A Marvel Comics Writer Has a Bold Plan for the MCU’s ‘Ghost Rider’ Reboot

Few Marvel heroes carry as much hellfire baggage as the flaming-skulled biker known as the Spirit of Vengeance. The upcoming reboot will finally bring the character into the MCU and open the door to the franchise’s supernatural side. It is a big moment for a hero who has never quite found a comfortable home on the big screen.

The earlier Nic Cage films chased a PG-13 rating to appeal to a wider audience. This time Marvel has real momentum behind the project. Kevin Feige brought Ryan Gosling onto the Hall H stage at San Diego Comic-Con on July 25, 2026, to confirm he would star in the film, which Shawn Levy directs and Disney has dated for July 28, 2028.

With that casting locked in, the conversation has shifted to tone, and one of the character’s most respected recent storytellers has now weighed in. MCU Film News highlighted comments from Benjamin Percy, who wrote Marvel’s ‘Ghost Rider’ comic between 2022 and 2023, saying the film should embrace brutal, R-rated horror with a “Hellraiser-style” approach. In the post, Percy says he would lean toward the R-rated horror version of the character and not do the standard cape and spandex.

Speaking with ComicBook.com, Percy said the cape-and-spandex approach can work for something like a ‘Doomsday’ or X-Men story, but that ‘Ghost Rider’ deserves something different. He pictured Johnny Blaze pulling burning-hot chains out of his mouth and his skin melting away beneath a halo of flames. His summary was simple: “Give us the body horror.”

Percy has the credentials to make that pitch. His ‘Ghost Rider’ run is viewed as some of the character’s best recent lore, thanks to its nods to 1970s cult, occult, and Lovecraftian horror. He has also leaned on genre influences elsewhere in Marvel’s catalog, and he has said the ‘Hellraiser’ franchise was a major influence on his ‘Hellverine’ series.

He even brought the same sensibility to the Hood’s turn as a new Ghost Rider. Percy described that series as an epic crime saga flavored with horror. In other words, the writer has been mixing hellfire with dread for years, and he clearly thinks the movies should do the same.

The timing of his argument is hard to ignore. Horror has become as big at the movies as superhero stories, and DC just won the box office with an R-rated supervillain movie, ‘Clayface’. Percy went further, saying Marvel is overdue to open a horror corner of its universe, since he believes we are living in a golden age of the genre.

The film’s villain situation is also taking shape. According to The Hollywood Reporter, ‘Heated Rivalry’ star Connor Storrie is in talks to play an unnamed villain opposite Gosling, though Marvel has not made a casting announcement. Jonathan Tropper is writing the script, and filming is set to begin in New York in 2027.

Marvel hasn’t said anything about the film’s rating, so Percy’s wish remains just that for now. Still, a movie about a demon-bonded stunt rider with a skull full of fire seems like an easy place to take a darker swing. If the studio ever wants a horror lane, this may be the film to start it.