This content has been archived. It may no longer be relevant
This year’s San Diego Comic-Con saw a plethora of announcements that excited comic-book fans beyond belief. One such announcement was the confirmation that Ghost Rider will appear in Season 4 of Agents of SHIELD. Gabriel Luna will play the iconic vigilante when the show returns to ABC in late September, but until then, new information on his involvement in the show has been revealed.
Courtesy of CBS, the information shared during the Agents of SHIELD SDCC panel highlights why the Spirit of Vengeance was introduced into the show. The news also details why the showrunners opted for Robbie Reyes’ version of the character.
Head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb said:
“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.
“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 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.”
On why the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider was chosen, Agents of SHIELD executive producer Laurissa Tancharoen said:
“We’re doing the Robbie Reyes version 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. Also, it’s Ghost Rider with the flaming car! It’s kind of awesome.”
Executive producer Jed Whedon touched on how Doctor Strange’s introduction into the MCU influenced the incorporation of Ghost Rider in AOS.
“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.”
“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.”
Agents of SHIELD Season 4 premieres on September 20 and stars Clark Gregg (Phil Coulson), Ming-Na Wen (Melinda May), Chloe Bennet (Daisy Johnson), Iain De Caestecker (Leo Fitz), Elizabeth Henstridge (Jemma Simmons) and Henry Simmons (Alphonso Mackenzie).
Image: Marvel/Disney
