Marvel TV Fails Again: No More Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider

Fans of Marvel TV (and even those who aren’t much of a fan, myself included) were thrilled to discover that the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider was featured in an episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD.

Clark Gregg confirmed the Ghost Rider that Robbie Reyes encountered during his accident was the Johnny Blaze version in “The Good Samaritan” episode.

However, now it’s learned that we won’t be seeing Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider on Marvel TV any time soon.

IGN caught up with Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD executive producer Jeff Bell who offered the disappointing news.

“There is a tradition within the comics that there’s been many Ghost Riders and our take on that was they’re not simultaneously a tribe of Ghost Riders but that it’s passed. The Spirit of Vengeance is passed from person to person. In that respect, at least our intention was that the Spirit of Vengeance was passed from one person to another,” Bell said. “And who passed that on, there are suggestions within the storytelling … That’s as far as we’re going to take that part.”

The article does note that executive producer Jed Whedon didn’t rule out a return for Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider, but that sounds more like he realized what Bell said would upset a lot of fans: “If we find a story where that’s not true, we are going to go back on that in an instant.”

I don’t think it would be too difficult to come up with a Ghost Rider story featuring Johnny Blaze, so obviously Whedon’s remarks make zero sense.

Now speaking of disappointments, it’s currently up in the air where Ghost Rider will appear next.

Following its return from the mid-Winter break, Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD switched gears into the wannabe Ultron storyline, “LMD,” and moved away from the popular Ghost Rider arc that starred Gabriel Luna. Last month saw Bell remark that Ghost Rider was too costly for the series, and that Ghost Rider would be too much for 22 episodes (sounds like a poor excuse to me).

I think ditching Ghost Rider is a big mistake, and I would argue a Ghost Rider series would perform better for ABC and have higher ratings than Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, which is a series, much like Agent Carter, that’s really not any good. I think the fans want Marvel comic book characters, not characters created for TV that no one much cares about. 

The one positive I can see in Marvel TV not using Ghost Rider any more, is that Kevin Feige could always have plans for the character in the movies, which trumps whatever Marvel TV has planned. If Feige wants Ghost Rider in the MCU (and it’s looking more and more likely that the MCU is completely separate from Marvel TV), Feige would get him. I’d rather have Ghost Rider’s vengeance in the MCU over anything Marvel TV has to offer as it is.