Are there now two Ghost Riders in Agents of SHIELD?

Last week’s Agents of SHIELD revealed Ghost Rider’s back story, and in the process may have just introduced a second Ghost Rider.

Before the last episode of Agents of SHIELD, we only knew parts of his origin story. It involved the Fifth Street gang, his brother ending up in a wheelchair and a deal with the Devil. But the writers purposefully left out one minor detail, and when it all came together, fans were treated to an unexpected reveal.

As Robbie explained, he and his brother went out late one night in their uncle’s car to partake in a street race. A large truck got in their way, and when Robbie honked at them, they threw a Molotov cocktail at the car, setting it ablaze. They tried to lose the gang, but its members caught up to them and shot them both up drive-by style.

In Robbie’s dying breath, he prayed for his brother to be safe, which is when a “good samaritan” dragged him away. That same good samaritan granted Robbie a second chance, providing him with the gpowers that he possesses today.

When people saw that scene, almost everyone agreed that the good samaritan was the original Ghost Rider, a.k.a. Johnny Blaze. The evidence to back that claim was overwhelming. He rode a motorcycle, wore a leather jacket, and had a flaming skull, plus he gave Robbie the Spirit of Vengeance.

Robbie thought that he was the Devil, but Johnny Blaze was the one who initially sold his soul to Satan. Perhaps he wants to get rid of the Spirit that possesses him all the same, which is why he tried to pass it off to Robbie.

Of course, Robbie Reyes wasn’t an original creation of Agents of SHIELD. He first appeared in a 2014 comic book series as the fourth incarnation of Ghost Rider, as part of the Marvel NOW! initiative. The Robbie Reyes in Agents of SHIELD is similar to his comic counterpart. He’s a Mexican-American who lives in East Los Angeles, has an uncle named Eli and a disabled brother named Gabe, drives a car instead of a motorcycle, and doubles as a mechanic.

However, their origins differ greatly. In the comics, Robbie got revived by his uncle, and eventually comes face-to-face with Johnny Blaze. Gabe also became disabled because Eli pushed his mother down the stairs while she was pregnant.

But Agents of SHIELD seems committed to having, if not Johnny Blaze, at least another Ghost Rider hand off his gifts to Robbie Reyes. No Ghost Rider has ever handed off their abilities to another one, simply because Marvel keeps making new incarnations of him. To that end, Agents of SHIELD wants to celebrate the history of Ghost Rider by bringing together the original version of him with the most recent one.

And there’s nothing to suggest that Johnny Blaze’s appearance will be limited to an Easter egg cameo in a flashback. With Eli now becoming the primary villain of the show, SHIELD and Robbie will want to seek external help, which could lead to Robbie tracking him down.

Whatever the case, we can definitely get down with seeing more than one Ghost Rider in the show. That is, as long as he isn’t played by Nicolas Cage…