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Ryan Gosling shocked fans over the weekend, revealing himself as Marvel's next Ghost Rider during a surprise Comic-Con appearance, and Mendes, 52, made clear she'd called it years ago.
The couple, who share daughters Esmeralda and Amada, first met back in 2011 while filming "The Place Beyond the Pines."
On Sunday, July 26, Mendes reshared a fan-edited clip from that very film, layering the newly unveiled Ghost Rider logo over a tracking shot of Gosling as motorcycle stunt driver Luke Glanton.
The edit's caption read, "from this intro only i thought ryan gosling can be a perfect casting for ghost rider role," and Mendes signed her own post, simply, "Love, Roxy." That nod referenced Roxanne Simpson, the character Mendes played opposite Nicolas Cage in 2007's original "Ghost Rider" film.
Ryan, 45, made his casting official at Marvel's Hall H panel, where studio president Kevin Feige brought him onstage, sending the crowd into a frenzy. "Wow, is this really happening?" Gosling asked, visibly emotional, before adding, "As you know, this is a character I've wanted to play for a very long time." He appeared dressed in a red jacket and black pants, a clear visual nod to the character's fiery aesthetic.
The role marks Gosling's second collaboration with director Shawn Levy, following their work together on the upcoming "Star Wars: Starfighter." Plot details remain under wraps, but the parallel between Gosling's new role and Mendes' own Ghost Rider history clearly wasn't lost on either of them, given the pointed social media tribute. Mendes later posted a montage of the couple's "Pines" scenes to her Instagram Stories, thanking the original edit's creator for spotlighting what she called "this beautiful parallel universe connection."
The pair began dating shortly after wrapping "The Place Beyond the Pines" and have kept their relationship largely private, though both have shared warm tributes over the years. Gosling once told Hello magazine that Mendes embodies everything he could want, adding simply, "There's nothing else I'm looking for." Marvel has set Ghost Rider for a 2028 release, giving fans plenty of time to watch the couple's real-life love story echo its own strange, cinematic parallel.
