It is a sequel to the 2007 film Ghost Rider[8] and features Nicolas Cage reprising his role as Johnny Blaze / Ghost Rider[9] with supporting roles portrayed by Ciarán Hinds, Violante Placido, Johnny Whitworth, Christopher Lambert, and Idris Elba.

The film was directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, from a screenplay written by Scott M. Gimple, Seth Hoffman, and David S. Goyer.

Johnny Blaze is the Ghost Rider cursed to hunt demons, and he is approached by a secret religious sect to help protect a young boy named Danny, who is believed to be a target of the devil's minions.

The film rights to the character reverted to Marvel Studios shortly thereafter,[11] and the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider appeared in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

In rural Romania, an alcoholic monk named Moreau warns a nearby monastery about an impending ambush by Roarke's forces.

Johnny and Nadya bring Danny to the monastery, where Moreau explains that the Ghost Rider is an angel named Zarathos who was tortured and driven insane in Hell.

The ritual to transfer Roarke into Danny's body begins while Johnny, Nadya, and Moreau secretly infiltrate the ceremony.

[23] In early December, Nicolas Cage also expressed interest to return in the lead role as Ghost Rider.

[25] It was also rumored that the sequel would feature Danny Ketch, another Marvel character who took up the Ghost Rider mantle in the comics.

The scene with the Greco-Roman theatre was filmed in Pamukkale, where the ancient Greek (of the Seleucid Empire) city of Hierapolis once stood.

[33] The producers employed a mix of targeted traditional advertising and television appearances, as well as aggressive social media marketing.

Sony teamed up with West Coast Marketing and launched the face of the fan competition, where artists were challenged to design an alternate poster for the film.

The website's consensus reads: "With a weak script, uneven CG work, and a Nic Cage performance so predictably loony it's no longer amusing, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance aims to be trashy fun but ends up as plain trash".

[45] Reviewers who viewed an early preview screening at the December 2011 Butt-Numb-A-Thon in Austin expressed negative reactions to the film.

[47] Andrew Barker of Variety called it a marginal improvement on the first film but said "the picture is still much too rickety, slapdash and surprisingly dull to qualify as a good barrel-bottom pleasure.

"[48] Ben Sachs of the Chicago Reader notes that this is the first time directors Neveldine and Taylor have directed a script they didn't write, "and the superhero plot often seems to hamper their imaginations" but says the film "doesn't lack for crazy charm", praising Cage and Hinds for their admittedly weird performances.

[49] Marc Savlov from The Austin Chronicle awarded the film 1.5 out of 5 stars, writing: "Cage appears to find his role as this second-tier Marvel Comics antihero alternately silly, tremendously fun, and the means to a decent paycheck for not all that much work."

Club welcomed Idris Elba's role as the alcoholic priest Moreau but criticized the film for "squandering even more potential" and that it fails to achieve the "go-for-broke energy of superior trash.

"[51] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone called the film "a dreadful mess", and "a dishwater dull sequel to the hellishly bad 2007 original", and said he'd never seen worse 3D.

"[55][56] When Cage was asked about a possible third installment, he said that it could happen, but without his involvement,[57] later officially clarifying that he was done with his role and expressed interest to see a female Ghost Rider in the film.

[11][59] In 2016, the Robbie Reyes incarnation of the character appeared in the Marvel Cinematic Universe through the television series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., where he is portrayed by Gabriel Luna.