Ryan Gosling’s Ghost Rider Movie Could Be the Secret In-Road to Blade Finally Joining the MCU

The MCU is headed for a large shake-up. With Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars acceptable to adjacent retired the Multiverse Saga, each eyes are connected what Marvel Studios plans to bash next. There are a fewer things we already knew were coming, similar Jake Schreier’s X-Men reboot and Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther 3, present acceptable to prima David Jonsson arsenic T’Challa II. But 1 of the biggest announcements astatine SDCC was that we’re getting a caller Ghost Rider movie starring Ryan Gosling. While we don’t adjacent cognize which Ghost Rider Gosling is playing yet, we can’t assistance but beryllium funny what the instauration of Ghost Rider could mean for the wider MCU. Specifically: is Ghost Rider going to assistance yet present Mahershala Ali’s Blade?

If you’re wondering what these heroes person to bash with each other, I’m gladsome you asked. Ghost Rider and Blade are some founding members of the Midnight Sons, a squad of supernatural vigilantes successful the comics. If Ghost Rider is the lead-in to a Midnight Sons crossover that leans into the acheronian and mystic broadside of the Marvel universe, possibly we tin yet spot Ali’s Blade successful action. How would this work? Let’s instrumentality a look.

Who Are the Midnight Sons?

If you’re not acquainted with the Midnight Sons from the comics, a little overview is successful order. The Midnight Sons are a squad that archetypal appeared successful 1992, coming unneurotic arsenic portion of a branding workout crossed respective antithetic comic bid titled “Rise of the Midnight Sons.”

Those comics included Ghost Rider, Morbius, Nightstalkers (starring Blade, Frank Drake, and Hannibal King), and Darkhold: Pages From the Book of Sins, which featured a radical of mystic investigators known arsenic the Darkhold Redeemers. You whitethorn callback the Darkhold being the publication of achromatic magic utilized successful WandaVision and Doctor Strange successful the Multiverse of Madness. The Ghost Rider broadside of the equation besides progressive the Ghost Rider and Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance comic, which starred Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch moving broadside by side.

Characters from each of these bid came unneurotic arsenic portion of a crossover storyline to conflict Lilith, the Mother of Demons, a large mystic menace who had an service of demonic children called Lilin. However, the squad didn’t past long, lone having a mates much stories earlier the enactment was retired by 1995 owed to lagging interest.

The Midnight Sons sanction would not beryllium utilized again until Marvel Zombies 4 successful 2009, which featured a squad including monster characters similar Werewolf by Night and Man-Thing. The squad would spot a mates much resurgences during the Damnation and Blood Hunt events, expanding the roster to see heroes similar Moon Knight, Doctor Voodoo, Elsa Bloodstone, Magik, and Nico Minoru of the Runaways.

That said, the Midnight Sons person not really had a ton of comics to their sanction contempt the imaginable of the heroes involved. This would springiness a movie adaptation country to prime and take which characters they privation to see and however they privation to signifier the communicative without annoying fans of the root material, since determination isn’t a batch of that root worldly to gully from. This is thing that the video crippled Midnight Suns did, reinterpreting the squad arsenic originating successful the 17th period with heroes from that epoch and reforming successful the modern time with a caller roster erstwhile Lilith returned (it’s besides an fantabulous crippled that you should play if you haven’t).

But since Blade and Ghost Rider are some archetypal members of the squad successful the comics, it would marque the astir consciousness to person them arsenic portion of the MCU’s lineup, particularly if it allows Marvel to bypass immoderate problems they’re having getting their Blade reboot disconnected the ground.

How a Midnight Sons Movie Could Salvage the MCU’s Blade

Did you cognize that Marvel archetypal announced the Blade reboot successful 2019? That’s 7 years ago, and the movie is inactive nary person to materializing. Whatever issues Marvel has had down the scenes, there’s small excuse for having this overmuch occupation cracking a premise similar “cool dude kills vampires”... but we’re not successful complaint of multi-billion dollar movie studios.

Ali’s Blade has lone made a azygous quality successful the MCU to date: a voice-only cameo successful the post-credits country of Eternals. You retrieve that scene, right? The 1 that ne'er adjacent made it wide that Blade was the 1 talking? We’ve had much of Wesley Snipes’ Blade successful the MCU than the MCU’s Blade, which is simply a damning connection nary substance however you portion it.

If the Blade reboot truly is dead, past possibly Blade could marque his MCU debut successful a Midnight Sons crossover film.“

However, Ghost Rider could beryllium the commencement of Blade’s way to salvation. If the Blade reboot truly is arsenic dormant arsenic it seems, past possibly Blade could marque his due MCU debut successful a Midnight Sons crossover movie aft the Ghost Rider movie sets it up. Ryan Gosling is 1 of the astir fashionable movie stars close now, and Ghost Rider is simply a well-known Marvel leader adjacent if his erstwhile adaptations didn’t enactment retired truthful well. If the Ghost Rider movie is simply a success, it could unfastened the doorway for the MCU’s adjacent saga to beryllium themed astir mystic heroes. And it’s not similar this would beryllium immoderate monolithic swerve, since galore of the Midnight Sons-adjacent characters already beryllium successful the MCU. A Midnight Sons movie could bring backmost the likes of Oscar Isaac’s Moon Knight, Gael García Bernal’s Werewolf by Night, and Man-Thing. Hell, they could adjacent marque country for Anya Taylor-Joy to reprise her relation arsenic Magik from The New Mutants, albeit she'd beryllium a quality from a antithetic universe.

A Midnight Sons movie has been reported to beryllium successful improvement astatine Marvel Studios, adjacent if it hasn't been officially confirmed. A fewer months back, Moon Knight histrion Oscar Isaac confirmed that determination was "interesting talk" going connected astir a Midnight Sons movie. "Tonally it's truly important due to the fact that we're playing with existent worldly with that one. It's expressing thing precise real, challenging and difficult. I consciousness similar if you're gonna go, you gotta instrumentality it earnestly arsenic well. Even though it's a brainsick comic book, but that's what it's trying to do, it's doing some of those things." Meanwhile, newsman Jeff Sneider claimed earlier this twelvemonth that portion the Blade solo movie is "dead," helium was proceeding that the quality volition look successful a Midnight Sons movie instead: “[Blade] volition not beryllium introduced successful a solo movie. He volition beryllium introduced successful Midnight Sons.”

While we don’t cognize wherefore the Blade solo movie ne'er got made, that’s nary crushed to springiness up connected the hero. Blade is 1 of Marvel’s coolest characters, and Mahershala Ali is simply a large actor. He would besides springiness the Midnight Sons a antithetic villain to look too Lilith: surely Dracula could beryllium a nemesis for a squad of supernatural heroes? There’s inactive clip to marque Blade enactment successful the MCU, but it whitethorn impact the Daywalker getting a small assistance from his person Ghost Rider. If that’s what it takes to get this iconic leader kicking ass connected the large screen, past astatine slightest we tin yet accidental amended precocious than never.

Carlos Morales writes novels, articles, and Mass Effect essays. You tin travel his fixations connected Twitter.

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