Ryan Gosling will play Ghost Rider in a new Avengers-era Marvel film, and Marvel Studios put that casting into a larger post-Avengers: Doomsday plan at San Diego Comic-Con. The move gives Marvel a named lead for one of its next films while the studio keeps its Phase Six finish and Phase Seven setup in view.
Ghost Rider and Gosling
San Diego Comic-Con was the stage for the announcement that Gosling will take on Ghost Rider in a film directed by Shawn Levy. This will be the third film adaptation of Ghost Rider, after Nicolas Cage played the character in 2007’s Ghost Rider and 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance.
December 18, 2026 is the date Marvel has set for Avengers: Doomsday, with Avengers: Secret Wars following the next year. That calendar places Ghost Rider inside a stretch where Marvel is using Avengers films to organize the rest of its slate, not just close out one phase.
Black Panther 3 and X-Men
Ryan Coogler will return for a third Black Panther outing, and David Jonsson is set to play T’Challa’s son. Letitia Wright, Winston Duke, and Denzel Washington are also attached, which gives Marvel another sequel with a clear core cast before any release date has been put on the board.
Marvel Studios also said in 2025 that it is working on an X-Men film from Jake Schreier. The studio has not announced a release date for that film, which keeps the project in the planning lane even as the company lines up the pieces around Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars.
Blade and Armor Wars
Blade remains the franchise’s unresolved pressure point. The film was announced in 2019 with Mahershala Ali attached to play the lead role, and Kevin Feige said in July 2026 that he felt like a “gigantic loser and a failure that we didn’t get off the ground with Mahershala” for Blade.
That leaves Marvel in a split position: it can point to Ghost Rider, Black Panther 3, and the X-Men film as active post-Avengers planning, while Blade and Armor Wars still sit in a more uncertain state. For readers tracking what Marvel will actually deliver after Avengers: Doomsday, the practical answer is simple — the studio has named its next moves, but not every project in the queue has the same footing.
