Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider Reboot Casts MCU Villain With Heated Rivalry Breakout

The MCU timeline is currently finishing up the rest of the Multiverse Saga, with Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars bringing Doctor Doom up against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. However, as Phase 6 is nearing its end, Marvel Studios is already busy working on Phase 7, including one of their most highly anticipated films.

The Hollywood Reporter reveals that Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie is in talks to join the upcoming Ghost Rider reboot. While his part has yet to be revealed, he is circling the villain role in Ryan Gosling’s upcoming MCU film. As of writing, Marvel Studios and Disney have not commented on the casting report.

Storrie’s potential addition is coming only three months after it was announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2026 that Gosling was boarding the MCU as the Spirit of Vengeance. The Barbie actor will reunite with director Shawn Levy on the Phase 7 entry after working together on Star Wars: Starfighter. It’s still unclear which version of Ghost Rider he will play in the new reboot.

This won’t be Storrie’s first comic book film, though, as he appeared in 2024’s Joker: Folie à Deux, where he appeared as an Arkham Asylum inmate who ends up killing Joaquin Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck. While he is never named, the DC sequel did set up the possibility that he is actually the real Clown Prince of Crime in that universe.

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Time will tell what new or returning MCU characters may be in Ghost Rider, as the franchise has already introduced a handful of players related to the character’s mythology. The Ironheart TV show formally introduced Mephisto during Phase 5, with Sacha Baron Cohen taking on the famous Marvel foe. Even if he won’t be part of this project specifically, there are many villains that they could utilize from the comics.

If Gosling ends up playing Johnny Blaze, the MCU could always bring back Jennifer Kale from Agatha All Along, who is his canonical cousin in the comics. Sasheer Zamata brought her to life in the Disney+ drama, with her character seen alive by the end of the finale, as it left the door open for her to return in the future.

While production has yet to start on Ghost Rider, the script is being penned by Jonathan Tropper, who also wrote Star Wars: Starfighter. When Kevin Feige was asked which iteration Gosling is meant to be playing, the Marvel Studios president gave the following response to ComicBook back in July: “I am going to let Ryan reveal what he wants to reveal when he wants to reveal it, and what he wanted to reveal today was he’s playing Ghost Rider.”

Ghost Rider is just one of the many MCU films coming out in 2028, as the X-Men reboot from Thunderbolts*’s Jake Schreier is slated for May 5, while Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther 3 is heading to theaters on December 15. Hopefully, as filming gets closer to starting on Gosling’s major superhero movie, which will most likely be in 2027, more details on who Storrie is playing in the film will emerge sooner rather than later.

Ghost Rider opens in theaters on July 28, 2028.

Ghost Rider