Marvel loves to name their fire-adjacent characters “Johnny” because if isn’t Johnny Storm, it’s Johnny Blaze, also known as the Ghost Rider and a wildly fun character that isn’t a stranger to the big screen or the world of Marvel at large.
Johnny Blaze has been around for quite some time. Introduced in the comics in 1972, he has had a successful run on the big screen in the Nicolas Cage movies from 2007 and 2011, and Ghost Rider was also played by Gabriel Luna on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. as the character Robbie Reyes, giving us another great take on the title. Still, he’s yet to make his big screen debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And now, according to MTV News’ Josh Horowitz, he seems to have a big name attached to him—well, sort of.
Horowitz took to San Diego Comic-Con 2022 and spoke with Feige after the big Marvel panel on Saturday night and told Feige that Ryan Gosling had talked to him about wanting to play Johnny Blaze in the MCU. He also brought up the fan casting of Norman Reedus for Johnny Blaze, but as much as I like Reedus on The Walking Dead, I don’t really love the idea of him as Johnny. Gosling though? That has definitely piqued my interest.
The funny thing about this, though, is when Horowitz brought it up to Feige, the lights in the building seemed to go out for a moment. “Gosling’s amazing,” Feige started, and suddenly the lights when out, and he looked towards the cameras and said, “Oh boy that’s a bad omen,” as the two trie to continue on with the interview.
“Ryan’s amazing. I’d love to find a place for him in the MCU,” Feige said. “He’s dressed up as Ken on Venice Beach [and] he gets more press than giant movies coming out that weekend. It’s amazing.”
Do we need more Johnny Blaze?
The quick answer? Yes. But it’d also mean the running bit in the Marvel Cinematic Universe of “oh my god, it’s Mephisto” would probably be a reality given that Johnny gets his powers by making a deal with him to save his father figure. Overall though, Ghost Rider is a fun character to explore. He is a stunt performer and makes a deal to be bound to the Spirit of Vengeance (Zarathos), which then gives him superhuman strength and turns him into the Ghost Rider.
Johnny Blaze is a blonde-haired, blue-eyed stunt performer and Ghost Rider is a fiery skull, but what makes me excited about the prospect of Gosling as Johnny is not only does he look the part, but also, he’s played a stunt performer before in one of my favorite movies, Drive. He can pull off the stunts, he can pull off the look, and I just think that Ryan Gosling riding around on a motorcycle in the Marvel Cinematic Universe just sounds like a dream come true.
So, take the lights flickering as a sign, Kevin, that Mephisto himself is ready to make the deal with Gosling to be his Ghost Rider. That or bring back Gabriel Luna. Those are my dreams for the character of Johnny Blaze at this moment.
(featured image: Marvel Entertainment)
