These 65 Mysterious Ghost Rider Facts Will Make You Think Twice

Ghost Rider has not just been popularized in the Marvel Comic books but also on several different platforms and mediums.

Numerous video games and animated series have graced the presence of the Ghost Rider. In fact, 'Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,' a TV show of the Marvel Universe, showcased Ghost Rider as one of its supporting characters too.

To date, several people have graced the role of Ghost Rider, starting from Alejandra Jones, Robbie Reyes to Danny Ketch and Johnny Blaze. The most interesting one was perhaps the Punisher, who was known as Frank Castle. Frank Castle was the Ghost Rider who suffered from Thanos's disastrous action on Earth. This Ghost Rider was, in fact, from the future in which the universe was ruled by a Mad Titan!

Have you tried the Marvel Ultimate Alliance video game? You would notice the character of a Ghost Rider in the game, who saves his team member even after they die. In the game, the Ghost Rider almost revives the other member. You might wonder if the behavior of the character is the same in the real marvel comics or not? Well, keep scrolling down to know facts about not just Ghost Rider but also about movies about him!

Storyline

If you are a fan of Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, Iron Man, Captain America, and other characters of Marvel comics, then you must also be familiar with another famous character in the Marvel spotlight by the name of Ghost Rider. A 2007 film was made on this hero who followed the character's (Johnny Blaze) journey to go after Blackheart. This film was helmed by Mark Steven Johnson and also starred Eva Mendes and Nicolas Cage. Let us highlight some important points about Ghost Rider's storyline.

• A spirit of vengeance takes over Johnny Blaze's body who is a stunt performer to protect his lover.
• This implied that Johnny Blaze turned into a demon with the onset of a spirit of vengeance. A flaming skull as head became a characteristic of this stunt performer.
• The story also follows an unfortunate incident of Johhny Blaze finding out about his father's terminal cancer, which forces the stunt performer to give Mephistopheles his soul in return for his father's well-being.
• Mephistopheles, however, does not hold on to his end of the deal, and Barton Blaze dies in an exhibition on a motorcycle.
• Jonny Blaze then leaves the town, Roxanne Simpson (his girlfriend), and his other friends.
• Years later, Jonny Blaze returns as a popular motorcyclist who takes on adventurous tasks in his shows, risking his life.
• He then meets Roxanne Simpson, who becomes a television reporter by then.
• Towards the end, Mephistopheles again puts forth a proposal to release Johnny's contract if he agrees to take on the role of the Ghost Rider.
• Mephistopheles says so to defeat his evil son Blackheart who intended to possess a thousand evil souls and in turn transform Earth into hell.
• Several people have been known to play the character. One of them, called Alejandra Jones, had the capacity to fight the villain!
• At times, the famous penance stare failed to protect the host of the Ghost Rider, something which happened with Daniel Ketch, one of the Ghost Riders.
• Even though the host can die, the spirit of vengeance is impossible to kill, almost invincible.
• Alejandra Jones, the female Ghost Rider, left every person devoid of sin, leaving them almost like walking dead people!
• This film also has a sequel by the title 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.'
• This film starred Eva Mendes and Nicolas Cage

Casting & Crew

The development of Ghost Rider started at Marvel in 1992, and interested producers lined up for film's rights. Gale Anne Hurd, in 1997 became the producer for the film and teamed up with Jonathan Hensleigh to write the script. Let us learn some interesting facts about the casting and crew of this film.

• Crystal Sky Entertainment, along with Marvel, scheduled the scripting of this film during May 2000.
• Jon Voight, who is an actor, was also associated as a producer.
• Production started with a $75 million budget that got scheduled in 2001.
• At the same time, the famous actor Johnny Depp had expressed his keenness to play the lead role in the film.
• Dimension Films also co-financed Ghost Riders film along with Crystal Sky Entertainment.
• The director of Ghost Rider's first film was Stephen Norrington.
• An interesting casting fact was that Eric Bana was approached to play Ghost Rider, but instead, he was cast in another Marvel film, 'Hulk.'
• In 2001, Nicolas Cage was approached for the lead role but dropped out due to his other commitments.
• Later Columbia Pictures acquired rights to this film, Shane Salerno rewrote the original script, and Nicolas Cage was roped in for the main part.
• Nicolas Cage plays the titular role of the Ghost Rider, also known as, Johnny Blaze. He is a stunt motorist who unfortunately gets tricked into selling his soul to the devil to save his dying father. Eventually, Johnny gets transformed into a soul hunter with the devil's spirit of vengeance. Johnny also hunts demons that have fled from hell.
• The devil Mephisto is played by Peter Fonda. He makes a deal with Johnny, played by Cage, to save his father from cancer. Abiding by his evilness, Mephisto eventually makes Johnny's father die in a motorcycle accident. Peter Fonda's character is in search of Blackheart, his son, who has intentions of overthrowing him. Peter Fonda was cast in March 2005.
• Wes Bentley plays the role of the evil Blackheart who plans to unfold living hell on Earth via a contract of San Venganza. Blackheart and Mephisto race to search for this contract that comprises 1000 damned souls in it.
• Wes Bentley was introduced to the director by Colin Farrell, who had worked with Johnson before in his film 'Daredevil.'
• Wes Bentley was casted in 2005.
• Matt Long plays the character of a younger version of Johnny Blaze.
• Eva Mendes plays the role of the Ghost Rider's girlfriend, Roxanne Simpson. Roxanne Simpson and Johnny Blaze are childhood lovers. Roxanne later becomes a news reporter.
• Raquel Alessi plays the younger version of Roxanne Simpson.
• Sam Elliot takes on the role of a caretaker known as Carter Slade. Interestingly, he was the former Ghost Rider and thus became Johnny's mentor and ally.
• Sam Elliot has also worked in Marvel's 'Hulk' as General Thunderbolt Ross.
• Donal Logue plays Mack, who is Johnny's team's significant member. He is also his impresario.
• Brett Cullen plays the ghost rider's father, Barton Blaze. He is also a motorcycle stunt rider.
• Jessica Napier plays the role of Broken Speak waitress.
• Rebel Wilson is the girl in the alley.
• Daniel Frederiksen is the fallen angel Wallow who uses his water-based powers to challenge his opponents. Wallow is one of Blackheart's loyal minions.
• Mathew Wilkinson plays the role of another fallen angel Abigor who is known for his wind-based powers. He is also one of Blackheart's loyal followers.
• David Roberts plays the character of Captain Jack Dolan, who is a police captain.
• Laurence Breuls is Gressil, who is a fallen angel having earth-based powers. He is also one of Blackheart's followers.
• Cage was the only candidate shortlisted for the role of Johnny Blaze.
• Director Johnson made a shocking fact regarding the antagonist. Apparently, Scarecrow was supposed to be the original villain, but since a similarly named character existed in the D.C. universe, the main villain changed to Blackheart.

Filming & Cinematography

Mark Steven Johnson started the pre-production as he took over the reins of the film along with Nicolas Cage under the banner of Columbia Pictures. Let's unfold some insightful facts about the cinematography and filming of a Marvel superhero film.

• Mark Steven Johnso rewrote the original script, and the production of the Ghost Rider film finally commenced during early 2004 and late 2003, around the month of October approximately.
• The delay in filming and cinematography was also accounted for Nicolas Cage's leave as he shot 'The Weather Man.'
• Despite the shoot of the film being pushed to 2004, the Ghost Rider could still not proceed to the start of filming in late 2004 due to the lack of apt scripting groundwork.
• Finally, the wait got over on February 14, 2005, as Ghost Rider began its filing in the Melbourne Docklands film studios in Australia.
• The director had plans to film parts of the Ghost Rider film at the Docklands Stadium before the audience presented there.
• The motorcycle district of Melbourne was also a filming location used in this Marvel Universe film.
• The principal filming of Ghost Rider ended in June 2005, and the original release was intended for the summer of 2006.
• But in April 2006, the cast of Ghost Rider had scheduled a few last-minute reshoots in Vancouver.

Audience Reception

Ghost Rider was released on February 16, 2007, in the United States. The film opened to several critical reviews and responses. Let's glance at a few of them and how the audience liked this film.

• 26% approval rating was seen on Rotten Tomatoes considering responses and reviews from 140 critics. The average rating given for Ghost Riders was 4.8 out of 10.
• Rotten Tomatoes website reported the Ghost Rider to be glum, having jokey puns and hammy dialogues.
• The score given by Metacritic was 35 out of 100, considering the reviews of 20 critics.
• CinemaScore gave a 'B' grade score to Ghost Riders according to the response from the audience poll.
• Sadly the film was ranked seventh in I.G.N.'s list of 10 worst comic book films of the decade.
• According to Los Angeles Times's Jeannette Catsoulis and Michael Ordona, this film from Marvel Universe didn't live up to the expectation. As quoted by Ordona: 'for a comic book with a rebel spirit, the adaptation feels obediently conventional.'
• On the lighter side, Honny Blaze's character was found to be funny and frightening, according to Jeannette Catsoulis.
• Chicago Tribune's Eric Alt gave a mixed review about the computer effects of the film. He praised it as well as called it lifeless and clumsy.
• On its opening day, Ghost Rider had a collection of $15,420,123.
• On the opening weekend, the film grossed around $45,388,836.
• Over the President's Day weekend, the film earned $52,022,908. The per-theatre average from 3619 theatres amounted to $14,374.
• Globally the Ghost Rider earned $228,738,393, out of which North America contributed $115,802,596.
• Nicolas Cage was nominated for the Golden Raspberry award for worst actor. The film itself was nominated at the Saturn Awards in the category of the best horror film!
• Ghost Rider was also nominated for the Razzie Award.

Ghost Rider as a comic book character has appealed to the masses, and that is because he isn't your quintessential superhero. He has the attributes of both a hero and a villain. Many people call the Ghost Rider to be a rather strange hero in terms of the way he looks, his behavior, and his backstory. Robbie Reyes, Alejandra Jones, Daniel Ketch, and Johnny Blaze portrayed the character of the Ghost Rider in comics. From the infamous penance stare to the deadly motorcycle, the Ghost Rider's story is full of ups and downs, and so we suggest you give a try to reading these comic books too!

FAQs

Can the Ghost Rider be killed?

No, the Ghost Rider is almost invincible, and on top of that, the spirit of vengeance in its true essence can never be killed.

What is a Ghost Rider?

Ghost Rider is one of Marvel's characters who is a superhero and an anti-hero.

What does Ghost Rider mean?

The phrase Ghost Rider signifies an unobjectionable type of denying or saying no.

Who created Ghost Rider?

Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, and Mike Ploog created the Ghost Rider's character.

How old is Johnny Blaze?

Johnny Blaze is a 17-year old teenager in Ghost Rider.

Is Ghost Rider part of Marvel?

Yes, Ghost Rider is a character of the Marvel Comics.

How to become a Ghost Rider in real life?

It is impossible to be a Ghost Rider in real life, and this character is fictional.

Why did Johnny Blaze sell his soul?

Johnny Blaze sold his soul to the devil to save his dying father from cancer.

How should Ghost Rider have ended?

According to Nicolas Cage, the original movie duration from start to end was R-rated, with a lot more darkness in the plot. Hence the original engine was to be a bit more fierce and violent.

What kind of car do Ghost Riders drive?

Robbie Reyes, one of the Ghost Riders, has a 1969 Dodge Charger.

How did Ghost Rider become Ghost Rider?

After contacting a gas cap via blood, Danny Ketch, the third Ghost Rider, became one. Johnny Blaze becomes a Ghost Rider after making a deal with the devil. After being resurrected after a murder by Blaze, Robbie Reyes becomes a Ghost Rider. Alejandra Jones becomes a Ghost Rider bonding with the spirit.

What does negative Ghost Rider mean?

A negative Ghost Rider signifies the act of playfully saying no.