Marvel Just Announced Ryan Gosling Is The New Ghost Rider
Sublime!
The Ghost rides again.
At Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con panel in Hall H, Kevin Feige revealed that the MCU’s new Ghost Rider is none other than Ryan Gosling.
Ryan Gosling arrived at the Hall H stage (preceded by the sound of a motorcycle revving, of course), to reveal that he has been cast as Ghost Rider in a film directed by Shawn Levy. This will reunite him with Levy following their upcoming Star Wars movie, Star Wars: Starfighter. The Ghost Rider movie, which debuted its logo at Comic-Con, is set to premiere in 2028.
“Wow. Is this really happening?” Gosling said as he took the stage. “As you know, this is a character I've wanted to play for a very long time,” referring to the many times over the years that he cited Ghost Rider as his dream role.
This won’t be Levy’s first rodeo with Marvel, having directed 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine. The director referenced his last Marvel flick upon taking the stage alongside Gosling and Feige. “I’m having the greatest flashback vibes here, because I was here two years ago when we showed Deadpool & Wolverine,” Levy said, per Variety. “I’ll never forget that night, because I was introduced to the greatest fans. Gosling is the absolute shit. I say that with tremendous respect. 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.’ We’ll see you in 2028!”
Ryan Gosling makes his MCU debut as Ghost Rider in 2028.
Though the most famous cinematic iteration of this character was played in two movies by Nicolas Cage, Ghost Rider was most recently played by Gabriel Luna, who appeared as the Robbie Reyes version in Season 4 of ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. While Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was produced under Marvel TV and made frequent references to the cinematic MCU, it was never properly made canon. Luna was also set to reprise the role for a standalone series for Hulu, but the project was unceremoniously axed in 2019. It’s unclear, then, if Luna’s version of Ghost Rider was ever truly part of the MCU, which might make Gosling’s Ghost Rider the first true version of the character in the MCU.
Ghost Rider is the pseudonym for the stuntman-turned-superhero Johnny Blaze, who sells his soul to Mephisto and becomes a supernatural Spirit of Vengeance, complete with a blazing skull for a head. He also has super-strength, wields flaming chain whips, and wields the Penance Stare, which forces anyone who gazes into his eyes to experience the emotional pain they’ve inflicted on others. Also he’s got a super cool (often also supernatural) motorcyle.
The casting announcement is made as Marvel gears up for a brand new Phase with the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday and its sequel Secret Wars. It also comes on the tails of Gosling’s most successful movie in years, with the mega-hit Project Hail Mary. With this casting — which marks Gosling’s first-ever superhero role — and with his exciting new Star Wars movie, Gosling will have firmly transitioned from indie arthouse darling to mainstream movie star.
