Now that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has introduced branching realities and alternate timelines into the mythology, it would be far too easy to use it as a storytelling crutch and bring multiple versions of the same characters into the franchise for no particular rhyme or reason, but that’s never really been Kevin Feige’s bag.
Ever since the concept of variants were made canon, we’ve been hearing all sorts of tales about which superheroes are poised to meet their doppelgangers. We can now add Ghost Rider to that list, after a new rumor claimed Marvel were intent to bring in several different iterations of the Spirit of Vengeance all at once, which neatly takes all of the recent chatter and smooshes it into one big pile of speculation with its skull on fire.
Not long ago, there was talk that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s Gabriel Luna was being eyed to rejoin the MCU as Robbie Reyes, which was swiftly followed by a new company being filed that offered a potential connection to Danny Ketch’s origin story. If that wasn’t enough, just yesterday it was reported that Johnny Blaze was still the go-to option for Marvel’s supernatural motorcycle fiend, and there’s also been murmurings of female Ghost Rider Alejandra Jones in the past.
No additional details are provided, and realistically you could name any Marvel superhero as having multiple variants on the way and there’s a chance you’d be right. Three, if not four, iterations of Ghost Rider all at once might be overkill, especially when there’s an entire generation of fans out there who won’t be familiar with the cult favorite in the slightest, while others will definitely remember the painfully dull Nicolas Cage duology from the 2000s.
