When Bryan Singer’s X-Men revitalized the comic book genre several years after many people thought Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin had killed it forever, Hollywood went on a decade-long rampage where virtually every recognizable character under the sun was given the big screen treatment. Admittedly, several of these blockbusters went on to launch successful franchises, but many of them quickly found themselves on the scrapheap.
One title that did decent business at the box office, though, was 2007’s Ghost Rider, which earned almost $230 million despite not being a very good movie. Star and noted comic book fan Nicolas Cage was clearly invested in the project, and even had to have his tattoo of Johnny Blaze covered by the makeup team, but it never came close to maximizing the potential of having an actor like Cage play a motorcycle riding antihero with their skull on fire.
It also didn’t help that director Mark Steven Johnson appeared to have learned absolutely nothing from Daredevil, and once again crafted a painfully dull and ultimately mediocre superhero movie with an A-list star bringing very little to the lead role. Ghost Rider hasn’t even come close to gaining a reputation as a cult favorite over the last thirteen years, which should tell you everything you need to know, and is now mostly forgotten about.
Of course, the rights to the character first reverted back to Marvel Studios in 2013, but nobody really cared until rumors started making the rounds earlier this year that Keanu Reeves was being eyed for the rebooted Ghost Rider. Until that gets confirmed, though, audiences will have to make do with Nicolas Cage‘s first outing and sequel Spirit of Vengeance, the former of which is heading back to Netflix next month, on October 1st.
