During last month's San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios officially announced that Ryan Gosling (Project Hail Mary) will lead the cast of a new Ghost Rider film. Shawn Levy (Deadpool & Wolverine) is directing from a script by Jonathan Tropper (Star Wars: Starfighter).
The trio's reunion will finally bring the Spirit of Vengeance into the MCU, not in a Midnight Sons movie as many fans expected, but a solo project that's set for a 2028 release.
No plot details have been revealed, but Gosling lends some serious star power to a project that will clearly be a big part of Marvel Studios' next Saga. It has, however, been widely reported that Ironheart star Sacha Baron Cohen will reprise his role as the villainous Mephisto (who transforms Johnny Blaze into the flame-headed vigilante).
At D23, the focus was on Jake Schreier's untitled X-Men reboot, and we know IT: Welcome to Derry star Bill Skarsgård was on Kevin Feige's radar to play Professor X. Instead, the role went to Wolf Man star Christopher Abbott.
Now, insider @MyTimeToShineH reports that Skarsgård remains in talks with Marvel Studios for another role and suggests it could be for Ghost Rider. Blackheart, a demon created by Mephisto, seems a good fit, but he could just as easily be Danny Ketch for all we know.
Nicolas Cage played Johnny Blaze in 2007's Ghost Rider and reprised the role in 2012's Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Neither film made much of an impact either critically or commercially, and the rights eventually reverted to Marvel Studios from Sony Pictures.
This has been a long time coming, both in terms of Ghost Rider's MCU debut—outside of Robbie Reyes' (Gabriel Luna) role in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.—and Gosling playing him.
"Some actors are great muses, right? Some actors are just amazing on screen, and you’re inspired telling that story," Levy recently said of Gosling. "The thing about Gosling is he’s a great muse, and he’s inspiring, but he’s also a great partner."
"He thinks like a full-spectrum creative. He’s an artist. He’s an incredible actor, but he’s also thinking about the lighting, the fabric on the wall. He’s noticing everything," the filmmaker continued. "This collaboration felt really good to both of us. Trust developed. We found we brought each other to better work because of each other."
"So after we wrapped [Starfighter], we just started talking about what else we might do together," Levy added. "Literally six minutes into him telling me about [Ghost Rider], I’m like, 'Yeah, let’s go. We’re doing that.' We walked it into Kevin [Feige], and here we are."
Ghost Rider is set to be released in theaters on July 28, 2028.