Ryan Gosling officially joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Ghost Rider
Ryan Gosling has officially joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as his fan-favorite character is set to return to the big screen for the first time since 2011.
Marvel has been on a whirlwind tour of announcements recently, which has seen the major comic and film brand announce David Jonsson as the next Black Panther in its upcoming Black Panther III.
The company also revealed X-Men ’97 Seasons 3 and 4, which comes decades after the original animated series launched its characters with their comic-accurate costumes.
But also during Marvel’s Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday (July 25), another mega-announcement was made.
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That 45-year-old Gosling is pegged to take on the title of Ghost Rider, who was previously brought to life by Nicolas Cage in 2007 and again four years later.
“As you know, this is a character I’ve wanted to play for a long time,” Gosling said onstage to the crowd of fans.
Gosling will embody Johnny Blaze, a dare devil who – through a spooky encounter – ends up being taken over by the Ghost Rider, a flaming skeleton.
The original movie with Cage, also starred someone close to Gosling himself, wife Eva Mendes who played reporter Roxanne Simpson.
However, when Cage reprised the role in the 2011 sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Mendes was nowhere to be seen.
Instead, the female interest was Violante Placido, who played Nadya.
In this rendition, People reports Shawn Levy, who directed Deadpool and Wolverine, will take the lead on this project.
“I’m having the greatest flashback vibes here, because I was here two years ago when we showed Deadpool & Wolverine,” Levy said at the event.
This marks Gosling's first ever superhero movie (if you can call Ghost Rider a superhero).
But Levy explained that it was onset of the upcoming film Star Wars: Starfighter that apparently he and Gosling dreamt up the idea – and it was brought to life.
He added: “I’ll never forget that night, because I was introduced to the greatest fans. Gosling is the absolute s***. I say that with tremendous respect. We spent a lot of time last year making Starfighter, and the opportunity as Ryan started talking about this character, I was like, ‘Bro let’s ride.’ We’ll see you in 2028!”
Also at the event was a major Avengers announcement – Avengers: Doomsday.
The evening presentation hosted a mega-panel moderated by Marvel President, Kevin Feige, and had directors Anthony and Joe Russo on stage with its cast, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Pedro Pascal, Paul Rudd, Anthony Mackie, Lewis Pullman, Kelsey Grammer, Danny Ramirez, Winston Duke, Simu Liu, James Marsden, David Harbour, Letitia Wright, Hannah John-Kamen, Rebecca Romijn, and Tenoch Huerta Mejia.
Hayley Atwell was also revealed to play Peggy Carter.
So, it's safe to say there's a lot of changes happening!
Topics: Ryan Gosling, Marvel, Film and TV, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Britt Jones