Keanu Reeves is on fire this week! While Lionsgate earnings call confirmed John Wick 5, now shooting back to back with Part 4, a rumor suggests that he is also in final stages of negotiations with Marvel Studios for the role of Ghost Rider.
While the Coronavirus lockdown kept Marvel Studios away from filming, studio executives and artists have been hard at work. It reflects in Disney’s second-quarter meeting this week with official conformations about some projects and rumour mills mongering about others.
Marvel CCO, Kevin Feige has previously admitted that the studio taps Reeves for a potential part every time they do a new project. Seem like finally the studio and Keanu Reeves have narrowed down on the new version of Johnny Blaze aka Ghost Rider.
Johnny Blaze – The Spirit of Vengeance
Marvel’s Johnny Blaze is one of the prominent iterations of the Ghost Rider. In the comic, Johnny turns into a skeletal being with a flaming skull after he merges with a demonic force. In 2007, Nicolas Cage famously played the part in Sony’s production. However, as per a WGTC report, Keanu wants to play a prominent part of the MCU, not only the titular role but also wants to headline the rumored Midnight Sons project. The report states,
Not only does the actor want his own solo franchise, but he also wants to headline a Midnight Sons spinoff and have a big presence in the MCU’s future.
Watch: Doctor Strange 2 Ghost Rider Marvel Announcement
Fans have long been speculating the arrival of Keanu Reeves as the Ghost Rider in the MCU. While rumors broke out at the start of the year about Midnight Sons being discussed as the project lucrative enough for Reeves, things are seemingly picking up now. Marvel’s Midnight Sons can be thought of as the Supernatural Avengers. The lineup of phase 4 and 5 shows the signs of Marvel’s monster-verse in the making. It makes sense that the studio would be looking at a Ghost Rider movie down the line.
Marvel’s Midnight Sons
The beauty of the MCU lies in its intricate storytelling. Everything is perfectly orchestrated with carefully planted Easter Eggs and can be linked to any existing production. This was Marvel’s model for its first three phases of the Infinity Saga. However, with the next few phases, it’s visible the studio is delving into different narratives taking inspiration from all corners of the comic universe.
With Disney+ shows, the existing earthbound Avengers are taking their story forward with a possibility of mutant introduction. Whereas with titles like Thor 4, Guardians of The Galaxy, the Eternals, Captain Marvel and Spider-Man, it’s entering into the Cosmic universe, while WandaVision, Doctor Strange and Loki are fully embracing the mystical Multiverse.
Watch: Marvel Phase 5 Midnight Sons, Ghost Rider Breakdown
Keanu Reeves as Ghost Rider coupled with pre-confirmed titles like Kit Harrington’s Black Knight in Eternals, Mahershala Ali’s Blade and a Moon Knight series in the making, looks like Marvel is looking at its lot of supernatural heroes.
Back in 1992, Marvel Comics rebranded its supernatural books under one label — Midnight Sons. It featured a variety of heroes like Morbius, the living vampire, Blade, a human-vampire hybrid, Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch and Johnny Blaze), spirits of vengeance, Hellstrom, son of Devil, Doctor Strange, sorcerer supreme, Moon Knight with dissociative identity disorder among others. The label showcased these heroes spontaneously gathering whenever Earth is threatened by mystical forces. As per the reports, Reeves wants to be the face of this new roster of supernatural heroes in the MCU.
MCU’s Way Forward
Marvel developed each Avenger on a slow burning flame over the years, introducing crossovers, developing various character arcs and culminating all of them together. It seems to be repeating its formula but with different superhero teams now.
Marvel’s The Eternals is the first in line to be introduced, with Disney+ roster of Ms Marvel, She-Hulk, Hawkeye, and Cassie Lang among others points at the possibility of Young Avengers team-up. There’s a possibility of a rumoured Illuminati’s existence in the MCU. Midnight Sons. along with Sorcerer Supreme Doctor Strange in tow can be called the Masters of Mystic Arts. And while it’ll take the number of releases and couple of phases, the overarching MCU direction points at a Secret Wars storyline with a mega antagonist like Mephisto or Glacatus to level up from Infinity Saga.
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