Written by: Sam Santiago
We’ve always loved Nicolas Cage tearing up the screen as Johnny Blaze, skull aflame and chains swinging, but it looks like Marvel might be ready to hand the fiery reins over to someone new—and Ryan Gosling is raising his hand. That’s right, the guy who made us swoon in "Drive" and ponder the universe in "Project Hail Mary" is still gunning for Ghost Rider.
(Ryan Gosling in 'Project Hail Mary.' Courtesy of Amazon MGM Studios)
Gosling recently told Happy Sad Confused that the dream is very much alive. “Some talks have happened. It’s complicated,” he said, which in Marvel-speak basically means, “Maybe, maybe not… but I hope so.” Four years after first dropping this ambition in 2022, he hasn’t given up, and honestly, neither have we.
Back when the idea first leaked, Marvel Studios head honcho Kevin Feige didn’t exactly slam the door. “If Ryan wants to be Ghost Rider… Gosling’s unbelievable. I’d love to find a place for him in the MCU,” Feige told MTV News. Translation: there’s a chance, and Marvel likes a little Hollywood flame with their hellfire.
Of course, Ghost Rider isn’t new to cinema. Nicolas Cage made the most of Blaze’s soul-selling deal with Satan in both Ghost Rider (2007) and "Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance" (2011). Gabriel Luna then put a darker, muscle-car spin on the character as Robbie Reyes in "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D"., and a spinoff was apparently in the works for Hulu—until it wasn’t.
Cage himself has made it clear he thinks Ghost Rider deserves the Rated-R treatment the first movies missed out on. “Had Ghost Rider been made R-rated… I’m fairly certain it would be enormously successful,” Cage said in 2018. Look, we can’t argue with that—Cage on a flaming bike is peak horror-fueled superhero chaos.
Now here’s where we get excited: Gosling has the brooding, the charm, and let’s be honest, the smoldering intensity needed for the Spirit of Vengeance family of Ghost Riders. Marvel has multiple Ghost Riders in its canon beyond Blaze, so there’s room to play. Will he take the wheel? Only time—and whatever secret hell deals Marvel is cooking up—will tell.
For now, we’re just thrilled to imagine Gosling on the bike, leather jacket flapping in the infernal wind, maybe giving Cage a tip of the skull in approval as the torch passes.