By 2013 Cage effectively ruled out returning for Ghost Rider 3 and in the years since has lamented the studio wasn’t brave enough to make an R-rated movie with the character, especially in light of Deadpool’ssuccess.

Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance was a modest success but also grossed significantly less than its predecessor too. Neveldine and Taylor brought their trademark kinetic style to the sequel, but the threadbare story and one-note characters did little to impress. Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance was given a lower budget and Johnny Blaze’s origin is slightly retconned to imply the original movie didn’t happen. Sony saw the value of making a follow-up with the character but not necessarily in the same style as the original. While Ghost Rider performed well, the movie’s poor critical reception couldn’t be ignored. Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance Was A Box-Office Disappointment Ghost Rider 3 was once discussed but here’s why the movie will never happen now. Related: Black Panther Fits Almost Too Well As The New Ghost Rider While Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance was better and contained a couple of fun action scenes, it was still a mediocre comic book movie. There were early signs Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance would be an improvement on the maligned original Crank co-directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor were at the helm, the film was said to be a soft reboot and the supporting cast including Idris Elba and Christopher Lambert ( Highlander). The next year saw the release of game-changers Iron Man and The Dark Knight, indicating the genre was undergoing a dramatic shift. Ghost Rider was a financial success, however, so a sequel was greenlit. A terrible wig aside, Cage received good reviews for his lead performance but the story, lame villain and terrible CGI led to Ghost Rider being roundly panned.

The movie was a big budget, PG-13 adventure based around a character who transforms into a demon with a flaming skull, meaning an R-rating probably would have been a better fit. Comic book movies were in a different place back in 2007 when the original Ghost Rider was released. While Nicolas Cage was fun as Johnny Blaze the movies themselves left a lot to be desired, so here's why Ghost Rider 3 will never happen.

Ghost rider movies list