Ryan Gosling Cast as Marvel's Ghost Rider
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- Ryan Gosling was announced as the star of a standalone Ghost Rider movie during Marvel's Hall H panel at San Diego Comic Con, with Kevin Feige revealing the casting onstage.
- Shawn Levy is directing the Ghost Rider film, targeted for a 2028 release; Levy previously directed and produced "Deadpool & Wolverine" and is currently working with Gosling on "Star Wars: Starfighter," due May 28, 2027.
- Levy told the Hall H crowd that "Gosling is the absolute shit" and said the Ghost Rider pitch felt right, capping his remarks with "let's ride."
- Nicolas Cage previously played Johnny Blaze in Sony's 2007 "Ghost Rider" and 2011 sequel "Spirit of Vengeance," both of which received mostly negative reviews — making Gosling only the second film actor to portray the Spirit of Vengeance.
- Gabriel Luna played the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider on ABC's "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D."; a planned Hulu standalone series for that incarnation was scrapped in 2019.
- Ghost Rider rights reverted from Sony to Marvel Studios, clearing the way for the character to finally join the MCU proper.
Why it matters: Marvel lands a marquee A-lister for its supernatural corner of the MCU while pairing him with a director — Levy — who just delivered the franchise's biggest recent hit in "Deadpool & Wolverine." Gosling's two poorly reviewed Cage predecessors set a low bar for the 2028 film to clear, and the casting doubles down on Levy's ongoing collaboration with Gosling straight out of their Star Wars partnership.
