Nicolas Cage’s most divisive action movie franchise is finally back on free streaming: Sony Pictures’ Ghost Rider and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance are now available on Tubi. As reported by Polygon, these two non-MCU comic-book movies put Cage’s Johnny Blaze back within easy reach for anyone craving flaming motorcycles, demonic contracts, and the actor’s famously all-in intensity.
This return is timely for fans of Cage’s action movies. Both films have spent years carrying a rough reputation among critics and superhero fans, despite their box-office success and impressive casts that include Eva Mendes, Peter Fonda, Sam Elliott, Idris Elba, Christopher Lambert, and Anthony Head.
Johnny Blaze Still Burns Bright
The first Ghost Rider follows stunt rider Johnny Blaze, who makes a deal with Mephisto to save his father from cancer. Tragically, his father dies in a motorcycle crash, and two decades later, Blaze must repay that debt when Mephisto transforms him into the flaming-skulled Spirit of Vengeance to hunt Blackheart.
This setup is a direct adaptation from the comics: a cursed hero, a demon’s family feud, a supernatural bounty hunt, and a motorcycle that looks like it escaped from a teenager’s notebook margin. Cage is the reason it still has a pulse. Even when the visual effects show their 2007 vintage, he attacks every moment of panic, rage, and bodily transformation as if the fate of cinema rests on one unhinged facial expression.
Spirit of Vengeance takes an even stranger route, introducing Danny Ketch as a child instead of Johnny Blaze’s long-lost brother. This is a significant departure from the comics, but the films stand out among pre-MCU adaptations for keeping Johnny’s supernatural bargain and vengeance-driven identity recognizable on screen.
Free Streaming: The Right Way to Revisit These Cult Classics
Neither movie needs defending as a lost masterpiece. The villains, dated CGI, and uneven tone explain why the series became a frequent punchline. Yet that messiness is also part of the appeal: Cage never treats Johnny Blaze as beneath him, even when the movie around him occasionally resembles a late-2000s metal video.
Free streaming removes the value question that usually follows cult-film recommendations. Tubi offers viewers a low-risk chance to decide whether Cage’s commitment, the comic-book faithfulness, and the sight of a burning biker are enough to overcome the franchise’s faults. For fans who prefer their superhero movies polished and tightly controlled, these may still be a hard sell; for everyone else, they are two sincere pieces of Cage-powered chaos.
Will you start with the original Ghost Rider, or jump straight into the stranger flames of Spirit of Vengeance? Share your pick in the comments.
