Why Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider Was Chosen for AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.
It was officially announced at Comic-Con that Ghost Rider will be making his debut in Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The version of the character they will be using in the series is Robbie Reyes, not the original Johnny Blaze version. Either way, it’s a version of Ghost Rider, and fans seems to be pretty excited about his inclusion in the series. The character will play a big role in the upcoming season, and in an interview with ComicBook.com, Executive Producer Jeph Loeb talked about his excitement about using the character in the series and explained why they went with the Reyes version of the character.
“It’s incredibly exciting, and I know a lot of people were speculating on it. Not only is it exciting to be able to tell people that it's Robbie Reyes, but that we have this unbelievably cool car, that 1969 black Charger that’s still on the floor of the convention, and then on top of that that we’ve just announced that Gabriel Luna, who is an extremely talented young actor who people may know from Matador on El Rey. It’s going to be a hell of a season.”
In case you missed the reveal of the 1969 black Charger, you can check it out here along with a promo teaser for the character. Loeb went on to explain why the creative team behind Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. decided to go with Reyes:
“We picked Robbie, actually, because our show, at the end of day, is always about family, and the fact that Robbie’s relationship with Gabe [Robbie’s developmentally disabled brother] is so much a part of his character, and the world of east LA, which is not a place that we’ve ever gone to in the Marvel universe, was just a really exciting way.”
I’ll admit, I was kind of hoping for Johnny Blaze, but it makes sense that they would go with Reyes. I don’t think Marvel Studios would have allowed them to use Blaze in the first place. Using Reyes leaves the option open for a Ghost Rider movie with Blaze if the studio decides to do that one day. If they ended up using that character in the series, the possibility of a movie with him is basically gone.
Robbie Reyes is a solid character, though, and it will be interesting to see how exactly he’s portrayed in the series and how they will utilize him.
Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returns to ABC on September 20th, 2016.