Ryan Gosling's Ghost Rider Is Shooting on Film, and That's a Big Deal

Marvel's Ghost Rider movie got its first big crew news yesterday, and it might be the best thing to happen to the way the MCU looks in years. The Hollywood Reporter says Oscar winner Linus Sandgren will shoot Shawn Levy's Ghost Rider on film, and that Heated Rivalry breakout Connor Storrie is in talks to play the villain opposite Ryan Gosling (World of Reel).

Fans noticed fast, and DiscussingFilm's post about the film news passed 1.6 million views in less than a day, which says a lot about how many people have been waiting for a Marvel movie that looks like a movie (DiscussingFilm).

What do we know about Marvel's Ghost Rider so far?

Marvel announced the movie in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con this summer. Gosling stars as the flaming-skulled biker, Levy directs, and the film hits theaters on July 28, 2028 (Marvel).

The idea started on another set, where Gosling and Levy are making Star Wars: Starfighter together for its May 28, 2027 release. Levy said the two spent their downtime riffing on Ghost Rider. Gosling told the Hall H crowd that "this is a character I've wanted to play for a very long time." Levy closed the panel with "Bro, let's ride" (Marvel).

Jonathan Tropper, who wrote Starfighter, is writing the script, and filming starts in New York next year (World of Reel). If you want to know what else Levy and Gosling are cooking up, our Starfighter fan theories piece is a good place to start.

Why does shooting on film matter for a Marvel movie?

Sandgren is one of the biggest champions of film in Hollywood. He won an Oscar for La La Land, shot No Time to Die, Babylon and Saltburn, and he talked Denis Villeneuve into shooting Dune: Part Three on film after the first two movies went digital (World of Reel).

That matters because the MCU has a reputation problem with its look. A lot of fans say the recent movies look flat and gray, with night scenes that all blend together. World of Reel's Jordan Ruimy called the film choice the most promising creative call Marvel has made in a while.

My read is that Ghost Rider is the perfect place to try it. The whole character is fire, chrome, leather and night roads, and those are exactly the things film is famous for handling well. A burning skull should glow and flicker like a real flame, and grain on a dark highway at 2 a.m. is half the mood (Gosling already knows a thing or two about moody night driving).

It also gives the movie a reason to feel different from everything else Marvel releases, since Ghost Rider is a horror character at heart and a grimy, grainy look would sell that before a single line of dialogue.

Which Ghost Rider should Ryan Gosling play?

Marvel still hasn't said which Ghost Rider Gosling is playing, and fans have strong feelings about it, because the three main options have very different personalities.

Johnny Blaze is the original, first appearing in Marvel Spotlight #5 in 1972 as a stunt motorcyclist who sold his soul to save his mentor. Nicolas Cage played him in 2007's Ghost Rider and 2012's Spirit of Vengeance.

Danny Ketch took over in 1990. He's a younger rider who found a cursed motorcycle in a junkyard, and his run is a big reason Ghost Rider was one of Marvel's hottest books in the early '90s.

Robbie Reyes arrived in 2014 with All-New Ghost Rider. He's a Los Angeles teen who drives a 1969 Dodge Charger, and Gabriel Luna played him on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

My read is that Gosling has to be Johnny Blaze. He played a motorcycle stunt rider in The Place Beyond the Pines and a stuntman in The Fall Guy, so a stunt rider who makes a deal with the devil fits him perfectly. Blaze is also the version most moviegoers already know, which makes him easier to reboot than to explain.

Who could Connor Storrie be playing?

The Hollywood Reporter says Storrie is in talks for the villain, but nobody has named the character (Gizmodo). Storrie broke out on HBO Max's Heated Rivalry, and before that he played the inmate who kills Arthur at the end of Joker: Folie à Deux.

The obvious Ghost Rider villain is Mephisto, the devil who makes the deal. That gets tricky, since Sacha Baron Cohen already played Mephisto in Ironheart, and he told SuperHeroHype he had "no idea" about this project (Gizmodo).

My read is that Storrie is playing Blackheart, Mephisto's son. Blackheart is a young demon with a chip on his shoulder and serious family drama, which is a great fit for a rising star (Wes Bentley played him in the 2007 movie, so this would be a big upgrade in hair).

Can Shawn Levy pull off a darker Marvel movie?

This is the part where fans are genuinely divided. Levy made Deadpool & Wolverine, which earned more than $1.3 billion, but most of his movies are crowd-pleasers like Free Guy and Night at the Museum, and Ruimy was blunt that he hasn't liked any of them.

On the other hand, Levy is a big part of why Stranger Things works, since he directed several episodes and produced the whole series, which gets plenty creepy. He clearly knows how to scare people without losing the fun.

Neither Nicolas Cage movie landed with critics, so the bar here is low. My read is that the hiring of Sandgren is the tell. You don't bring in the guy who just shot Dune: Part Three on film for a goofy action comedy. This crew is building a darker, stranger Ghost Rider, and that's the one fans have wanted for 20 years.

Where can you read Ghost Rider before 2028?

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If you want to pick a side before Marvel picks one for you, these are the best starting points for each rider.

• Ghost Rider Epic Collection: Hell on Wheels (Johnny Blaze)
• Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Epic Collection: Bad to the Bone
• Ghost Rider: Robbie Reyes, The Complete Collection

So which Ghost Rider do you want Gosling to play? Our money is on Johnny Blaze, but Robbie Reyes in a Dodge Charger would be a fun swerve. And if you need to catch up on the rest of the MCU first, our Avengers: Doomsday watch order cuts it down to what matters.

Extremely normal about fiction.

Header image and Hall H photos are official Marvel Studios images. Connor Storrie photo by Tara Taralynn via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped.