In the wake of the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which had the second-biggest opening weekend ever both domestically and internationally, hauling in a stunning $335 million and $925 million respectively, there have also been a myriad of revelations and announcements pertaining to Ghost Rider and the X-Men that simply must be addressed.
First and foremost, we need to talk about the casting reveals at San Diego Comic Con, where not only the immensely talented British actor David Jonsson was cast as the son of Chadwick Boseman’s T’Challa and the next Black Panther in the next instalment directed by Ryan Coogler, but more to the point of this article, Ryan Gosling was announced as the MCU’s Ghost Rider, while his fellow Canadian Shawn Levy was revealed as the director.
This announcement was quite surprising, yet many of the signs were already in plain sight. For one, Gosling has made no secret of his desire to one day portray the Ghost Rider for years. He might be a safe pick as one of the world’s most prominent actors, but Ryan Gosling is also pitch-perfect for the role. Not only does the actor have a deep appreciation for the character – to the point that he even reportedly came up with how Kevin Feige could include him in the ever-expanding MCU – but Gosling also has that rare Robert Downey Jr.-esque quality where he can seamlessly blend lighthearted comedy and grounded drama into consistent standout performances. If all this wasn’t enough, Gosling also crucially has experience riding motorcycles, most notably in the 2012 crime thriller The Place Beyond the Pines.
Then, there’s Shawn Levy as the film’s director, who was certainly the more unexpected part of the announcement given that he recently directed Deadpool & Wolverine and a fourth Deadpool feature has recently been confirmed. However, if that movie continued to prove one thing, it’s that he very much likes to work with the same actors, having worked with Hugh Jackman and, in particular, Ryan Reynolds in the past. Levy has earned a reputation as an “actor’s director” so to speak, and it was clearly no different for Gosling, as he and Levy recently wrapped filming on their upcoming blockbuster Star Wars: Starfighter, and was eager to work with him again as I have no doubt a person with Gosling’s star power and sway had a say in who he wanted to direct the film.
Gosling and Jonsson are not the only recent castings in the MCU, though, as over the weekend Australian actress Samara Weaving was revealed to be cast as Emma Frost in the upcoming X-Men movie being helmed by the talented Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier. Yet, most interestingly, Weaving is very likely not the first actor cast for X-Men, as with the release of Spider-Man: Brand New Day came the highly anticipated reveal of Sadie Sink as Jean Grey, ostensibly setting up her appearance in the film, though the rest of the cast outside of Weaving have yet to be announced.
That does not mean there have not been persistent rumours either, as there are unconfirmed reports that Patrick Wilson and Adam Driver have been cast as Professor Xavier and Magneto respectively. While I cannot stress just how much I want this to be true, it must be taken with a sizeable grain of salt since the Fantastic Four was rumoured to be cast before the official lineup was announced, and it was actually Driver who was tipped to play Reed Richards AKA Mr. Fantastic, but the actor reportedly turned down the role after reading the script as he failed to connect with the character, and of course the role would eventually go to Pedro Pascal instead.
Additionally, Inde Navarrette has previously confirmed that she met with Schreier and Feige about a role in X-Men after her stellar breakout performance in the sleeper hit of 2026, Obsession, and while nothing has been announced by either party, she has expressed interest in playing Mystique. Otherwise, there have been rumours swirling around who will play Cyclops, with the likes of Cooper Hoffman, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, and Drew Starkey coming up most frequently. Sadly, there are no rumoured favourites to play arguably the most famous Canadian comic book character of all time, Wolverine, aside from the long-standing fan-casting of actors such as Taron Egerton and Daniel Radcliffe, but it makes sense that Marvel wouldn’t rush this particular casting given how Hugh Jackman is so intrinsically tied to the character.
Official dates have yet to be confirmed, but both Ghost Rider and X-Men are expected to release sometime in 2028.