Director Brian Taylor Reflects on GHOST RIDER: SPIRIT OF VENGEANCE, Criticizes AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Version

Ghost Rider starred in two feature films, played by Nicolas Cage. The movies were never big hits, with 2012’s Spirit of Vengeance making just $132.6 million worldwide. The rights later reverted back to Marvel Studios, but instead of another film, the character was brought to television on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.‘s fourth season. While the movies starred Johnny Blaze, the television version is Robbie Reyes.

Now, Brian Taylor (who co-directed Spirit of Vengeance with Mark Neveldine) reflects on his experience with the movie in an interview with Flickering Myth. He explains that originally, David Goyer wrote a “hardcore” R-rated script for a Ghost Rider movie, nearly a decade before the first Nic Cage film. Obviously, with multiple rewrites, that didn’t happen.

However, Taylor regrets not doing an R-rating for the character. “If we had had the opportunity to do the original, rated-R Goyer script, I think that movie would’ve been a classic. I think the cast was really good and I think we got a lot of things right. I think the design of the character was fantastic. The way we did Ghost Rider as a tar-bubbling, black, charred creature was absolutely the right take on Ghost Rider.”

Talk then turned to Ghost Rider’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. version. Simply put, Taylor isn’t a fan of how the character was portrayed there. “They’ve brought that character back on TV now and he looks like the clean, vanilla, G-rated character again. That version really has no interest for me, but I do think a scary, rated-R, horror superhero movie is an awesome thing that should be done and I wish that Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance had been it.”

For more comments from Taylor, click HERE.

Right now, it’s unknown when (or even if) Ghost Rider will return to the MCU. Hopefully, the character will come back sooner than later. Stay tuned.