The MCU's Real Ghost Rider Appeared 5 Times During Phase 1

The MCU is already planning ahead for Phase 7, and Ryan Gosling is set to star as the Spirit of Vengeance in a new Ghost Rider film. Ghost Rider is a popular anti-hero from the pages of Marvel Comics, going back to the 1970s, but 2028 will be the first time that he officially appears as part of the MCU. What even diehard fans of the Marvel films may not know is that two different Ghost Riders already appeared on the small screen, and the latest TV version is the greatest.

Ryan Gosling was a popular fan-cast even before the news broke that he'd star in the Ghost Rider installment of Phase 7 in the upcoming Marvel movies slate, with Gosling himself expressing interest. It remains to be seen what the MCU will look like after Phase 6 ends with Avengers: Secret Wars in 2027, and Marvel has not yet confirmed which incarnation of Ghost Rider will be at the center of the action. Nicolas Cage played the Johnny Blaze version in the 2007 movie and the sequel in 2011, but Johnny Blaze is only one of several from Marvel Comics.

While it's true that Johnny Blaze hasn't had a main role to play in the MCU so far, two other versions already appeared in Marvel Television. The Last of Us' Diego Luna played Robbie Reyes in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., while Clark Gregg's Phil Coulson briefly took over the mantle afterwards. Even though there has been fierce debate over the years about whether Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is canon to the larger MCU, Phil Coulson certainly is. He has appeared in no fewer than five MCU films, in addition to more than 100 episodes of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Forget Ryan Gosling, Everyone Knows Agent Coulson Is The Real MCU Ghost Rider

Ryan Gosling is all but guaranteed to be the most high-profile actor to play Ghost Rider in live-action, but Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. fans know that Marvel's TV universe pulled off something spectacular with Coulson. Arguably the most underrated Marvel TV show, S.H.I.E.L.D. delivered several of its best arcs in season 4, starting with the arrival of Robbie Reyes as Ghost Rider. Coulson didn't make his deal with the Spirit of Vengeance until the very end, but he certainly came in clutch.

Unfortunately, that deal meant he had a hefty price to pay for saving the day, and it was the beginning of the end for Coulson. Still, the majority of Coulson's development as a character happened on S.H.I.E.L.D. Viewers who watched the ABC series can look at Coulson's appearances in the Phase 1 films in a whole different light, compared to any MCU fans who have only seen the movies.

Coulson's development over the films and the first four seasons of the show fleshed him out into the kind of man who would voluntarily take on the Spirit of Vengeance, and he became much more interesting than he was in the movies alone. The only downside of Coulson's brief stint as Ghost Rider is that the plot twist happening on S.H.I.E.L.D. meant that most people missed it back in 2017.

Agents Of SHIELD's Robbie Reyes Means The MCU Already Has Two Great Ghost Riders

Even though Coulson got the most epic moment as Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Ghost Rider when he saved the day in the season 4 finale, Gabriel Luna's version set the stage starting at the very beginning of the season. Up to that point, S.H.I.E.L.D. generally dealt with powers that were grounded, enhanced by science, or exhibited by Inumans after terrigenesis. The arrival of Ghost Rider added a supernatural slant to the show for the first time, and the pressure was on Robbie Reyes to prove whether or not S.H.I.E.L.D. could pull it off.

Robbie Reyes ultimately proved that S.H.I.E.L.D. could include supernatural elements when handled correctly, and Luna pulled it off over just ten episodes. In fact, Luna's performance as Reyes was so effective that a new show based on his version of Ghost Rider got as far as the pre-production stage before being cancelled. Even if the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. lore that briefly turned Coulson into the Spirit of Vengeance was too convoluted to incorporate into the larger MCU, Luna's version of Ghost Rider deserved to return in some form or other.

Of course, Ryan Gosling's Ghost Rider film isn't scheduled to premiere until 2028, so Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is still the best place to get a taste of the anti-hero in live-action. All 7 seasons of the ABC series are now available streaming on Disney+.