Ryan Gosling Will Lead Marvel’s ‘Ghost Rider’ Movie in 2028

A Hall H rumor becomes official

Marvel Studios made its long-rumored supernatural casting official Saturday at San Diego Comic-Con: Ryan Gosling is joining the MCU as the Spirit of Vengeance, with a standalone film planned for 2028. Studio chief Kevin Feige brought Gosling onstage during Marvel’s Hall H presentation, where the actor said the character was one he had wanted to play “for a very long time.”variety +1

Shawn Levy, who directed Marvel’s blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine, will direct the new project.deadline +1 Deadline reported that Jonathan Tropper is writing the screenplay, reuniting the filmmaker, writer and star after their work on Star Wars: Starfighter, which is scheduled for May 2027.deadline

A darker corner of the MCU

Johnny Blaze is a motorcycle stunt performer whose bargain with the devil binds him to a demon and turns him into a flaming-skulled agent of vengeance. Gosling becomes the latest actor associated with the mantle after Nicolas Cage played Blaze in Sony’s 2007 film and its 2011 sequel, while Gabriel Luna portrayed the Robbie Reyes incarnation on ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.variety +1

The casting also gives Marvel a star with fresh box-office momentum. Deadline said Gosling’s Project Hail Mary earned more than $684 million worldwide, while the two Cage-led films together grossed more than $361 million.deadline Gosling and Levy developed the idea while working together on Starfighter, with Levy recalling onstage that their conversations eventually reached a simple conclusion: “Bro, let’s ride.”variety

The announcement leaves key details under wraps

Marvel supplied a release year but no exact date, plot outline, supporting cast or production timetable.invenglobal +1 Reports also differed on whether the presentation explicitly identified Gosling’s incarnation as Johnny Blaze: several outlets did so, while Comics Beat said the specific Ghost Rider was not named from the stage.thepopverse +1 That ambiguity matters because multiple characters, including Blaze, Reyes and Danny Ketch, have carried the title in Marvel comics.

The reveal was one piece of a compact movie-focused presentation. Marvel also confirmed Hayley Atwell’s Peggy Carter for Avengers: Doomsday and set Black Panther 3 for December 2028, with Ryan Coogler returning to direct and David Jonsson playing an adult T’Challa Jr.invenglobal For now, the supernatural film’s clearest commitments are its star, director and 2028 window—enough to turn years of fan speculation into a real place on Marvel’s post-Secret Wars calendar.