It was 19 years ago today that Marvel brought one of its most powerful heroes to the movie screens, and it’s time he returned in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The MCU initially brought in heroes and villains that weren’t tied up with rights issues, such as Captain America, Iron Man, and Thor. The studio learned the hard way to be careful about other heroes, as they made a Hulk movie but could not make another thanks to rights tied up with Universal. Since Disney acquired Fox, Marvel has regained the rights to many heroes, including the X-Men and Fantastic Four, which will play a big part in the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday movie.
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However, Marvel also had issues with Sony in the past, as that company owns the rights to Spider-Man and his side characters like Spider-Woman. However, there is one Sony character that Marvel regained the rights to in 2013, but they still haven’t really tried to capitalize on Ghost Rider since the previous two Sony movies.
Nic Cage Released Two Interesting Ghost Rider Movies
On February 16, 2007, Sony released Ghost Rider into theaters, with Nicolas Cage starring as Johnny Blaze, the former stunt rider who became the Spirit of Vengeance. Mark Steven Johnson, who previously directed Daredevil with Ben Affleck, directed the movie. On top of casting Cage as Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider, Johnson also signed Peter Fonda to play Mephisto, Wes Bentley to play Mephisto’s son Blackheart, and Eva Mendes as the love interest, Roxanne Simpson.
The movie was a minor box office success, making $228.7 million worldwide on a budget of $110 million. Critics mostly hated the movie, awarding it a 28% Rotten Tomatoes score, although fans were a little kinder, offering a 48% audience score. Cage received a Razzie Award nomination for his performance, while the movie also received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Horror Film. Ghost Rider has become a cult classic, though, and many fans wanted to see Cage return for Deadpool & Wolverine, although that never happened.
As much as people dismissed this Ghost Rider movie after its release, critics loved it compared to the sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Genre fans were rightfully excited when the directors of Jason Statham’s Crank signed on for the movie, but Neveldine/Taylor’s frantic sensibilities created a film that was too much for almost anyone to enjoy. Despite being made for less money, at $57 million, its $132.5 million box office was a disappointment. It had an 18% Rotten Tomatoes score and a 31% from the audience, marking the end of the Sony Marvel franchise.
Nicolas Cage was trying to get a third movie made before Marvel regained control, canceling the Sony franchise. When asked about his feelings about Marvel, Cage admitted he loved the comic book line, but he didn’t need to be in a Marvel movie because “I’m Nic Cage.” However, he said never to count him out, and he is coming back this year as a different Marvel character, starring in Spider-Noir on Prime Video.
Robbie Reyes Needs to Bring Ghost Rider to the MCU
While Nicolas Cage’s run as Ghost Rider ended after two releases, the character returned when Marvel regained the movie rights. However, this wasn’t Johnny Blaze, and it wasn’t technically in the MCU. Instead, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD introduced Robbie Reyes’ version of Ghost Rider, played by Gabriel Luna, in the fourth season when the show had broken away from the MCU continuity. Reyes was supposed to get his own series in the Hulu horror line, which started with Helstrom, but that ended up being cancelled when Marvel moved in a different direction.
While the rumors of Ghost Rider being in Avengers: Doomsday ended up shot down, the MCU needs to bring the Spirit of Vengeance back into the fold. It really needs to be Robbie Reyes in the post-Secret Wars MCU, and he should be in the Midnight Sons movie. However, there is always a place for Nicolas Cage as well, if the MCU wants to bring in an older version of Johnny Blaze, similar to the video game Midnight Suns. There is room for both of them, although Robbie needs to lead the way into the supernatural world alongside Blade, Black Knight, Elsa Bloodstone, and whoever else Marvel puts into this team.
It seems almost incredible to consider the fact that Marvel has had the rights to Ghost Rider back for 13 years now, and they have never put him into anything other than a storyline on Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD. While they considered him for the Hulu Marvel world, nothing got very far there. Of course, this is also the company that doesn’t know how to bring Blade to the big screen, and his past movies were much more successful than Ghost Rider. One has to hope that after Avengers: Secret Wars, the MCU finally figures out how to deal with its mythical characters because Ghost Rider is long overdue for a Marvel movie return.
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Image courtesy of Tor Books/Macmillan -
Official art by Bastien Lecouffe-Deharme
