(CNN) — Ryan Gosling is slated to enter the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in 2028 as he transforms into the leather-clad, motorcycle-mounted, demonic superhero Ghost Rider, Marvel announced at the San Diego Comic-Con Sunday.
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige teased the announcement while on stage at the 2026 edition of the comic book convention, telling fans, “We keep secrets to maintain surprises,” before alluding to fans’ demands for the introduction of the supernatural stunt motorcyclist to the MCU.
Feige then pounced on movie critic Josh Horowitz in the audience. Horowitz, fresh from hosting a panel at the convention, grabbed a microphone and pleaded to know when audiences would finally get to see Ryan Gosling as Ghost Rider — a dream casting talked about by Marvel fans for years.
Suddenly, the hall was plunged into darkness. To a pounding bass soundtrack, the words “Ghost Rider” were projected onto the screen behind Feige, glowing blood red.
When the lights came back up, Gosling was on the stage.
“Wow,” Gosling said, “Is this really happening?” he asked, amid raucous cheers from the crowd.
The Golden Globe winner enthused about how he’d wanted to play Ghost Rider for “a very long time,” and considered only one director fit for the job — Shawn Levy, the director of Gosling’s upcoming movie, “Star Wars: Starfighter.”
Levy then bounded onto the stage to greet Feige and Gosling, telling fans that the pair had “riffed” about Ghost Rider ideas while shooting “Star Wars: Starfighter” together last year.
“And finally, I was like: Bro, let’s ride,” Levy added, to wild applause from the audience.
Ghost Rider made his Marvel comic book debut in 1967 as the “world’s most mysterious Western hero” — the horse-riding alter ego of character Carter Slade.
But it was as the superhero identity of the character Johnny Blaze, in Marvel Spotlight issue 5 in 1972, that Ghost Rider really set fans’ hearts aflame. Blaze makes a pact with Satan to protect someone he loves — but after nightfall, his flesh is consumed by hellfire, and his head becomes a flaming skull.
The comic book has been adapted for the silver screen in the past, with Nicolas Cage filling the biker boots of the titular character in 2007, alongside Gosling’s now-partner, Eva Mendes, and once again in 2011.
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