Marvel Studios used its San Diego Comic-Con panel to confirm two long-rumoured pieces of casting news, unveiling 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: Doomsday.
Studio president Kevin Feige introduced Gosling to loud cheers in Hall H, ending years of speculation about the actor’s potential MCU involvement.
“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, due 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 downtime on that shoot “daydreaming about Ghost Rider and swapping ideas.”
The role was previously played by Nicolas Cage in two Sony films released in 2007 and 2011.
Ryan Coogler also took the stage to confirm Black Panther 3, set for release on 15 December 2028, with David Jonsson cast as T’Challa II, the son of Chadwick Boseman’s original T’Challa and Lupita Nyong’o’s Nakia, introduced at the close of 2022’s Wakanda Forever.
Jonsson, recently seen in Alien: Romulus and The Long Walk, addressed the crowd with visible emotion: “Thank you to this family that I have the honour and the blessing to join.”
The evening’s biggest surprise came when Ryan Reynolds appeared unannounced among the crowd in a grey, comic-accurate Deadpool costume, introducing himself in character as “Ricky” before mock-interrogating the Avengers: Doomsday cast about a potential role.
“First question is for Mr. Paul Rudd,” he said.
“Where is Thor, and why was he crying?” — a nod to a scene from Deadpool & Wolverine.
After further poking about the film’s shooting schedule, Reynolds signed off in character: “So there’s no additional photography, no overages, 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 featured a first look at Avengers: Doomsday, due 18 December, alongside news that 2019’s Avengers: Endgame will return to cinemas on 25 September with new footage linking it to the upcoming film.
