OK, it’s that time of year, the holidays. As you generally know, we mostly avoid the scuttlebutt of daily internet rumors. They are a dime a dozen, but over the holidays, we generally allow ourselves a bit of a lenient break; plus, this one could have some truth to it, given that the actor himself has expressed interest in a role. So the rumor do jour? Ryan Gosling is in talks with Marvel over a specific role in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The rub is that the role is unknown, and that’s all we have (via Daniel RPK’s Patreon, a social media scooper with a fairly good track record).
So, typically, yeah, we might ignore such rumors, but Gosling himself has brought up his own interest in Marvel in the past.
Back in the summer of 2022, rumors were making the rounds that Gosling was up for the role of the character Nova—a space opera character connected to the Nova Corps in the “Guardians Of The Galaxy” universe (this was probably around the time when a “Nova” series was rumored, a series also rumored to have now been scuttled, who knows). Gosling debunked the rumor a few weeks later. Still, he did express his interest in playing Ghost Rider, a supernatural undead character that Nicolas Cage played in two poorly-received Lionsgate movies in the 2010s.
Asked how many superhero roles he turned down at the time via MTV, Gosling paused. “It doesn’t matter,” Gosling said, kind of confirming he’s turned down quite a few. “I wasn’t right for them. I’d love to do it, but what’s the one?
“I always thought Ghost Rider was the coolest, but I always thought it was taken,” Gosling said around the same time to Jake’s Takes. “Eva has already given me her blessing,” Gosling said of his wife Eva Mendes to play the role. I just need the blessing from Kevin [Feige]… and Nic Cage.”
Feige himself weighed in a few years later around the time “Barbie” was going to open. “Ryan is amazing,” Feige said when asked about Gosling playing Ghost Rider or any role in the MCU. “I’d love to find a place for him in the MCU. He dressed up as Ken on Venice Beach and got more press than a giant movie that’s coming out that weekend. It’s amazing.”
Could Ghost Rider be a thing? With the introduction of Moon Knight in the Disney+ series, the tease of Blade and the upcoming solo movie starring Mahershala Ali, and supernatural characters like Werewolf by Night and Isla Bloodstone in the “Werewolf By Night” Marvel one-off special presentation, that dark, spooky corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is undoubtedly brewing. Regardless of whether Gosling would be in talks for that role, it seems like a no-brainer to eventually introduce that character and maybe make a kind of Midnight Sons team-up film (a team of supernatural characters from the Marvel comics).
Maybe he’s just Kang? 😉 FYI, the same source says a “Young Avengers” film is in the works, which perhaps isn’t totally a surprise if you look at the secret scene from “The Marvels” with Kamala Khan and her recruitment tease. Maybe?
