Ryan Gosling Officially Cast as Ghost Rider in Marvel’s MCU

Aug 8, 2026

The Spirit of Vengeance is finally riding into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with Marvel Studios confirming Ryan Gosling will star as Ghost Rider in a new feature film arriving in 2028.

After years of fan speculation—and Gosling making no secret of his interest in the character—Marvel Studios has made it official: Ryan Gosling is the MCU’s Ghost Rider.

Marvel announced the casting during its Hall H presentation at San Diego Comic-Con 2026, where Gosling made a surprise appearance alongside Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. The upcoming standalone Ghost Rider film is currently slated to hit theaters in 2028.

Ryan Gosling Finally Gets His Marvel Role

Gosling’s connection to Ghost Rider isn’t something that appeared overnight.

The actor has publicly expressed interest in playing the supernatural Marvel antihero for years. During his Comic-Con appearance, Gosling acknowledged that history, telling the crowd that Ghost Rider is a character he has wanted to play for a long time.

Earlier in 2026, Gosling had also confirmed that discussions with Marvel had taken place, although he stopped short of revealing what those conversations might lead to.

Now we know.

Gosling is officially joining the MCU as the motorcycle-riding Spirit of Vengeance.

Shawn Levy Will Direct Ghost Rider

Marvel has also found the director who will bring its new Ghost Rider to the big screen.

Shawn Levy is set to direct the movie, marking another collaboration between Levy and Marvel Studios following 2024’s Deadpool & Wolverine.

The project will also reunite Levy and Gosling, who have already worked together on Star Wars: Starfighter. Jonathan Tropper, who wrote that film, has reportedly been tapped to write the Ghost Rider screenplay as well.

Perhaps most interestingly, Gosling appears to have played a significant role in getting the movie off the ground.

Feige said following the Comic-Con announcement that Gosling approached Marvel with a specific vision for Ghost Rider based on particular comics.

That makes this considerably more than another high-profile actor being recruited for an MCU role. Gosling appears to have actively pursued the character and helped shape the project that ultimately won Marvel over.

The Spirit of Vengeance Returns to the Big Screen

Ghost Rider has had an unusual history in live action.

Nicolas Cage starred as Johnny Blaze in 2007’s Ghost Rider before returning for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Those films were produced before Ghost Rider became part of Marvel Studios’ interconnected cinematic universe.

A different incarnation later appeared on television when Gabriel Luna portrayed Robbie Reyes in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Gosling’s film will now bring Ghost Rider into Marvel Studios’ modern feature-film universe with a standalone project of his own.

The character presents Marvel with an opportunity to explore a much darker and more supernatural corner of its universe than audiences typically see in an Avengers movie.

In Marvel Comics, Ghost Rider is associated with demons, hellish dimensions, supernatural vengeance and some of the publisher’s darkest characters. That gives the studio plenty of material to work with if it chooses to embrace the horror elements that have long defined the character.

Which Ghost Rider Is Ryan Gosling Playing?

Marvel’s announcement confirms Gosling as Ghost Rider, but one of the biggest questions surrounding the project is exactly how Marvel Studios will interpret the character.

Ghost Rider is a mantle that has belonged to several characters in the comics, most famously Johnny Blaze, but also Danny Ketch, Robbie Reyes and others.

Gosling has historically been associated with Johnny Blaze when discussing his interest in the role, and subsequent reporting has identified his character as Blaze.

The larger question is how much of the character’s comic-book mythology Marvel intends to bring with him.

Ghost Rider opens the door to an entire supernatural side of Marvel that could potentially include demons, occult threats and characters rarely associated with the more traditional superhero corner of the MCU.

For now, Marvel is keeping many of those details under wraps.