The rumors were confirmed today at Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Comic-Con 2016 panel: Ghost Rider is coming to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4! Here's everything you need to know about Marvel's oft-misunderstood antihero:
Casual audiences are pretty familiar with Ghost Rider by now, thanks to the two movies starring Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze. But comic book readers will know that Blaze is one of many Ghost Riders who have raced their way across the Marvel Universe. Blaze is pretty much the quintessential Ghost Rider in terms of look, powers, origin story and prominence in the comics. He's the death-defying stunt racer who sold his soul to save a loved one and is now cursed to roam the highways and punish the wicked.
However, there have been several heirs to the Ghost rider mantle over the years. Blaze was replaced by a new character called Danny Ketch for much of the 1990's. More recently, Marvel introduced a female Ghost Rider named Alejandra. Even the original Ghost Rider, a Wild West vigilante who rode a horse and dressed all in white, has been incorporated into the larger mythology (though he's now known as Phantom Rider). Robbie Reyes is just the latest addition to that mythology.
The fact that there are so many different Ghost Riders makes the character's inclusion in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. such a natural fit. There's nothing stopping Netflix from commissioning a Ghost Rider series featuring Johnny Blaze or Marvel Studios bringing the character back to the big screen. If anything, introducing multiple Ghost Riders in the Marvel Cinematic Universe would just help increase the interconnectivity among these different projects.
Robbie Reyes is quite a bit different from his fellow Ghost Riders. For one thing, he doesn't ride a motorcycle, instead preferring the speed and power of his Dodge Charger. For another, he's much younger than heroes like Johnny Blaze. When Robbie's story began in All-New Ghost Rider, he was still a high school student. That alone makes him a better fit for Coulson's team, especially with the show's increased focus on Skye and her Secret Warriors squad.
Robbie also veers from the pack because didn't make any deals with devils to acquire supernatural powers. Instead, his abilities come from a spirit named Eli Morrow who is permanently bonded to the car. Morrow seeks vengeance against the gang members who killed him, and he's only too happy to use Robbie as a means of achieving his goals. When Robbie transforms into Ghost Rider, he wears a distinctive skull-shaped helmet rather than the traditional flaming skull.
Visually, Robbie isn't quite as flashy or effects-heavy a character as the other Ghost Riders, and that will probably work in the show's favor, too. It's much easier to depict a superhuman character wearing a scary motorcycle helmet than someone with a fiery skull for a head.
What distinguishes Robbie among Marvel's heroes more than anything else is his focus on protecting his family. Namely, his little brother, Gabe. With their parents gone, Robbie has no choice but to be the breadwinner for himself and his brother. The fact that Gabe is disabled makes that struggle that much more difficult and important. Even the initial accident that transforms Robbie into Ghost Rider happens because Robbie attempts to win a street race and earn enough money to move his brother to a safer, less gang-infested neighborhood.
The brotherly bond is one of the main charms in All-New Ghost Rider. Gabe, a hardcore superhero fanatic, idolizes his older brother and his exploits as Ghost Rider. That bond could be a great addition to the mix in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., especially if guest stars like Lady Sif drop by and send Gabe into fanboy overdrive.
Spoilers in the next paragraph for Robbie's Ghost Rider comic story!
But the family dynamic also extends to the relationship between Robbie and his ghostly partner, Eli. One of the big developments in All-New Ghost Rider concerns the revelation that Eli is actually Robbie's long-lost uncle. Furthermore, it's revealed that Uncle Eli was a serial killer who injured Robbie's mother and caused Gabe's disability in the first place. Robbie faces an ongoing struggle in terms of keeping Eli's spectral bloodlust at bay. He's willing to kill to quench that thirst, but only those evildoers who deserve to be punished. That has all the makings of a strong character arc in Season 4.
Robbie Reyes is a logical fit for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. because of his ties to one of the show's major villains, Calvin Zabo. In the comics, Robbie is gunned down because his car (unbeknownst to him) contains a briefcase full of the pills that transform Zabo into his alter-ego, Mister Hyde. After being saved by the ghost of Eli Morrow, Robbie goes to war with Hyde. He fights to bring down the villains drug distribution empire and ultimately becomes a folk hero among the downtrodden citizens of Los Angeles.
Given how popular Kyle MacLachlan's portrayal of Zabo was in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s second season, this seems like the perfect opportunity to bring him back into the mix. Zabo could be the common thread that links this newly emerged superhero to Coulson's team. If the show follows the source material and turns Zabo into a drug kingpin, that's something Coulson and Skye would have a vested interest in stopping.
On the other hand, Zabo hasn't been depicted as an overt villain on the show so much as a misguided and brutally violent family man. He was left in a pretty happy place at the end of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 2, running his own veterinary clinic and freed from the torturous memories that plagued him for so long. We could picture a scenario where another villain attempts to replicate Zabo's super-serum, forcing Coulson to restore Zabo's memories and aid SHIELD. Or perhaps Zabo's memories will return on their own and he'll be seeking revenge for the fact that Coulson robbed him of his memories of Skye. Whatever the case, we're hoping that the debut of Robbie Reyes also means the return of Calvin Zabo.
Jesse is a mild-mannered writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on Twitter, or Kicksplode on MyIGN.
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