Sunday's Comic-Con panel for
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. confirmed the long-standing rumour that Ghost Rider would be making his MCU debut on the show. However, this Ghost Rider won't be the one most fans are familiar with. Instead of Johnny Blaze, or even Danny Ketch, the show chose the newest host to the Spirit of Vengeance, Robbie Reyes, who has only appeared as the Ghost Rider in a short-lived comics run.
"We're doing the Robbie Reyes of the character, who is a young Latino man from East LA. We were attracted to that because of that fact, just to see what he would be like in the dynamic of the show," said exectuive producer Maurissa Tancharoen during the panel.
"Also, it's Ghost Rider with the flaming car! It's kind of awesome."
President of Marvel Television, Jeph Loeb, elaborated on previous statements that the team behind the show wanted to explore the "unexplainable", and the mysticism surrounding Ghost Rider and his abilities was the perfect way to do it.
"In its inception, S.H.I.E.L.D. has always been about finding the new, the weird, the unexplainable, and having gone through the last couple seasons and finding out about the Inhumans," Loeb shared.
"The Marvel catalogue is filled with all kinds of really interesting, new and often weird things. And so we hit on Ghost Rider and... and in particular with the character of Robbie Reyes, because our show really at the end of the day hinges on the idea of family and how that works in the world. Robbie and his relationship with [his brother] Gabe and his relationship with the Ghost Rider are all really interesting things for our S.H.I.E.L.D. folks to encounter, possibly even in negative ways."
Executive producer Jed Whedon added that
S.H.I.E.L.D. has become less of a world of spies, and exploring Ghost Rider allows them to take a step further into the mysterious world of the unknown. "
Doctor Strange is coming out and, if you're familiar with the comic, it's sort of a different side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that's going to be opened up, and we felt like it was the time to do this, because it plays in that world," said Whedon.
"It's not exactly the spy world we live in. We feel like, with that entering the MCU, this is us sort of dipping our toe into that world as we open things up. And also it's Ghost Rider, so it's like there's no real decision. They said, 'Ghost Rider?' 'Yes, we will take it. Thank you.'"
As for which main characters Ghost Rider would be interacting with, the producers gave a small, but not so subtle, hint.
"It might be safe to say that Daisy and possibly Ghost Rider's paths… you know," Tancharoen teased.
Are you excited for Ghost Rider's debut? Sound off below!
ComicBookMovie.com, and/or the user who contributed this post, may earn commissions or revenue through clicks or purchases made through any third-party links contained within the content above.