Ghost Rider: is Connor Storrie playing Blackheart?

Connor Storrie, who broke out in the hockey drama series Heated Rivalry, is in talks to star opposite Ryan Gosling in Marvel Studios' upcoming Ghost Rider reboot, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The report doesn't reveal which villain he would play. I think the field of Ghost Rider antagonists is thin enough to narrow it down, and my pick is Blackheart.

This lands while Marvel is already juggling a lot. If the reports are true that Avengers: Secret Wars doesn't start filming until February 2027, Marvel faces the impossible task of getting through that film in under a calendar year. It also has to coordinate the production of the X-Men reboot, Black Panther 3 and Ghost Rider for the year after.

The Hollywood Reporter says Connor Storrie is in talks for Ghost Rider

The Hollywood Reporter ran the story under a headline that played on the title of the actor's breakout show. The outlet notes that a year ago Storrie was an unknown actor who until recently supported himself by working as a waiter. Now, in the outlet's words, he is "about to go toe-to-toe with one of Hollywood's biggest movie stars in one of its biggest franchises."

Shawn Levy is directing Ghost Rider. The project reunites Levy with Gosling, his star on Star Wars: Starfighter, and with screenwriter Jonathan Tropper.

Gosling's Johnny Blaze is presumed, and Storrie's villain is unknown

The article makes two important points. The first is that Gosling is presumed to be playing Johnny Blaze, but Marvel has not officially confirmed that. There are multiple different Ghost Riders, so while it's assumed he's playing Blaze, we don't know for sure.

The second is that it is not known which villain Storrie would be playing. As the report points out, Blaze's Ghost Rider didn't have a signature villain, but he did have a rogues gallery of demonic antagonists. One villain Blaze did face was Mephisto. The outlet also mentions Mephisto appearing in the Nicolas Cage version, as well as Mephisto being played by Sacha Baron Cohen, who already showed up in Ironheart.

Why I think Storrie could be playing Blackheart

As the article mentions, there isn't a lot to go on, because we know the actor but not the role. The list of villains Ghost Rider has faced is thin. I think that makes it easier to narrow down who Storrie is playing.

If we see Mephisto again, I think it'll be Sacha Baron Cohen continuing in that role. But I think it could easily be Mephisto's son, Blackheart. When I saw the headline, I figured he was the only villain Storrie could be playing, and I'm surprised the article didn't focus more on that. Blackheart is the only one who comes to mind, a mile ahead of everybody else.

Blackheart's whole idea is that his dad isn't doing enough, so he wants to bring hell to Earth. After the scale of the Multiverse Saga, with the existence of reality hanging in the balance, that would be a nice change of pace.

Blackheart, Mephisto and the Midnight Suns after losing Mahershala Ali's Blade

It's easy to see Blackheart as a one-off villain in a film like this. But there were clearly plans at some point to work toward a Midnight Suns crossover. Even though Marvel has lost Mahershala Ali as Blade, I don't think that's off the table.

That's why I think that if Sacha Baron Cohen isn't playing Mephisto in this movie, Mephisto won't be in it at all. Blackheart would be the perfect way to handle it: a consolation and a nod to Mephisto that continues his storyline and lore without him appearing, with a villain who can square off against Ghost Rider without requiring a full team-up.

As for Blade, I think the ultimate slap in the face to Mahershala Ali would be to recast him. If you couldn't get it done with an Academy Award winner, who are you going to hire now that you can get it done with? It could be that Marvel still has plans for the character in the live-action MCU, and Ali has simply moved on and doesn't want anything to do with it. I don't blame him.

Why I think Doctor Strange 3 could become a Midnight Suns team-up

I feel like this could go another way. The supernatural and the cosmic were the two additions to what we heard would be a grounded MCU going into the next phase, which the fandom has called the mutant saga for years. Kevin Feige was recently heard using that exact phrase for the first time, saying it was maybe a multiple mutant saga.

The supernatural side of the MCU still has a place with a main character who doesn't yet have a third installment: Doctor Strange. Blade is gone, but several characters could fit a Midnight Suns team, like Moon Knight, now Ghost Rider, and Werewolf by Night, who was recently mentioned in an episode of VisionQuest.

I think there's a possibility that a Midnight Suns team could slide into a third Doctor Strange film. It would be a natural progression and a change of pace. During the Multiverse Saga, Doctor Strange has been embroiled in sci-fi multiversal stories, when I think he's at his best in the supernatural. In terms of star power, you'd have Doctor Strange, Ryan Gosling and Oscar Isaac to start with. That's a big three to put up front.

The case for Ghost Rider as a one-off after Avengers: Secret Wars

I think it's worth playing devil's advocate, pun intended. With the reset of the MCU, Marvel Studios has an opportunity it has rarely had. It's entering a new saga after two huge Avengers crossovers for the second time. The first time, Marvel stuck the landing with Infinity War and Endgame, but entering the next phase didn't go so well.

You can point to mitigating circumstances like the pandemic. Still, it doesn't matter how much anybody likes Eternals: it didn't do well because it wasn't the film the fandom was looking for. We were looking for our Iron Man replacement, which maybe should have been Sam Wilson's Falcon.

My point is that Marvel may want more insular stories, because it won't get another reset for maybe five, six or seven years, by which point we might be entering Phase 10. This is a crucial time. Ghost Rider, Black Panther and the X-Men, the first three films after Avengers: Secret Wars, are important for maintaining the hype and showing Marvel learned its lesson. So it won't surprise me if the villain is a one-off or doesn't lead to anything. Marvel could make a good standalone Ghost Rider movie, introduce the character and take it from there. That might be exactly what the fandom wants right now.

But my money is on Marvel doing the Marvel thing, and maybe this is the kickoff for the Midnight Suns. If so, I'd love to see it culminate in Doctor Strange 3, a film that could feel very different from Multiverse of Madness.