Marvel Studios used its San Diego Comic-Con panel to confirm two long-standing casting news, revealing Ryan Gosling as Ghost Rider and David Jonsson as the new Black Panther, while Ryan Reynolds crashed the stage in full Deadpool costume to campaign for a role in Avengers: Apocalypse.
Studio president Kevin Feige introduced Gosling to raucous cheers in Hall H, ending years of speculation about the actor’s potential involvement in the MCU.
“Wow, is this really happening?” Gosling told the crowd. “As you know, this is a character I’ve wanted to play for a very long time.”
The film, expected in 2028, reunites Gosling with Shawn Levy, who is currently working with him on Star Wars: Starfighter.
Levy told the Hall H audience that he and Gosling spent much of their free time on that set “dreaming about Ghost Rider and exchanging ideas.”
The role had already been played by Nicolas Cage in two Sony films released in 2007 and 2011.
Ryan Coogler also took the stage to confirm Black Panther 3scheduled for release on December 15, 2028, starring David Jonsson as T’Challa II, the son of Chadwick Boseman’s original T’Challa and Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, introduced at the end of Wakanda Forever in 2022.
Jonsson, seen recently in Extraterrestrial: Romulus And The long walkaddressed the crowd with visible emotion: “Thank you to this family that I have the honor and blessing to join.”
The biggest surprise of the evening came when Ryan Reynolds appeared unannounced among the crowd in a comic-book-accurate gray Deadpool costume, introducing himself in character as “Ricky” before interviewing the character. Avengers: Apocalypse talk about a potential role.
“The first question is for Mr Paul Rudd,” he said.
“Where is Thor and why was he crying?” — a nod to a scene from Deadpool and Wolverine.
After delving further into the film’s shooting schedule, Reynolds signed off in person: “So there’s no additional photography, no overruns, no last minute additions? No further questions.”
Reynolds later confirmed the stunt on Instagram, dubbing the costumed alter ego “Jeanpool.”
His involvement in doomsday remains formally unconfirmed by Marvel.
The panel also presented a first overview of Avengers: Apocalypseexpected on December 18, alongside the announcement that 2019 Avengers: Endgame will return to theaters on September 25 with new footage linking it to the upcoming film.
