Marvel dropped one of the biggest casting announcements of the year at San Diego Comic-Con 2026: Ryan Gosling is playing Ghost Rider in a standalone MCU film. Director Shawn Levy is attached, the film is targeting a 2028 release, and the crowd in Hall H reportedly lost its mind. What Marvel didn't tell anyone is which Ghost Rider Gosling will actually be.
That single missing detail has sent fans into full speculation mode, and honestly, it's the most interesting question in superhero casting right now.
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The version everyone assumes he's playing
Johnny Blaze is the default answer. Created in 1972 by Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, and Mike Ploog, Blaze is the stunt motorcyclist who sells his soul to save his adoptive father and ends up bonded with the demon Zarathos. Hell Cycle, hellfire chains, the Penance Stare, supernatural regeneration. He's the Ghost Rider most people picture when they hear the name.
Here's the thing: Nicolas Cage already played Blaze twice, in 2007 and 2011, in films that exist entirely outside the MCU. Those movies didn't exactly set a high bar creatively, which gives Marvel every reason to either reclaim the character properly or pivot to someone new. Gosling going full Johnny Blaze would be the most recognizable choice for mainstream audiences, but it's also the most predictable.
What most players miss is that Marvel hasn't ruled anything out yet. Kevin Feige made no mention of civilian identity or origin story during the Hall H presentation.
The darker horse: Danny Ketch
Danny Ketch arrived in 1990 and spent the decade becoming one of Marvel's most popular Ghost Riders. His origin is grimmer than Blaze's: he finds a mystical motorcycle in a cemetery after his sister is shot, and the transformation takes over from there. The 1990s run leaned hard into supernatural horror, which would give a Levy-directed MCU film a genuinely different texture compared to the origin Cage portrayed.
Choosing Ketch would let Marvel distance itself from the previous films while still delivering a motorcycle-riding, skull-flaming Spirit of Vengeance. A younger version of Ketch appeared briefly in the 2011 film, but that version barely resembled the comics, so there's no real legacy baggage to work around.
If Gosling did pitch a specific comic-faithful vision, Ketch's 1990s run is exactly the kind of source material that would appeal to an actor who clearly does his homework before signing on.
Robbie Reyes and the case against him
Robbie Reyes is the modern Ghost Rider, debuting in 2014. He's a Los Angeles teenager who bonds with the spirit of his murderous uncle and drives a flaming Dodge Charger instead of a motorcycle. Gabriel Luna played Reyes in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., though that version never officially crossed into the main MCU film continuity.
The age gap is the obvious issue. Reyes is written as a teenager, and while Marvel has aged characters up before, casting Gosling in that role would require a significant reimagining. Possible, but it feels like a stretch.
What the MCU might actually do
Marvel's track record suggests a blend is more likely than a straight adaptation of any single version. The MCU's Tony Stark pulled from multiple comic eras. Thor was substantially reimagined. Wanda Maximoff drew from decades of storylines across different writers.
A Ghost Rider built around Gosling's specific pitch could take Blaze's name recognition, Ketch's horror-inflected mythology, and Reyes's modern visual identity and combine them into something new. That's not a cop-out, it's how the MCU has operated since Phase 1.
The key here is that Gosling reportedly came to Marvel with a vision rather than just accepting a role. That suggests whoever Ghost Rider ends up being on screen, the character will have a clear creative direction behind it.
For Marvel fans already deep in the universe through games like Marvel Rivals, Ghost Rider is already a known quantity. If you want to get a feel for how different Marvel characters play against each other before the film arrives, the Rogue Marvel Rivals guide is worth checking out for matchup breakdowns, and the Marvel Rivals Blood Hunt guide covers the current seasonal content in detail.
The 2028 release window gives Marvel plenty of time to build anticipation, and given how much Gosling's involvement has already dominated the conversation this week, expect the identity reveal to be its own major event. Keep an eye on Phase 7 announcements. The Ghost Rider question is far from settled, and Marvel knows exactly what it's doing by leaving it open. For more coverage across the MCU gaming space and beyond, browse the full gaming guides library.
