Ryan Gosling surprised the crowd at San Diego Comic-Con on Saturday when he stepped onstage to confirm he will play Ghost Rider in a new Marvel Studios film, and his wife, Eva Mendes, wasted no time celebrating the news on social media.
Mendes, who played Roxanne Simpson in 2007’s “Ghost Rider” alongside Nicolas Cage, posted an Instagram video Sunday showing the opening scene of “The Place Beyond the Pines,” the 2012 film that also starred Gosling, with text reading, “From this intro only I thought Ryan Gosling can be a perfect casting for Ghost Rider role.” She signed the caption “Love, Roxy,” a nod to her own character from nearly two decades ago.
Gosling’s casting caps years of fan speculation and public lobbying from the actor himself. When Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige called him onto the Hall H stage to a revving motorcycle sound effect, Gosling told the crowd, “Wow, is this really happening? As you know, this is a character I’ve wanted to play for a very long time.”
He then invited Shawn Levy, who directed him in the upcoming “Star Wars: Starfighter,” to join him onstage to direct the Ghost Rider film as well. Levy, fresh off “Deadpool & Wolverine’s” $1.3 billion haul, called Gosling “the absolute shit” in front of the Hall H audience. Jonathan Tropper, who wrote “Starfighter” and co-wrote Levy’s “The Adam Project,” will pen the script. Marvel set the film for a 2028 release.
The pairing gives Gosling and Levy back-to-back franchise tentpoles, with “Star Wars: Starfighter” arriving in May 2027 ahead of “Ghost Rider” the following year. Gosling reportedly holds creative influence over the project comparable to Ryan Reynolds’s role in shaping “Deadpool.” Cage played the character, motorcycle stuntman Johnny Blaze, in two films that together grossed more than $361 million worldwide.
Mendes stepped back from acting more than a decade ago to raise the couple’s two daughters, though she has continued to champion Gosling’s career publicly despite the couple’s guarded approach to their relationship. She reshared a second clip Sunday pairing footage of her and Gosling from “The Place Beyond the Pines” with the caption describing it as “Ghost Rider in a parallel universe,” calling it a “beautiful parallel universe connection.”
