Ghost Rider: From Big Screen to Small and (Maybe?) Back Again

Well, it's been a few days since word came out about the cancellation of next year's Ghost Rider television show, axing it before it even went into production.  For information on that show's initial announcement you can click on this article: Ghost Rider Back on Television.  In a nutshell, the show was set to be produced by Marvel's television department for the Hulu streaming service.  Gabriel Luna, who starred as Robbie Reyes in the fourth season of Agents of SHIELD, was set to reprise the titular role of Ghost Rider for the new series, and many fans rejoiced.

Then came the hammer earlier this week, first as a rumor and then confirmed by Luna via Twitter, that the show was dead due to "creative differences" between Hulu, Marvel, and the executive producer Paul Zbyszewski. Now, what those differences were haven't been revealed, and there's a fair amount of speculation in regards to a related announcement at the start of this week. Namely that Kevin Feige, overlord of Marvel Studios, confirmed that he had plans to utilize Ghost Rider in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It's no secret that Marvel Studios and Marvel Television don't really get along. The MCU has yet to reference the televisions shows, including Agents of SHIELD and the Netflix Defenders saga, treating them as redheaded stepchildren. With Feige now developing shoes for Disney+, perhaps he simply stepped in and scalped Ghost Rider away from the TV department. After all, that's what he reportedly did with Blade and Moon Knight. Then there's the Keanu Reeves angle, with the many rumors about him signing on to play Johnny Blaze.

I'm not afraid to say that Marvel Studios having control of Ghost Rider will likely lead to some amazing things, whether its a feature film or a show on Disney+. The biggest downside to all of this is that we aren't getting to see Gabriel Luna back as Robbie Reyes, who so perfectly portrayed the character back in 2015. Perhaps Agents of SHIELD will throw us fans a bine and have him back in the final season? Whatever the outcome, its apparent that there are major plans in the works for our Spirit of Vengeance, we just may need a lot of patience in the meantime.