The Marvel Universe has roughly 48 billion characters across its storied comic book history. By last count, the number of above the title actors in Hollywood is *checks notes* not that high. So for Kevin Feige to figure out which actor will play what character is a pretty tough proposition. You can’t just waste an Oscar-winner on a side character in a mid-credits scene who then never shows up again… Anyway, one pairing people seem to want is Ryan Gosling as Ghost Rider (probably the Danny Ketch version, but not confirmed). Gosling gave a brief update on the process and tells fans to “Keep hope alive.”
Gosling appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast (h/t Variety) to promote Project Hail Mary. As usual for host Josh Horowitz, questions regarding fallow projects flew the actor’s way. “We’ll keep hope alive,” Gosling said. “Some discussions have been had. It’s a complicated situation.” The actor first expressed his interest in playing Ghost Rider, the flame-skulled motorcyclist who acts as spirit of vengeance for Mephisto, in 2022.
The comment came about during the lead-up to Barbie, a film which earned Gosling his third Oscar nomination. He played Ken, of course. At the time, someone asked Feige if he’d heard of Gosling’s interest in riding ghostly, to which the mega-producer replied: “Hey man, if Ryan wants to be Ghost Rider… Gosling’s unbelievable. Ryan is amazing…I’d love to find a place for him in the MCU. He’s dressed up as Ken on Venice Beach [filming Barbie] and gets more press than giant movies coming out that weekend. It’s amazing.”
Whether or not Mr. Gosling gets to play Ghost Rider, we’re on the verge of the Marvel Cinematic Universe needing to cast upwards of a trillion mutants. So even if it’s not Ghost Rider, everyone including Gosling will end up in a Marvel movie eventually.
Kyle Anderson is the Senior Editor for Nerdist. He hosts the weekly pop culture deep-dive podcast Laser Focus. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Letterboxd.