10 Years Later, Did Marvel Just Erase One ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Anti-Hero?

Aside from the occasional Doctor Strange film or a one-off Disney+ outing like Werewolf by Night or Agatha All Along, the MCU hasn’t fully engaged with the supernatural side of the Marvel Universe. The franchise can’t seem to get Blade off the ground, the Thor movies strongly imply that the Asgardians are a technologically advanced alien race, and although Mephisto (the closest thing Marvel has to a literal Satan archetype) was introduced in Ironheart, he has yet to become a villain of note. Even though the Marvel Universe on the page is filled with demons and vampires and werewolves and supernatural creatures of all sorts, thus far the movies have been particularly interested in the cosmic side of things with little focus on much else.

However, that wasn’t the case for one underrated Marvel property: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., the ABC series that debuted in 2013. Across its seven-season run, the show ventured into various different corners of the MCU, including the supernatural, introducing the Darkhold (the ancient mystical tome that corrupts the Scarlet Witch in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness) in season 4. But that same season introduced an even bigger supernatural presence to the MCU: Gabriel Luna as Robbie Reyes, the fifth Ghost Rider in the comics and the first canon appearance of the character in the cinematic universe…although the recent announcement of a new Ghost Rider movie just might call that status into question.

At San Diego Comic-Con, it was revealed that Shawn Levy would be directing a Ghost Rider film with Ryan Gosling starring in the lead, the same creative partnership to be found in the upcoming Star Wars: Starfighter. According to both Levy and Kevin Feige, Gosling was the impetus of the pitch, which is ironic considering the actor has been a popular fancast for the character for years now. As exciting as it is to think of Ghost Rider making his return to the big screen (after two middling Nicolas Cage attempts), it does come with the implication that the franchise’s previous Spirit of Vengeance might be getting quietly decanonized.

Robbie Reyes made his debut on the page in 2014, a part of Marvel’s post-Secret Wars initiative “All-New, All-Different;” the Mexican-American mechanic and street racer was a very different Ghost Rider in that, instead of a motorcycle, he drove a 1969 Dodge Charger, and instead of being possessed by a traditional Spirit of Vengeance, he shared a body with his long-dead uncle Eli, a Satanist murderer and mob hitman. Reyes was introduced in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. two years later, preserving much of his original origin (except the series remixed his relationship with his uncle and made him an official Spirit of Vengeance, courtesy of a torch-passing by Johnny Blaze) and quickly becoming a fan-favorite inclusion on the show. There were plans to give the character a Hulu spin-off back in 2019, but those plans quickly fell through. And since then, Gabriel Luna’s depiction hasn’t made a reappearance.

As of this writing, there’s no confirmation as to which version of Ghost Rider Ryan Gosling will be playing: before Reyes, there were two other main claimants to the title (not counting the original Ghost Rider, a human gunslinger from Marvel’s 60s Western comics). The first is, of course, stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze, who Nicolas Cage depicted, but there’s also Danny Ketch, who debuted in 1990. Ketch was a New Yorker who became the Spirit of Vengeance after being attacked alongside his sister by gangsters, only to discover a mysterious motorcycle that transformed him into the Ghost Rider upon touching it.

It’s more than likely that Gosling will be playing a rebooted version of Johnny Blaze, but there’s always the possibility that he might play the second Ghost Rider, or at the very least the film might establish the precedent of multiple Spirits of Vengeance. Despite the fact that initially there could only be one Ghost Rider active at a time, the comics have long since established that there are a number of active Spirits of Vengeance across the world, all dependent on culture and region – the upcoming film could easily re-introduce Robbie Reyes as simply another Ghost Rider who Blaze/Ketch encounters.

A new Ghost Rider film is an intriguing prospect, especially considering Marvel’s present lack of interest in their supernatural side, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of Gabriel Luna’s incredibly well-received depiction of the character – especially when the movie has the opportunity to revisit a forgotten relic of the MCU’s past while also maintaining Luna’s role as one of a handful of Latino superheroes who have actually been adapted into live-action.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. streams on Disney+.