Could Norman Reedus Be The Next Ghost Rider?
The Rumour:
Could Norman Reedus be the next Ghost Rider in the MCU? This is the case according to Giant Freakin Robot, who have claimed that Norman Reedus is entering into contractual discussions with Marvel Studios to play Johnny Blaze.
Reedus has had a pretty great run with The Walking Dead, starring on that show as Daryl Dixon for the past eleven years. However, TWD is due to come to a close next year, after the second half of Season 11 airs. It would make sense that the cast members of that show are starting to look for other roles in the industry to move onto.
A recent major example of this was Lauren Ridloff recently appearing in a starring role in Marvel’s Eternals as Makkari. It was also announced last week by Deadline that Reedus himself has entered into early talks regarding a follow-up to his classic action-thriller; The Boondock Saints.
It should also be noted that Reedus has expressed desire to play the iconic flame-headed character in the past, so that also gives this recent rumour a bit of extra credence. In summer of this year, he told ComicBook.com; “I want to play Ghost Rider, I don’t know, call somebody, make that happen. I want to do it.”
History of Ghost Rider:
Johnny Blaze was the original Ghost Rider and first appeared in Marvel comics back in 1972, before getting his own series in 1973. We haven’t seen Johnny Blaze in live action since Nicolas Cage’s previous take on the character in 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance. Cage played Johnny Blaze in two Ghost Rider movies. Gabriel Luna later portrayed the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider in Marvel’s Agents Of SHIELD TV show.
It has also been rumoured in the past that Marvel have looked at possibly bringing both Cage and Luna back as their respective variants of Ghost Rider in the same movie. In the comic book source material over the years, there have lots of different varied versions of Ghost Rider from all sorts of different cultural backgrounds.
This is an aspect of the character that I have always found interesting. There really is a ton of potential with the Ghost Rider character and I really hope that Marvel are looking to capitalise and explore that potential within the MCU.
Stormin’ Norman:
Personally, I would be more than happy to see Norman Reedus take on the mantle of Ghost Rider in the MCU. We all know that he loves a good motorbike and he can clearly pull off the grizzled, tough guy thing. Though, he is actually capable of much more than that.
Daryl Dixon in The Walking Dead started off as a hot-headed hillbilly and over the course of the show, became a fatherly leader with a heart of gold, in a well-paced and believable fashion. This was due to the show’s writers having faith in Reedus’ range as an actor and he pulled off the transition with ease.
Although he was originally slated to star in Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Torro’s; Silent Hills, soon after a demo of that game released called P.T, that project sadly fell through. Though, he did go on to work with Kojima in the bizarre Death Stranding, starring as Sam Porter-Bridges.
Having Reedus join the MCU would make a lot of sense. He is a great actor, with an already-established devoted fan-base in his own right. He is definitely going to be looking for some long-term work in the near future after TWD ends and he is already a fan of Johnny Blazxe as a character, which always helps a great deal.
With all of that said, what do you make of this potential piece of MCU casting news? Would you be pleased if Marvel were to announce that Norman Reedus will be Ghost Rider in the MCU? Let us know down in the comments section below.
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