Agents of SHIELD: Gabriel Luna On Stepping Into Nic Cage’s Ghost Rider Shoes & More

When Agents of SHIELD premieres tonight, fans can expect to see Gabriel Luna suit up as a fiery version of Ghost Rider. Season 4 will introduce the iconic Marvel hero to viewers who may have only seen the supernatural character in Nicolas Cage’s films. So, it’s not surprising to hear that Gabriel Luna has thought about how he’d step into his predecessor’s shoes – and he’s taking it very seriously.

Well, for the most part.

Speaking with ComicBook.com’s Ashley Robinson at the Agents of SHIELD Season 4 premiere, the actor described what kind of legacy he wanted to take from Nic.

“I think I might try to just go crazy every opportunity I can on screen so they can make a really sweet Youtube video of all my freak-outs,’ he joked. “I think that’s the legacy I want to carry from Nic.”

But, all jokes aside, Gabriel said there are plenty of differences between his version of Ghost Rider and those seen in on the big screen. “No, you know – our versions are really, really different,” he said. “I mean there’s a world [of] difference between our take and their take.”

“I really love how serious [we take Ghost Rider]. We’re definitely infusing it with a lot of gravitas and true-to-life emotional struggle. He’s just trying to be a normal guy who has to care for his brother [and] deal with these very real family ties. Meanwhile, [he’s] moonlighting as the Spirit of Vengeance and going out at night and putting more X’s on the wall when it comes to taking out bad guys.”

Of course, the biggest difference between Nic Cage and Gabriel Luna is in their actual characters. The film adaptations featured Johnny Blaze as Ghost Rider who is arguably the most famous iteration of the hero. Gabriel Luna will play Robbie Reyes who debuted in Marvel NOW! a few years back. The new hero ditches Ghost Rider’s traditional chopper in lieu of a souped-up muscle car.

In a recent interview, Gabriel Luna talked about how he approached the new character.

“When I read the books by Felipe [Smith] and Tradd [Moore], and all the people who contributed to doing those first 12 issues of the All-New Ghost Rider, the first thing that I identified with was the orphan nature of his upbringing and some of the hardships that he deals with, at a very, very young age. He’s raising his little brother, from the age of 13. There were some striking similarities to my background and my past, and some similar family dynamics.

Previous incarnations of the character are men who usually have a pretty decent life, to start out. Johnny Blaze is a famous Hollywood stuntman. Danny Ketch is not doing too bad to start with. And then, the Ghost Rider becomes this really heavy curse on them. Robbie is in an inverted position there. He had some hardships early in his life, and the Ghost Rider actually becomes an empowering thing. While it’s still difficult to deal with and very much a curse, he had some f*cked up sh*t going on before Ghost Rider ever came about. His control over it is something that slightly differs from the previous characters and previous vessels of the Ghost Rider spirit.”

Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD returns to ABC on September 20 at 10 p.m. ET/PT.