Thanks to the multiverse, the door is never shut forever these days on any legacy superhero star making a return, regardless of whether they were actually in good movies or not. Case in point, Jennifer Garner’s unexpected comeback as Elektra in Deadpool 3 or George Clooney’s as Bruce Wayne in The Flash. Likewise, with the expansion of the MCU on Disney Plus, more Marvel Television favorites are being reintroduced into the fold all the time — Daredevil, Kingpin, even Black Bolt in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
What’s more, hope has increased lately that Marvel Studios could be planning something with Ghost Rider. The so-called Spirit of Vengeance hasn’t been seen on the big screen since the second of Nicolas Cage’s two Sony movies released in 2011, to poor box-office performance and even poorer reviews. That said, a different incarnation of the character, as played by Gabriel Luna, appeared in the back-half of ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. to much acclaim from the show’s cult fandom.
But could either Cage or Luna really return as their Ghost Riders? Mephisto is the power behind these two hellish anti-heroes, and we know never to trust the Devil, so here’s the truth about these rumors.
A Ghost Rider project is rumored, potentially with multiple Riders
According to intel that has left supporters of the supernatural side of the Marvel universe giddy, Marvel Studios was supposedly developing a Ghost Rider project prior to the strikes taking effect and presumably would continue to once they are concluded. Despite being such a popular fan-cast for the role, plus his own prior comments on his interest, nothing is linking Keanu Reeves to the part at this stage.
On the contrary, further alleged information — from scooper MyTimeToShineHello — on this mystery project suggests that Cage is in with a shot of returning as Johnny Blaze, the most famous Ghost Rider of them all. Meanwhile, insider CanWeGetSomeToast has made cryptic comments that seem to suggest the project — which could be a movie, TV show, or Special Presentation for all we know — will feature multiple Riders. “The Spirits of Vengeance and their Hellfire will be burning the damned sooner than you think…” they commented.
There have been numerous Ghost Riders across his decades-long comic book history, including the original Phantom Rider (played by Sam Elliot in 2007’s Ghost Rider), Danny Ketch, and Robbie Reyes, portrayed by Luna in AoS. If Marvel is intending to bring back Cage, then the only honorable thing to do would be to resurrect Reyes alongside him, given that it was the studio’s decision to kill off Marvel Television that murdered Hulu’s Ghost Rider spin-off, which would’ve brought back Luna in a starring role.
Sadly, like Reeves, as much as the fans would love it, Luna is not being actively linked to this Ghost Rider project as of yet, although Nicolas Cage is. On paper, then, it appears that Marvel execs saw his Superman return in The Flash and decided that they had to get in on that action. Which, considering The Flash is DC’s biggest bomb and is now embarrassingly stumbling onto streaming, is not something we could’ve foreseen.