This revelations makes it even more impossible to believe someone else could do justice to Johnny Blaze the way Nic Cage did.

SUMMARY

Nicolas Cage went to extreme lengths to prepare for his role as Ghost Rider.
This included spending a night in Dracula’s castle to channel the energy of Johnny Blaze.
Speculations about the next actor to play Ghost Rider include Norman Reedus and Keanu Reeves as the top contenders.
However, it’s uncertain if anyone can match Cage’s performance and dedication to the character.

Every time a movie buff hears the name of Marvel’s Ghost Rider, perhaps the first name to ring the bell must be Nicolas Cage’s, for he embodied the anti-hero the most immaculately in his own solo movie series on the character. In fact, his performance was so on-point as Johnny Blaze that many would argue that no one could embody him better than Cage.

Ghost Rider in the comics.
But Cage couldn’t have pulled off this incredible feat just like that. If anything, he went to great lengths and did whatever it required to channel his inner Blaze to give fans as remarkable a performance as he did. And these great lengths that he went to have made it more than evident that perhaps no other actor could play the anti-hero better than the 60-year-old legend.

Nicolas Cage Went to Extremes for MCU’s Ghost Rider

Nicolas Cage has displayed time and time again that he is willing to go to whatever lengths necessary if it means he can deliver his role with the utmost perfection. The same went in the process he spent preparing for his iconic role as the Marvel anti-hero, Ghost Rider.

A still from Nic Cage’s iconic film series of the MCU anti-hero.
According to the story shared by Idris Elba, who co-starred alongside him in the 2011 film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Cage took method acting to the next level. And by the next level, we mean he went as far as spending a night in Dracula’s castle just to channel his inner Blaze.

During a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) session, Elba revealed the same while recalling the one day that the National Treasure actor looked “a little bit tired… kind of like he’d been up all night” when he came down to set. This prompted him to ask his co-star if everything was alright.

Nicolas Cage as Johnny Blaze.
As the Thor actor shared:

“I was like, ‘Hey Nic, man, how you doing, man?’ And he said, ‘I’m alright,’ and I said, ‘You seem a little spooked out,’ and he said, ‘Yeah man, I went up to Dracula’s castle… the ruins up in the mountains, and I stayed the night.’”

Okay, we know your reaction right now is, ‘WHAAAT?!’ And, well, it’s only understandable, because Elba had the exact same reaction to this revelation from Cage, which quite literally seems to have come out as something that was ordinary to do for him.

A still from Spirit of Vengeance (2011).
As Elba continued to share:

“I said ‘What?! Why!?’ And he said ‘I just had to channel the energy, and it was pretty spooky up there.’ We were shooting in Romania, Transylvania, and he just went up there to spend the night, as you do. And then he walked away. True story.”

Well, The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent actor is most certainly made differently, that’s for sure! But that being said, could the next person in line to portray the iconic character go to such extremes just to do justice to the character? We highly doubt it.

Who Could Be the Next Ghost Rider?

Nothing is confirmed about who could be the next Spirit of Vengeance.
Since we’re already on the topic of whether the next person in line to play this anti-hero from Marvel Cinematic Universe could deliver as efficient a performance as Cage and go to such great lengths just for the character, we might as well discuss who this next person in line could be.

According to speculations, the person massively rumored since 2021 as being the chosen one to carry on Johnny Blaze’s legacy seems to be none other than fans’ very own beloved actor renowned for The Walking Dead, Norman Reedus.

Norman Reedus as the anti-hero. | Credit: @mizuriau on IG.
This happened after the actor himself took to his X handle @wwwbigbaldhead in 2021 to campaign to play the character by tweeting the link to a fan-made concept of him as the Spirit of Vengeance, all of which effortlessly launched him under massive speculation of playing the role.

Then there’s also Keanu Reeves, who has been one of the biggest favorites when it comes to fan-casting for the Spirit of Vengeance. (This fan-made trailer on YouTube only shares how perfect he would be in the role!)

Keanu Reeves as the anti-hero. | Credit: @mizuriau on IG.
But that’s only what fans want, and no official castings have been confirmed as of yet.

Yet, even as the speculation continues to rage on between these two highly favored contestants for this respective role of the anti-hero, perhaps none could deliver as efficient and immaculate a performance as Cage did more than a decade ago while embodying Blaze.