Movies

Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider arrives—will the MCU introduce the other Riders, too?

Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider arrives—will the MCU introduce the other Riders, too?
Image credit: Google Veo 3

Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider has reignited debate over Marvel’s forgotten Spirits of Vengeance — but will the MCU recognise its earlier Ghost Riders?

The unresolved thread that keeps coming up as Ryan Gosling saddles up as Johnny Blaze: the Rider who handed the curse to Robbie Reyes on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was never shown. That leaves Marvel a clean lane to say Gosling’s Blaze was the unseen Spirit who passed the chain — or to finally put a name to that skull without stepping on what the TV show already did.

  • Johnny Blaze — the classic Spirit of Vengeance Gosling will play
  • Robbie Reyes — the TV Rider mentored by an unidentified predecessor
  • Danny Ketch — a comics-faithful option if Marvel wants a different Rider in the mix

Marvel officially put Ghost Rider on the board at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 , with Gosling making his superhero debut and Shawn Levy directing from a script by Jonathan Tropper. The movie is slated for 2028 and charts Blaze’s turn into the Spirit of Vengeance while steering the MCU toward its darker supernatural corner — think Blade and Moon Knight territory. One fun detail: Gosling reportedly pitched his take directly to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige before the project came together.

First stop: Star Wars

Before the flaming chain, Gosling and Levy have another big swing. Their standalone Star Wars film, Star Wars: Starfighter , is set five years after The Rise of Skywalker and follows an elite pilot tasked with protecting a mysterious young boy — a mission that starts as a family matter and grows into a fight with galactic stakes. Tropper wrote this one, too, and filming wrapped last year in the United Kingdom and Sardinia.

  • Ryan Gosling — a battle-hardened starfighter pilot
  • Mia Goth — an enigmatic mercenary
  • Matt Smith — a ruthless warlord
  • Flynn Gray — the boy at the center of the story
  • Also starring: Amy Adams , Aaron Pierre, Simon Bird, Jamael Westman, Daniel Ings
Star Wars: Starfighter opens in theaters May 28, 2027 .

Then it ’s Blaze’s turn. With Ghost Rider targeting 2028, Marvel has a rare chance to either fold the S.H.I.E.L.D. thread into the mainline MCU or blaze a clean new path for its next Spirit of Vengeance.

Read also