Over the past 25 years, there have been several blockbuster hits based on characters from Marvel Comics, but not every adaptation has been successful. One of the low points for Marvel on the big screen was Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, a sequel to the original Ghost Rider movie from the late 2000s. Widely panned, Spirit of Vengeance grossed only $132.5 million worldwide against a $57 million production budget. Most viewers would probably put Spirit of Vengeance at the bottom of their Marvel movie rankings, but nearly 15 years after its debut, the film is finding a new audience on streaming.
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For the week of September 29th to October 5th, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance was the 10th most-watched movie on Netflix in the United States, coming in behind titles such as Idiocracy and Sweet Home Alabama. This was the film’s first week in Netflix’s top 10, and its resurgence on streaming comes at very interesting time.
Could Ghost Rider Return to the MCU In Avengers: Doomsday?
As audiences rediscover Nicolas Cage’s Johnny Blaze on Netflix, rumors are swirling that some version of the character will be seen on the big screen soon. Some of the latest speculation concerning Avengers: Doomsday points to a Ghost Rider appearance as one of the film’s “multiple cameos from other characters.” It’s unknown if Cage would reprise his role in Doomsday, but it’s plausible due to the movie’s multiverse angle. We’ve already seen multiple pre-Marvel Cinematic Universe actors return in new movies, so Cage could be the latest if he was up for a return.
Of course, Gabriel Luna portrayed the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider on Agents of SHIELD. At one point, the actor was going to headline a Ghost Rider TV series, a project that was ultimately cancelled after corporate restructuring. Luna has said he’s open to returning to the role, so there could be a spot for him in the Doomsday ensemble. The MCU movies always had a tenuous dynamic with TV shows like Agents of SHIELD, but things have changed behind the scenes in the time since then. Kevin Feige could be interested in celebrating Marvel’s work on the small screen by giving Robbie Reyes a cameo in Doomsday.
From a certain point of view, it might make more sense to use Luna over Cage if there is indeed a ghost Rider cameo planned. The two Ghost Rider movies weren’t very well received; whereas there’s nostalgia for Fox’s X-Men series, the pre-MCU Spider-Man films, and even the original Fantastic Four series, Ghost Rider may not be held in as high regard. That lack of staying power, combined with the amount of time that has passed since Cage last played the character, means a cameo could potentially fall flat. There’s a scenario where it isn’t as crowd-pleasing as Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man: No Way Home or Chris Evans’ Johnny Storm in Deadpool & Wolverine. Luna is the more recent actor to play the character and could be more recognizable to today’s audiences.
Seeing Cage or Luna again would be fun, but depending on the nature of the cameo (again, if that happens), Marvel may not even need a specific actor. Whether it’s Johnny Blaze or Robbie Reyes, if he’s in his Ghost Rider form, the filmmakers could just use CGI to portray the character. It’s also possible a new actor is brought in. Marvel has started fleshing out the more supernatural side of the MCU, so a Doomsday cameo for Ghost Rider could help set up a larger role for the character moving forward after the Multiverse Saga concludes. Rather than being beholden to a previous incarnation, Marvel can forge a new path for Ghost Rider on screen.
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