History Trivia / GhostRider

* DevelopmentHell: Creator/GregWeisman stated he had interest in creating an animated series for Ghost Rider. (They tried a BackdoorPilot for this idea in his appearance in the Creator/{{UPN}} cartoon of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk1996'', but that didn't pan out; this also forced him to be cut from appearing in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', as Creator/FoxKids didn't want to promote a series on another network.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: After Alejandra was deformed by hellfire and had her Ghost Rider powers given to Johnny Blaze at the end of her series, she was meant to undergo a FaceHeelTurn. Rob Williams says that she's explicitly a villain now on the last page of the comic. Instead, she would wind up in comic book limbo and then return as TheAtoner in ''Absolute Carnage'' in 2019, where she was killed.

PopCultureUrbanLegends: It was reported in the late 00s that the lack of color reprints of Ghost Rider was due to the rise of an unstated editor at Marvel, who was a Born Again Christian and who had vowed never to allow the 70s Blaze series to be reprinted, due to the early issues featuring Satan and references to Satanism/devil worship.

* MissingEpisode: #94 of the original series. Due to Marvel being in dire financial straits in the mid-90s, Ghost Rider was canceled with issue #93 and the last issue placed in storage and lost for over a decade.

*** There was an inventory story that was written in the early 80s before the book got canceled involving Ketch stumbling upon devil worshippers lead by a female who claimed dominion over flame as a result. The story was never published as part of the original run, but ultimately saw the light of day in the early 90s in Marvel Super Heroes Quarterly #10 (and placed in the Essential Showcase TPB between #65-66).

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: It was reported in the late 00s that the lack of color reprints of Ghost Rider was due to the rise of an unstated editor at Marvel, who was a Born Again Christian and who had vowed never to allow the 70s Blaze series to be reprinted, due to the early issues featuring Satan and references to Satanism/devil worship.

* NamesTheSame:
** Initially, in the late 40s, there was a western comic book character called Ghost Rider, who later had his own Marvel published magazine in the 60s. After the introduction of the modern Ghost Rider in the 70s, the character was renamed Night Rider and then Phantom Rider - though ''this'' was after a few clumsy attempts to integrate him into the Ghost Rider mythos properly.
** Blackout: Also the name of an insane Nova villain. That one manipulates the dark force dimension but like this one ''also'' had an UnexplainedRecovery after Comicbook/CivilWar.
** Dan Ketch: There is also an angel under Malachi named Daniel.
** Lucifer: The X-Men fought an alien who happened to be named Lucifer, in fact that alien is responsible for putting Charles Xavier in a wheelchair. He is a dangerous villain in his own right but not to be mistaken for the angel that started a war in heaven and is now bound in hell.
** Scarecrow: It's also the codename of an enemy of a certain [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} caped crusader]] from the [[Creator/DCComics Distinguished Competition]].

* TakeThat: When Ghost Rider got canceled in the 90s, Howard Mackie spent an issue of Spider-Man having Ghost Rider return to his standard look (Valez had changed his costume, which was not well received) and throwing out Valez's origin for Ghost Rider (he was the spirit of Ketch and Blaze's ancestor, who was sold to the devil for having sex with a black woman).
** Another example: After Todd [=McFarlane=] did a crossover in adjectiveless Spider-Man where a now irrevocably insane Hobgoblin murdered innocent people/disfigured a kid to turn him into a goblin like creature, Howard Mackie spent two issues of Ghost Rider shitting on [=McFarlane=]'s arc with a storyline where Hobgoblin kidnaps Ghost Rider's mom and doesn't kill her/have Spider-Man argue that Hobgoblin is possessed by demonic forces and tries (unsuccessfully) to get Ghost Rider to purge him of the said demonic forces.

!!Other
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/GregWeisman stated he had interest in creating an animated series for Ghost Rider. (They tried a BackdoorPilot for this idea in his appearance in the Creator/{{UPN}} cartoon of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk1996'', but that didn't pan out; this also forced him to be cut from appearing in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', as Creator/FoxKids didn't want to promote a series on another network.)

!!The film:
* AwesomeDearBoy: Creator/NicolasCage really, really likes Ghost Rider. He even has a Ghost Rider tattoo, which had to be covered by makeup for filming for obvious reasons.
* CaliforniaDoubling: Set in Texas, but shot in Australia (hence explaining the presence of Creator/RebelWilson).
* DoingItForTheArt: Mark Steven Johnson put forward his own money to make an action sequence in which Ghost Rider battles a helicopter.
* MoneyDearBoy: According to an interview he gave to the New York Times in 2010, this movie was made during the middle of Creator/WesBentley's decade-long, extremely serious addiction to cocaine and heroin. He said in that interview that he only accepted any movie roles during that time so that he would have money to buy enough drugs.
* PromotedFanboy: Creator/NicolasCage is a huge Comicbook/GhostRider [[JustForFun/OneOfUs and comic book fanboy]], who has wanted to play Ghost Rider since he got into acting. He actually has the Rider tattooed on one arm; they had to cover the tat so he could portray the role.
* RealSongThemeTune: "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky: A Cowboy Legend" is heard when Johnny and the Caretaker go off to help defeat Blackrider, and is also the end credits theme.
* ReleaseDateChange: Originally planned for a summer 2006 release. Writer and Director Mark Steven Johnson asked for more time to complete more action shots, including the helicopter battle scene.
* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: It's no coincidence that Raquel Alessi got cast as a young Creator/EvaMendes. She more than looks the part.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Creator/EricBana and Creator/JohnnyDepp were considered for the part of [[Comicbook/GhostRider Johnny Blaze]] before the casting of Creator/NicolasCage. Bana previously portrayed [[Comicbook/IncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] in ''Film/{{Hulk}}''.
** Creator/JonVoight was initially attached to produce the project, but dropped out due to unknown reasons.
* WrittenByCastmember: Creator/NicolasCage wrote sections of the script.

* {{Jossed}}: Rumors persist that Creator/NicolasCage's abs in the movie were CGI, but Writer and Director Mark Steven Johnson refutes this on his DVDCommentary. [[https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-mj-oBsUXXDc/TX7tWs94oBI/AAAAAAAAAMc/9tVt6GsZsDk/s1600/Nic+Cage+Ghost+Mirror.jpg And there are set photos that prove that those abs were real too.]]

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/GregWeisman stated he had interest in creating an animated series for Ghost Rider. (They tried a BackdoorPilot for this idea in his appearance in the Creator/{{UPN}} cartoon of ''WesternAnimation/TheIncredibleHulk'', but that didn't pan out; this also forced him to be cut from appearing in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManTheAnimatedSeries'', as Creator/FoxKids didn't want to promote a series on another network.)

** The Red Rider, one of the Fiends in ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'', is a very obvious {{Expy}} of Ghost Rider, complete with the flaming wheels motorcycle.

* ActorAllusion: Mephisto (played by Creator/PeterFonda) calls Johnny's ride a "nice bike" while eyeing it up and down. The Ghost Rider's motorcycle in this film is a tweaked version of the exact same model Fonda's character rode in the seminal classic Film/EasyRider.

** Mukuro Enjo, a minor antagonist in ''Anime/YuGiOh5DS'' is a D-Wheeler with a Harley Davidson-like bike painted with flames and a skull head. The same theme goes for his clothes, and the first card he summons is "Burning Skull".

* BrokenBase: Ketch or Blaze. Most consider the Blaze era to be absurdly dated and hackneyed while the Ketch run more evergreen. Blaze fans meanwhile hate Ketch's run for being too 90s extreme (along with the taint of Howard Mackie as the creator of Ketch)
** For modern readers, Robbie Reyes vs pretty much ALL of the modern "SJW pandering" heroes. Most consider Reyes to be the only good diversity themed hero Marvel has put out in the last five years and are actively bitter that Reyes was sidelined due to Secret Wars and Marvel pushing America Chavez, Mockingbird, Ms Marvel, and other female heroes. Meawhile the fans of the other female-centric characters hate Robbie Reyes, because he's male and popular with the older fans who the Alonso/Alto Marvel regime wanted to replace.
** Jason Aaron's take on the character in the 00s. Besides furthering Garth Ennis's transplanting of Danny Ketch's visual onto Johnny Blaze, it jetisoned pretty much all existing lore from Blaze, Ketch, Zarathos, and the franchise in general and replacing it with the Black Ops Angels, conspiracies and counter conspiracies and deep cover Angels pretending to be demons and pretty much made the Ghost Rider mythos overtly complicated and convoluted.