Marvel Studios' Ghost Rider is one of the most hotly anticipated movies heading our way in the post-Avengers: Secret Wars MCU. After years of flirting with the role, Project Hail Mary star Ryan Gosling will finally transform into the Spirit of Vengeance.
He'll do so under the watchful eye of Deadpool & Wolverine director Shawn Levy, who has enlisted Dune: Part Three's cinematographer Linus Sandgren to shoot the reboot on film.
Needless to say, the ingredients are all there for something very special from Marvel Studios, and a new rumour from Daniel Richtman suggests Ghost Rider has added another to the pot. According to the insider, Ironheart star Sacha Baron Cohen will reprise his role as Mephisto in the 2028 movie.
In the comics, Johnny Blaze makes a deal with Mephisto to save his adoptive father, Crash Simpson, from terminal cancer. Despite that, Crash dies shortly after in a motorcycle stunt and, taking payment for the debt he's owed, Mephisto bonds Johnny's soul with Zarathos, turning him into Ghost Rider.
Richtman has also learned that Marvel Studios is developing Midnight Sons as its next supernatural project after Ghost Rider, suggesting Johnny's movie will lead directly into that. It makes sense, as that would set the stage for a gathering of heroes—Ghost Rider, Blade, and Moon Knight, for example—to assemble for a battle with a big bad like Mephisto.
In other news, scooper @MyTimeToShineH has revealed that Solo: A Star Wars Story director Ron Howard is in talks for a Marvel project. There's currently no word on what that is and nothing to suggest he'd be involved with Midnight Sons.
"Let me say that as a horror head, this is my time, right? I'm in my zone right now," Ghost Rider comic book writer Benjamin Percy recently said. "And I'm sure whatever Marvel conjures up is going to be great, but I would lean towards the R-rated horror version of the character and not do the standard cape and spandex, MCU type, which can be very effective if you're doing a Doomsday storyline or an X-Men storyline."
"But in this case, I would really lean into, like, Johnny pulling hot chains out of his mouth, Hellraiser style, or his skin melting right off of him with a halo of flames around. Like, give us the body horror," he continued. "Give us a really hellish iteration of Ghost Rider on the screen. We live in a golden age of horror. It's time."
Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Gosling and Connor Storrie, Ghost Rider is set to race into theaters on July 28, 2028.