Nic Cage Is Right - ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance’ Has Aged Better Than You Think

Ghost Rider (2028) brings the Spirit of Vengeance back to life, this time for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, starring Ryan Gosling. We don't know which Rider he will be portraying, but the news is enough to get anyone curious about the history of the supernatural character, especially his movies.

Nicolas Cage is known for bringing the character to life on the big screen twice in theaters, with the first being praised far more than the second. But with the power of hindsight, it brings to light that both films brought something unique that makes them stand out and hold up in 2026.

The First ‘Ghost Rider’ Made the Character Palatable to a Wide Audience

Ghost Rider (2007) felt like a movie that shouldn't have worked considering how dark the subject matter is. Yet, the film kept with the narrative of Johnny Blaze's deal with the Devil and still managed to show the character's heroism beyond the horror. It even had a video game and toyline that pushed the film and made it a success.

But beyond working with the audience, the film also saw a new side to Nicolas Cage, in which he finally got to embody a superhero role that not only worked, but the people loved. Cage transformed for this role in many ways, and seeing him as the Rider was just as fun as you'd expect.

It's no exaggeration to say that Ghost Rider helped in a huge way to make the character maintain its popularity in the 2000s. Even if certain fans found more issues than positives with it, there are still more than a few moments that work and give us one of the best representations of the character.

‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance’ Has a Style That Still Holds Up

Unlike the first film, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011) has gotten a lot more criticism and even buried the character in Hollywood until he appeared in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013-2020). A requel not tied to the original, the film follows Johnny Blaze in hiding with his curse when he's tasked with protecting a boy being targeted by the Devil.

It's a straightforward story where the humor doesn't always land, but there's a lot of uniqueness that still makes it worth a watch. For starters, Cage gets weird with this iteration of the Rider, making him an animalistic spirit who lost its humanity. He's scary but still a hero through and through.

The one thing that made this movie stand out was its frantic filming and editing style by Neveldine and Taylor, who also worked on the Crank films. The lore was twisted, and even the bike looked different from the first film, but Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance still had immense style. It also marks a rare moment in Marvel movie history where the Marvel Knights imprint was used to signify a much darker story which, for better or worse, defines Spirit of Vengeance.

What comes from the movie itself, and the reason it stands out and works, is because we see just how hard it is to be a Ghost Rider. Blaze isn't just harboring a hungry spirit; he's walking around with an insane fallen angel inside him, and any chance it gets to harm criminals, it does so violently and recklessly. He has one hand barely on the steering wheel of his mind, and the film captures it perfectly.

Nicolas Cage Was Right About ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance’

For years, Nicolas Cage has had strong thoughts about his Ghost Rider movies. Not to say he's thought poorly of them, of course, but rather that they have value beyond what critics think. While talking with Yahoo!, one of the things he stated was: "I think if you look back on the movies today, they age well.” In many ways, he's correct, considering a rewatch will show these movies are still a fun time.

There's also the matter of reaching a wider audience, which Cage touched on, as well as the fact that being held back from an R-rating gave it limits. For example, he mentioned that: "Had Ghost Rider been made in R-rated format, the way they had the guts to do with Deadpool, and they did it again today, I'm fairly certain it would be enormously successful."

Not only is this incredibly true, considering Deadpool spawned a new era of R-rated superhero films as well, it also shows that the best way to capture the darkness of Ghost Rider means leaning into it through an R-rating. Cage then mentioned how even if the movies weren't received well, the smaller budgets, especially for the second one, yielded huge box office returns, meaning while it isn't beloved, it proves that Cage was right: Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance is good.