For years, Ryan Gosling playing Ghost Rider sounded like one of those fan-casting ideas that had somehow escaped the internet and reached the actor himself. He wanted the role, Kevin Feige knew he wanted it, and finally Marvel actually made it happen. What I did not realize was that the Barbie actor was the one who convinced Feige to do the movie. So, what was the pitch?
Shawn Levy, who will direct Marvel’s upcoming movie, recently explained to People how his next collaboration with Gosling grew directly out of making Star Wars: Starfighter. According to the filmmaker:
This [Starfighter] collaboration felt really good to both of us. Trust developed. We found we brought each other to better work because of each other. So after we wrapped, we just started talking about what else we might do together.
Levy described the La La Land star as much more involved in Starfighter than simply showing up to play Kade Auberon. The actor also serves as an executive producer and, according to the director, paid attention to everything from lighting to production design.
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The couple of Canadians’ next collaboration turned out to be Ghost Rider. And this is where the story seriously surprised me. I knew Gosling had wanted to play the Spirit of Vengeance for years. Back in 2022, he publicly named Ghost Rider as the Marvel character he was interested in, prompting Feige to say he would “love to find a place for him in the MCU.”
I assumed Marvel eventually dusted off the character, approached the Blade Runner 2049 lead, and handed him the keys to the flaming motorcycle. Uh, I was wrong. Apparently, it was Gosling who had the idea. Whatever he told Levy must have been pretty convincing, because the Deadpool & Wolverine filmmaker says he was sold almost immediately:
Literally six minutes into him telling me about it, I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s go. We’re doing that.’ We walked it into Kevin [Feige] and here we are.
I really want to know what the Oscar-nominated actor said during those six minutes. Feige has since revealed that the actor came to Marvel with specific Ghost Rider comics he wanted to discuss, which makes it sound like he already had a pretty clear version of Johnny Blaze in mind. That has me even more curious about what he pitched.
I hope that Daniel Way’s 2006 Ghost Rider run was somewhere in that conversation. Issues #1 through #19 reintroduced the character after years of creative stagnation, giving Johnny Blaze a grittier, uglier edge and leaned hard into the kind of grindhouse horror that suits the character.
The book follows Johny as he escapes hell, with Lucifer using him as a way to Earth, and the motorcyclist from Hades has to track down the devil before he can transform Earth into a new hell. The series is full of scorched highways, demons, hellfire and plenty of supernatural nastiness.
That’s the version of Ghost Rider I want Gosling and Levy to chase. Let Johnny Blaze feel dangerous, grimy and a little disreputable. Give the movie some dirt under its fingernails. Even Gosling’s wife, Eva Mendes, has said she knew he would make a great Ghost Rider after watching him tear around on a motorcycle in The Place Beyond the Pines. How much more convincing do we need that this thing should get gritty? If Gosling is pulling from that era of the comics, I’d happily take a Ghost Rider movie that feels like a battered VHS tape you’d find shoved behind the counter at an old video store.
But before Ryan Gosling becomes the Spirit of Vengeance, we’ll get to see what made him and Levy click in the first place when Star Wars: Starfighter hits the 2027 movie schedule on May 28. If that movie works, I may start wondering what else he can sell Levy on in six minutes.
We have a bit of a wait for both Starfighter and Ghost Rider, so in the meantime, longtime MCU fans can revisit all of the Star Wars and Marvel movies in order with a Disney+ subscription.