubtle campaigning that he wanted the role. The casting choice isn’t exactly a surprise, partly because of the above, and partly because if anyone can handle some serious motorbike action man antics, it’s Ryan Gosling – just watch The Fall Guy if you don’t believe us.
The reboot has been given a 2028 release date, making it 16 years since the last iteration of the film – Nicolas Cade’s 2012 sequel Spirit of Vengeance, was released and 21 years after the first stand-alone Ghost Rider flick.
For anyone who hasn’t seen the Cage classic, Ghost Rider centres around the character Johnny Blaze, a man who literally sold his soul to the devil, wields actual hellfire, and also has a flaming skull in place of a head.
In the comics, he appears in many forms. He’s a human-demon hybrid who has appeared in multiple comics, both in his own storyline and affiliated with Thunderbolts, New Fantastic Four, SHIELD, Defenders and others. Originally a stunt motorcyclist, Blaze agrees to give his soul to the devil (actually a baddie called Mephisto) to save the life of his foster father. As you or anyone who's read Faustian-inspired fare will be familiar with, a deal with the devil ain’t ever that simple. Although his father is saved from his illness, he later dies in a stunt accident. Johnny then becomes bonded to a supernatural demon, the Spirit of Vengeance (hence the sequel name) and is able to transform into the now familiar flaming skull-headed biker. Basically, it’s a lot of riding a fiery motorcycle, and wielding blasts of hellfire, so get ready to see some super cool stunts, motorbike action, and presumably a lot of (hopefully fake) fire.
Cage isn’t the only person to portray the role, with Gabriel Luna playing the Robbie Reyes version of the comic book character in the TV series Agents of SHIELD. Luna was set to reprise the role in a standalone series for Hulu, but that project was ultimately scrapped in 2019.
Shawn Levy seems like a sensible pair of hands to sign up to the project, having proved his action-film MCU chops with Deadpool & Wolverine back in 2024.
Although Blaze is well documented in past films and comics, we don’t exactly know what Levy’s Ghost Rider will be like, nor what kind of storyline he’ll be following. We also don’t know who else is being eyed up to star in the film – although given Gosling’s wife Eva Mendes starred alongside Nic Cage in the original films, it would be a pretty neat opportunity to reunite the couple on screen, having last starred together in The Place Beyond the Pines in 2012.
Levy called Gosling “the absolute shit” at Comic Con when the announcement was made. “I say that with tremendous respect,” he added. “We spent a lot of time last year making Starfighter, and the opportunity as Ryan started talking about this character, I was like, ‘Bro, let’s ride.’"
Gosling and Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter will be released before any of the Ghost Rider stuff, heading to cinemas on May 28th 2027.
Skip the search — follow Shortlist on Google News to get our best lists, news, features and reviews at the top of your feeds!
