At this point, there are only two types of actors in Hollywood: those who have been offered roles in Marvel Cinematic Universe projects, and those who are about to be. As such, "Which Superhero do you want to play?" has become a fairly standard interview question for any actor or actress who isn’t already playing one. So when we saw that somebody had talked to Norman Reedus about playing a Marvel hero we didn’t think much of it. Until we saw which character he was talking about. Because no hero would make more sense to be played by the man behind Daryl Dixon than Ghost Rider.
Genre fans know Norman Reedus as the crossbow wielding motorcycle riding zombie slayer from The Walking Dead. It’s a fitting character for him, in part because the actor has a true love for the bikes. As part of the promotion for his new motorcycle focused AMC show Ride with Norman Reedus, Uproxx asked him if he would be interested in playing the flaming skull on wheels. We don’t know if Marvel is looking for a new Ghost Rider, but if they are, they may have just found him.
Hell yeah. It would be a blast. Do I get a skull face that’s on fire and all that stuff? Fuck yeah. I’m down.
Previously, Ghost Rider had been played by Nicholas Cage in a pair of, mediocre at best, big screen adventures. A couple of years ago the rights, which had previously been sold to Sony, reverted back to Marvel after the former studio decided not to follow up on Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance with a third film. However, since getting the rights back we’ve heard little from Marvel regarding any possible big or small screen future for Johnny Blaze.
While Marvel Studios first focused on building the MCU characters that hadn’t seen previous adaptations, they more recently have been very successful in rebooting some of the characters whose rights they've been able to get back. Both Daredevil and The Punisher have seen success on Netflix after less than stellar outings on the big screen, and Marvel now has creative control of Spider-Man back, although they’re technically still sharing the rights with Sony. With proof that fans are willing to give these characters another chance, is there a possibility that we might see Ghost Rider again?
We’d have to say if they ever do look at bringing Johnny Blaze back, there are worse choices than Norman Reedus. He looks great on a motorcycle and can certainly pull off the attitude of a vengeful servant of hell. Really, just set Daryl Dixon's skull on fire and you pretty much have the Ghost Rider character already.
Is it time for Marvel to bring back Ghost Rider? If so, is Norman Reedus the right man for the job? Who would you like to see take on the role? Sound off in the comments below.
