There is a long list of reasons why “Superman Lives” never got made, but it meant that comic book superfan Nicolas Cage missed out on his first chance to lead a superhero film. It would be nearly a decade before he got another chance, with his dream finally coming true by way of 2007’s “Ghost Rider.” 

With a gritty, violent vibe that had more in common with the “Blade” and “Punisher” films than “Spider-Man” or “X-Men” — or the soon-to-be-launched Marvel Cinematic Universe — “Ghost Rider” was appealing enough to a certain type of comic movie fan to gross an impressive $229 million worldwide. Yes, there was a time when that was considered impressive for a comic book movie’s box office tally.

A sequel, “Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,” followed four years later and saw Cage reprise the role of cursed motorcycle stuntman Johnny Blaze, who transforms into the titular demonic biker. Many people count it among the worst Marvel movies of all time, while some have made the argument that it’s underrated. But one thing is certain — Netflix viewers are flocking to “Spirit of Vengeance” right now, landing it on the streaming service’s current top 10 most watched movies.

Among the details about “Spirit of Vengeance” that might blow your mind is that it was already announced before the first “Ghost Rider” was even released. Such was the confidence Sony had that it had a hit franchise on its hands. Obviously things didn’t pan out that way, as “Spirit of Vengeance” only took home roughly half of what the first movie did at the box office. As it stands, it’s not only the final “Ghost Rider” film, but the last time that the character has appeared in any live-action movies. Unfortunately, plans for Cage to reprise the role in “Deadpool and Wolverine” fell through.

As for whether either of the “Ghost Rider” films are worth watching today, it depends on who you ask. They were both lambasted by critics — and, as mentioned, “Spirit of Vengeance” often finds itself on worst-of lists of Marvel films — but they also both have their staunch defenders. 

ScreenGeek, which proclaims “Spirit of Vengeance”‘ as the superior of the two movies, calls it, “an energetically-crafted B-movie that serves as a wildly entertaining guilty pleasure.” Meanwhile, Spectrum Culture — in a piece proclaiming right in the title that “Spirit of Vengeance” is “criminally underrated” — compares the movie to the other comic book films of its day, saying it “shows the filmmaking duo [of Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor] livening up a genre that has already lapsed into bloat and tedium.”