Fan Fridays: Will Ghost Rider REALLY appear on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.?

The Spirit of Vengeance may be coming back to television screens! Yes, a recent rumor that Ghost Rider would be showing up on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. thanks to a recent S.H.I.E.L.D. promotional bus that had a flaming chain on the side. Now arguably, this chain could just be that of the Inhuman character, Hellfire, though there are some convincing arguments brought up by Comicbook.com fan, Johnny Ketch. With that being said, let’s take a look at the facts that are out there that support the claim that S.H.I.E.L.D. is about to dive into the supernatural.

I think a major component for why this is possible is Marvel Studios’ upcoming push into the world of magic with Dr. Strange. If Agents were to introduce the fiery anti-hero this season, it would help bring audience members into this strange new landscape if Coulson and crew had to deal with the Spirit of Vengeance. In the past, S.H.I.E.L.D. has tied into nearly every Marvel motion picture in some form or another and by introducing Ghost Rider here, this may be the link to Strange’s film in November. Also, Agent Carter took a step toward the world of mysticism during its, unfortunately, final season earlier this year so the precedent is there.

Now obviously, going back the blazing chain on the promo bus, the debate that this belongs to James, aka Hellfire, from season 3 is warranted. Though to be honest, he was something of a supporting character among the team and placing him on promotion material seems like a strange push. The show has been squarely focused on the Inhumans and their ilk for the past two seasons and you would think that a push to a new area of focus would be best, especially as last season ended with what is seemingly going to be the team fighting against machines/Life Model Decoys moving forward. At the end of the day, let’s face it, S.H.I.E.L.D. needs a big pull to grab new audiences in and Ghost Rider would certainly help with that.

Another big tell is, looking at the comics, Marvel recently released its solicitations for its September comics and trade paperbacks, one of which just so happened to be a collection of Ghost Rider’s adventures with the Midnight Sons. The Sons were the team of supernatural heroes that Ghost Rider paled around with in the 90s, and were surprisingly enough one of the highest selling books of its time. For Marvel to seemingly release a trade paperback of this 90s tale is a bit odd unless they had something up their sleeves.

Ghost Rider has been chatted about since Marvel had gotten back the rights to the character from Sony following the less than stellar Nic Cage sequel outing. Norman Reedus of Walking Dead fame had even stated in an interview that he’d love to play the character if offered. While a movie doesn’t seem to be in the cards, or a Netflix series it seems, introducing Ghost Rider through the world of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D may be the best option for now.

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