4 Marvel Villains Connor Storrie Could Be in the MCU Ghost Rider Movie

Even as Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars draw closer, Marvel Studios continues to prepare for the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s next era, with its three 2028 films and recently announced televisions series Zodiac all gearing up for production. The latest news on this front revealed that Heated Rivalry breakout star Connor Storrie is close to securing a role in the MCU’s Ghost Rider reboot film, in which Ryan Gosling will star as the titular antihero. As is common for Marvel productions, the identity of Storrie’s role has not been revealed this early in the production process (the studio hasn’t even yet confirmed which version of Ghost Rider Gosling’s playing, after all) though The Hollywood Reporter was confident that Storrie’s character is one of the film’s villains in the article that broke the news. Even with that being the case, the identity of Storrie’s villain is still anyone’s guess, although a few characters are more likely choices than others based on their connections to the Ghost Rider mythology.

4) Mephisto

Yes, for better or worse, Ghost Rider being in production means Mephisto theories are going to be back at the center of MCU discourse, if they ever really left. A sometimes explicit stand-in for the literal Devil, Mephisto is one of Marvel Comics’ oldest and most dangerous mystical villains. Although he frequently battles many different Marvel heroes, especially those with connections to the supernatural and the occult, he has an especially complicated history with the Ghost Rider franchise, having sometimes been portrayed as responsible for imbuing certain Riders with their demonic powers. This was the case in Sony’s Ghost Rider films starring Nicholas Cage, in which Mephisto was one of the main villains, played by Peter Fonda and Ciarán Hinds.

Since the MCU’s Multiverse Saga started with the trippy, mystically-focused WandaVision, fans have speculated wildly about Mephisto’s possible involvement in various projects, though the first explicit reference to the character didn’t come until 2024’s Agatha All Along. Sacha Baron Cohen debuted as the franchise’s Mephisto the following year in the Ironheart miniseries. But Mephisto is a character known for appearing in different forms in different stories, so it’s entirely possible other actors could play the role going forward. Having an actor like Storrie do so, especially opposite Gosling, who is almost 20 years older than the former, would be somewhat surprising, though casting the younger star as the ancient villain could also be an effectively unnerving choice if executed well. That said, even if Storrie is playing a villain and Mephisto does indeed appear in the film, both of which seem fairly likely, an older actor would still probably be given the latter role, whether its Cohen or not.

3) Blackheart

Mephisto’s demonic “son” arguably seems to be a more likely candidate for Storrie’s role. Mephisto created Blackheart using the evil energy generated by frequent murders in the town of Christ Church, New York. However, Blackheart developed different perspectives on how best to embody and spread evil in the world and rule Hell, and has consequently often wound up at odds with his father.  Although he was introduced in an issue of Daredevil, Blackheart is best known as an enemy of various Ghost Riders, first shown battling the Danny Ketch iteration in the 1990s. While it’s been widely speculated that Gosling is playing an older Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, the 90s comic book run that introduced Danny also created and cemented many aspects of the franchise that are now considered fundamental parts of Ghost Rider lore, Blackheart being one of them. Given this, it wouldn’t be surprising if the reboot uses the character, regardless of which Rider Gosling is playing, as the first Cage film did.

2) Daimon Hellstrom

Daimon Hellstrom sometimes goes by Hellstorm, though he’s best known by the concisely descriptive moniker “Son of Satan.” Despite Mephisto’s aforementioned connection to the Christian Devil, Daimon and his sister Satana are usually described as the children of Murduk Kurios, another powerful demon who has used the Satan guise (told you this corner of Marvel lore gets confusing). Daimon is known for standing out from his relatives and using his supernatural powers for good, though he’s usually still portrayed as an antihero due to his dark connections and often violent methods. While they’re not as directly related as one might initially think, Daimon’s frequently encountered both Mephisto and various Ghost Riders.

Daimon was portrayed in live action for the first time by Tom Austen in the short-lived Hulu series Helstrom. Though that show was initially described as being at least tangentially related to the MCU it ultimately featured only the most minor of connections to the franchise and has been mostly forgotten. The MCU has portrayed usually heroic comic characters as villains and vice versa in the past, regardless of the possible criticism this can bring from long-time fans, and Daimon’s names and lineage make him a particularly likely candidate for such a treatment, so the character could very well be reintroduced as an enemy of Gosling’s Rider.

1) Danny Ketch

Sticking with the idea of heroic comic characters breaking bad, if Gosling isn’t playing Danny, the latter could still appear as a villain, possibly played by Storrie. Both Danny and Johnny have turned to villainy on occasion in the comics and while portions of their fanbases sometimes wind up at odds because of their strong preferences, truthfully the two Riders are key parts of one another’s stories. While Danny was the main protagonist for most of the third volume of the ongoing Ghost Rider comic, the series also quickly reintroduced Johnny, who had retired from vigilante life after being separated from Zarathos, the Spirit of Vengeance that gave him his powers. After Johnny learns that a new Ghost Rider has emerged, he begins hunting Danny, believing him to be possessed by Zarathos. When he learns this is not the case, he becomes a reluctant mentor and partner to Danny and the current Rider Spirit.

Danny and Johnny eventually learn that they are biological brothers, and descendants of the Kale family, which has a cursed history with the Spirits of Vengeance going back centuries. While this has mostly led them to become even closer, they have also faced each other as enemies during periods when one is corrupted. That said, portraying Danny as a villain (whether it’s Storrie or another actor playing him) would be a risky choice for the new movie, as it could alienate portions of the fanbase. The best ways to do so would arguably be either to make it clear that Danny could be redeemed in the future or emphasize the moral ambiguity of the brutal Ghost Rider brand of crime fighting itself, in which case Danny and other opponents of Gosling’s character can serve as antagonists without coming across as plainly evil villains.

Who do you think Storrie will play if he signs on to Ghost Rider?