The title Ghost Rider has been used by individuals indwelled by a Spirit of Vengeance or similar demonic entry, such as Zarathos; most famously by Johnny Blaze, who sold his soul to the demon-lord Mephisto. Other individuals include Johnny’s half-brother Danny Ketch, who was imbued with a Spirit of Vengeance by the medallion on his motorcycle’s gas cap; Alejendra Jones, who was chosen to become Zarathos next host after Blaze gave up his demonic powers: and Robbie Ryes, who was indwelled by a Spirit of Vengeance after being mortally wounded and possessed by the demonic ghost of his uncle Eli Morrow.
Ghost Rider is an especially unique anti-hero in Marvel Comics. Some characters who aren’t actually Ghost Riders, but who have powers that are greatly resembled the proper Spirit of Vengeance, either through demonic entity or even technology.
Some are mashup characters scattered through Marvel Comics, which are basically “what if this hero/villain was a Ghost Rider?” These characters are fun, and some are extremely powerful, but on principle, they don’t hold a candle to the legacy of Ghost Rider. Those who have a deeper connection to the wider lore surrounding the Spirit of Vengeance, while also exhibiting immense power in their own right.
So we have taken the effort to rank and list all the 25 versions of Ghost Rider from weakest to strongest in Marvel Comics.
24 Versions of Ghost Rider in the Marvel Comics
List of Content
24. Phantom Rider (AKA Carter Sable)
| Basic Information | Name — Carter Slade Current Alias — Phantom Rider Aliases — Ghost Rider , Night Rider, Son of the Spirits, He Who Rider, The Nigh Winds, Frontier Phantom, Phantom of the Plains |
| Physical Characteristics | Gender Male Height 6′1″ (1.85 m) Weight 200 lbs (90.72 kg) Eyes Irises: Blue Hair Blond |
| Origin and Living Status | Origin Human Living Status Deceased Reality Earth-616 Place of Birth Ohio |
| Personal Information | Identity Secret Citizenship American Occupation Crime-fighter, schoolteacher Base of Operations Bison Bend, Montana |
| Creator | Dick Ayers, Gary Friedrich, Roy Thomas |
| Appearance | First — Ghost Rider #1 (December 1966) Last — Western Gunfighters (Vol. 2) #7 (January 1972) |
Carter Slade was born and raised in Ohio in the mid 19th Century, along with his brother Lincoln. Eventually, Carter decided to move out west to the new territories, in order to become a school teacher at the new settlement of Bison Bend in Montana.
However, when he had nearly arrived, he came upon a group of what appeared to be Indians slaughtering helpless homesteaders. Though he was untrained in using a gun, he had been a boxing champion in college, and, at any rate, could not allow such an atrocity to go unchallenged.
Carter Slade aka Phantom Rider was technically the first version of Ghost Rider to appear in Marvel Comics who made his debut in 1966 Ghost Rider #1. This character of Ghost Rider isn’t anything like current Ghost Rider, which is why Marvel changed his name to Phantom Rider. This character doesn’t have a link to hellfire or any other power normally associated with the Rider, but instead is simply dressed all in White, and fights in 19th century crime with nothing more than his spirit revolver.
A legacy character, to be sure, but one who’s been left behind by the wider Ghost Rider canon, both in terms of power and reliability, to the modern character.
| Powers | Weapon | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Demonic Transformation Penance Stare | Shotgun | Horse |
DO READ
Ghost Rider 10 Deadliest Villains Ranked
23. Kowalski (AKA “Deputy Kowalski”)
| Basic Information | Name — Kowalski Current Alias — Vengeance Aliases — Deputy Kowalski |
| Physical Characteristics | Gender Male Height Weight Unrevealed, Unrevealed as Vengeance Eyes Irises: Brown, Green and flaming as Vengeance Hair Brown, No Hair At All as Vengeance Features Green hellfire, demonic looking skull as Vengeance, formerly hook in place of his right hand |
| Origin and Living Status | Origin Human empowered by a Spirit of Pollution Living Status Alive Reality Earth-616 |
| Personal Information | Identity Secret Citizenship American Occupation Slave, former minion; deputy |
| Creator | Jason Aaron, Roland Boschi |
| Appearance | Ghost Rider (Vol. 6) #21 (March 2008) |
Deputy Kowalski was part of New Beulah Police Department when he decided to investigate the frequent car accidents on Highway 18. He headed to the Wojciehowicz Funeral Home, where he interviewed the funeral director, Clayton Wojciehowicz. Kowalski recounted the story of stranded settlers in 1845 who were forced into cannibalism and eventually murder. Highway 18 ran over the ancient site of this incident and Clayton’s ancestor was the only survivor who came back to found New Beulah. It turned out that Wojciehowicz shared some of his ancestor’s traits, as he cut off Kowalski’s right hand, deciding to have him for dinner.
The deputy survived after he, Wojciehowicz and the Ghost Rider were involved in a four-vehicle accident. The Ghost Rider came for Wojciehowicz in order to end the curse of Highway 18 by leaving him with his ancestor’s ghostly victims, but Kowalski tried to place him under arrest. Ghost Rider warned him not to intervene, but after he stabbed Ghost Rider, he received the Penance Stare and was left broken.
| Power | Weapon | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Demonic Transformation Superhuman Strength Superhuman Stamina Superhuman Durability Regenerative Healing Factor Hellfire Manipulation Pollution Stare | Mystical Bone Chain: As Vengeance, Kowalski wields a mystical chain with a sickle at each end that was capable of cutting through almost anything. | Hellfire-powered motorcycle |
22. Michael Badilino (AKA Vengeance)
| Basic Information | Name Michael ‘Mike’ Badilino Current Alias Vengeance |
| Physical Characteristics | Gender Male Height 6’4 (1.93 m) (Badilino) 7 (2.13M) (Vengeance) Weight 250lbs(11.3 kg) (Badilino) 360lbs(163.29 kg)(Vengeance) Eyes Irises Brown (Badilino) No Eyes at all (Vengeance) Hair Black (Badilino) No Hair at all (Vengeance) Unusual Orange Hellfire coming from Features head, demonic looking skull as Vengeance |
| Origin and Living Status | Origin Human who sold his soul to Mephisto (Spirit of Vengeance) Living Status Alive Reality Earth 616 Place of Death New York City |
| Personal Information | Identity Secret Citizenship American, Hell Occupation Vigilante (formerly Police Officer, Police Detective, Marine) |
| Creator | Howard Mackie, Ron Wagner |
| Appearances | Ghost Rider (Vol. 3) #21 (November 1991) (As Michael Badilino) Ghost Rider/Blaze: Spirits of Vengeance #9 (February 1993) (As Vengeance) Code of Honor #1 (December 1996) (Chronologically) |
Captain Dolan suggested that Badilino had previously served with Special Forces, but Badilino himself said that he joined the NYPD after leaving the Marines — his father had been a cop and he didn’t have any better ideas. He was Jeffrey Piper’s first partner when Piper joined the force, and spoke approvingly of the Punisher’s lethal approach to criminals. He later became a detective, often assigned to special cases. After Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch) was linked to the death of Captain Dwight Jones, the Mayor appointed Lieutenant Badilino as head of a task force to apprehend the vigilante.
Mephisto manipulated Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) to blast Michael’s father with hellfire. The trauma drove the man insane. He murdered his daughters, wife and then committed suicide while Michael was away on an assignment. Michael blamed the Ghost Rider and took Mephisto’s offer to become a similar being called ‘Vengeance’ to battle them.
After both Ketch and Blaze battled Vengeance, the Caretaker stopped them. He explained that Badilino’s family was also connected to the Medallion of Power, which was why Mephisto had manipulated them as well. In reality, he had given up his soul for power that was his birthright in the first place. He joined the Midnight Sons. While Ketch was missing, Vengeance filled in for him, patrolling the area around Cypress Hills Cemetery.
| Powers | Weapon | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Demonic Transformation Superhuman Strength Superhuman Stamina Superhuman Speed Superhuman Agility Superhuman Durability Regenerative Healing Factor Supernatural Awareness Hellfire Manipulation Mystical Bone Chain Projection Penance Stare | Vengeance had bone chains, normally wrapped around his wrists. He also could throw large spikes that emerged from his jacket and on occasion on his knuckles. Badilino himself often carried a pistol. | Hellcycle: Unlike his original bike Badilino forged it from the bones of dead demons. |
21. Ghost Rider 2099(AKA Kenshiro “zero” Cochrane)
| Basic Information | |
| Physical Characteristics | |
| Origin and Living Status | |
| Personal Information | |
| Creator | |
| Appearances |
Kenshiro “Zero” Cochrane was a hacker who ran with the Hotwire Martyrs, a street gang based out of the Transverse City sprawl. In mid 2099, the Martyrs hacked into a fiberoptic trunkline and snagged a heavily-encrypted data archive of unknown origin. While they were attempting to decrypt the file, the Martyrs were attacked by a gang known as the Artificial Kidz, who proceeded to murder most of the Martyrs and set off in pursuit of Zero and the archive.
With the poison from the flechette round he took while fleeing the Kidz rapidly eating away at his nervous system, Zero makes a last-ditch effort to screw them over by transferring the encrypted file to his girlfriend and then jacking directly into cyberspace in an attempt to burn out his headware implants.
Shortly after his white-hot fade into oblivion, Zero awoke to find himself in a surrealistic cyberscape populated by a group of rogue machine intelligences who call their realm The Ghostworks. These AIs believed that the current human society (your typical “Corporations Own Everything” cyberpunk dystopia) was heading for a total collapse.
Being completely dependent on the world’s technological infrastructure for survival, they wished to send Zero back to the real world to serve as their agent of change. Appealing to his anarchist sensibilities, the Ghostworks couched the whole deal as a chance for him to get back at The System and all those authority figures who seemed bound and determined to make life miserable for “the little guy.” Zero, of course, accepted – though whether this was really of his own free will or due to subtle modifications the AIs made to his personality construct is debatable.
The machines hijacked an automated factory and constructed a heavily modified variant of a Cybertek 101 warbot, laden with advanced nanotech weaponry, self-repair, and camouflage capabilities, and downloaded their copy of Zero’s personality into its neuro-net. Before hitting the streets, Zero used the robot’s holographic capabilities to wreath his skull-like head in artificial flame – an homage to his fallen comrades that also served to make him look very similar to the Ghost Riders of the previous centuries.
Appropriately enough, his first course of action was to seek vengeance against those responsible for their deaths. His quest eventually lead back to the D/Monix corporation (the legal owners of the archive) and his father, Harrison Cochrane.
| Powers | Weapon | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Solid-form holographic camouflage system Stealth field generator Nanite-assisted total body regenerative abilities Dual-configuration chassis w/ compact “disguise mode” and bulky “combat mode” Variable-power eye-mounted lasers Advanced hacking and computer skills Skilled cyclist (motorcycles and hover-bikes) | Eye lasers capable of weapons-grade output. Left hand is composed of a morphable nanomer alloy capable of forming a mono-molecular cutting edge. A retractable, electrically-charged chainsaw concealed in his right forearm. A .50 calibre semi-automatic handgun and several grenades (standard SHIELD operative equipment). | A customized Ford Velociraptor 900XL hoverbike w/ supercharged turbo thrusters. |
20. Shark Rider (AKA Atlantean Vengeance)
| Basic Information | |
| Physical Characteristics | |
| Origin and Living Status | |
| Personal Information | |
| Creator | |
| Appearances |
The first proper Spirit of Vengeance on this list, Shark Rider is a version of Ghost Rider who first appeared merely in a vision in 2009’s Ghost Rider #31 by Jason Aaron, Tan Eng Huat, and Roland Boschi. This is a Ghost Rider who rides a shark.
Cool visually, but readers know nothing about them other than the fact that they are a Spirit of Vengeance of the past – not a ‘phantom rider’ or a cyborg – and they may be Atlantean, due to the fact that they’re riding a shark. Though everything they’ve ever done, or any level of power they’ve ever exhibited, can only be presumed.
| Powers | Weapons | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Not Known |
19. Wileaydus Autolycus (AKA Alien Vengeance)
| Basic Information | |
| Physical Characteristics | |
| Origin and Living Status | |
| Personal Information | |
| Creators | |
| Appearances |
Guardians of the Galaxy #12 by Jim Valentino introduced Whileaydus Autolycus aka Ghost Rider, an alien zealot whose people were all but wiped out by the Universal Church of Truth. This caused Autolycus to commit his life to exterminating this universal cult from the cosmos, doing so as the Ghost Rider of the 31st century.
This Ghost Rider is a really cool addition to Marvel lore, but he’s just too much of a mystery to be considered more powerful than other Ghost Riders on this list – including and especially the upcoming wave of ‘mashup Ghost Riders’.
| Powers | Weapons | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Spirit of Vengeance Transformation Superhuman Strength Superhuman Stamina Superhuman Durability Regenerative Healing Factor Superhuman Speed Superhuman Reflexes Intangibility Pyrokinesis Summoning Self Sustenance | Spikes: Spikes mounted on his forearms could be be used as weapons, shot as projectiles and also be imbued with hellfire. | Demon Cycle |
18. Speed Demon (AKA Blaze Allen)
| Basic Information | |
| Physical Characteristics | |
| Origin and Living Status | |
| Personal Information | |
| Creators | |
| Appearance |
Blaze Allen was an amateur mystic whom the Night Spectre discovered. When Blaze Allen refused to allow Night Spectre to take his soul, the Night Spectre left. Blaze Allen, who worked at the Quentin Carnival was eventually married to Iris Simpson by Father Hellstrom. However, just after Blaze and Iris became married, the Night Spectre appeared and drained Iris of her lifeforce. This put Blaze into a deep depression, and he began delving more and more into magic.
Eventually, he was approached by Merlin, who helped Blaze bond with the demon Etrigan, so that Blaze could make sure that Iris’ soul would rest in peace, by recovering it from the Night Spectre. By chanting “Gone, gone o’form of man, arise the demon Etrigan”, Blaze Allen became the second Speed Demon. In his adventures as Speed Demon, he fought foes including the alien creature Doctor Doomsday, Vengeance, Uatu the Guardian, the Two-Faced Goblin, and of course the Night Spectre.
His secret identity was later discovered by his nephew Wally West, who also worked at the Quentin Carnival with him, and treated Blaze like a father. After this, Speed Demon battled against the Night Spectre alongside Wally, and they successfully freed the souls being held by Night Spectre, including the souls of Jay Garrick and Iris Simpson.
| Powers | Weapons | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Speed Force Generation Superhuman Speed Superhuman Reflexes Superhuman Stamina Superhuman Agility Superhuman Hearing Superhuman Strength Speed Force Aura Superhuman Durability Accelerated Healing Hellfire Generation Hellfire Infusion Hellfire Projection Hellfire Constructs Soul Manipulation Mystical Chain Projection Penance Stare Damnation Stare | Hellfire Shotgun Hellfire Chain Pistols Knives | A motorcycle which can be transformed by his hellfire. |
17. Iron Ghost (AKA The Black Legion’s Rider)
| Basic Information | |
| Physical Characteristics | |
| Origin and Living Status | |
| Personal Information | |
| Creators | |
| Appearance |
Iron Ghost wears Iron Man’s armor without the helmet so his flaming skull is visible. He also wields Ghost Rider’s chains. He acts as a prison guard and member of the Black Legion in the Age of Apocalypse. Iron Ghost and the Black Legion attempt to stop Wolverine and X-Force from rescuing a mutant known as Gateway.
Appearing in Uncanny X-Force #12 by Rick Remender and Mark Brooks, Iron Ghost was little more than an aesthetically badass cameo who existed within the Age of Apocalypse universe of Earth-295. Presumably having all the same powers as a regular Ghost Rider with the added benefit of hellfire-imbued Iron Man armor, Iron Ghost is seemingly a force to be reckoned with. But, like many others on this list, he’s just too untested to be a real contender.
| Powers | Weapons | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Super-Genius Intelligence Multilingual Skilled Swordsman Skilled Marksman Skilled Hand-to-Hand Combatant | Mystic chain | Iron Man Armor |
16. Ghost Goblin (AKA Norman Osborn)
| Basic Information | |
| Physical Characteristics | |
| Origin and Living Status | |
| Personal Information | |
| Creator | |
| Appearance |
Ghost Goblin, on the other hand, is an absolute terror who gave the Avengers a run for their money in Avengers #52 by Jason Aaron and Juan Frigeri. This Ghost Rider was from a universe where the Spirit of Vengeance latched itself onto the Green Goblin, and was actually corrupted by the insanity of the classic Spider-Man villain.
This allowed Green Goblin to use his hell-powers for evil on a multiversal scale, making Ghost Goblin one of the strongest Ghost Rider ‘mashups’ on this list (not to mention the one with probably the coolest Ghost Rider vehicle).
| Powers | Weapons | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Superhuman Strength Superhuman Speed Superhuman Stamina Superhuman Durability Regenerative Healing Factor Superhuman Agility Superhuman Reflexes Power Mimicry Genius-Level Intellect Expert Marksman Skilled Combatant | Goblin Armor Pumpkin Bombs Flying Razor Bats Electrical Discharges Bag of Tricks | Goblin Glider |
15. Ghost Spider (AKA Peter Parker)
| Basic Information | |
| Physical Characteristics | |
| Origin and Living Status | |
| Personal Information | |
| Creator | |
| Appearance |
In this reality Peter Parker’s Uncle Ben never died, and helped Peter to train as a hero with his new spider powers, becoming the Amazing Spider, a famous and popular super hero who also became a rich and successful scientist, having his own company called “Parker Technologies”.
With his resources and with the motivation of Ben, the Amazing Spider used transportation technology to bring Spider-Men from other universes and absorb their powers to increase his. After bringing the Spider-Man of Earth-616 and making him believe he arrived to this universe by accident, the Amazing Spider was weakened by the feedback of the dimensional portal.
Spider-Man brought him to his lair, the Web, under his mansion, and supplanted him while he recovered from his condition, realizing that this universe was a “perfect” version of his. After visiting Parker Technologies, Peter realized the Amazing Spider already knew about him and that the Ben Parker of this universe was alive, and decided to visit him, who knew his story because he was an ally of the Amazing Spider, both talked about the differences of this reality and their lives until Ben gave Peter a tea with a sedative.
Peter woke up in the Web, where he was attached to a machine which would absorb his powers and give them to an already recovered Amazing Spider. The Amazing Spider revealed that he and Ben brought different Peter Parkers from other realities in order to grow in power to defend his universe; when Spider-Man questioned him, both started fighting, and finally the Spider was convinced that what he did was not heroic.
When Ben was about to plug a distracted Spider-Man into the machine, the Spider stood in the middle and had his powers absorbed by the machine, apparently killing him. It was revealed that he was put in a coma, but his spirit was trapped in Hell where he felt he deserved his punishment.
When Dr. Banner, the Sorcerer Supreme, died fighting his evil alter-ego, the Infernal Hulk, he stayed alive in his astral form and freed Parker, infusing him with the spirits and powers of the repentant damned, giving him a second chance to live. He woke up from the coma and discovered he became the Ghost Spider.
Finally, he returned to Parker Technologies where he finished the inter-dimensional translocator in order to return Spider-Man, Deadpool, and Hulk to their universe.
| Powers | Weapons | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| The full range of the powers he had is unknown, he demonstrated the following: Superhuman Strength Regeneration Web-Slinging | Not known | Spider-Car |
14. Red Hulk-Venom-Ghost Rider (AKA ‘The Circle of Four’)
| Basic Information | |
| Physical Characteristics | |
| Origin and Living Status | |
| Personal Information | |
| Creator | |
| Appearance |
In Las Vegas, Blackheart, Mephisto’s demonic son, opened a portal to bring Hell to Earth and overthrow his father, but only managed to bring a part of it. Venom was a fugitive there, with Red Hulk wanting to bring him to the authorities. Meanwhile, X-23 was there looking for a sample of her blood and the new Ghost Rider detected Blackheart’s malevolence. Accidentally, the four heroes found themselves about to battle Blackheart.
The villain created Anthiteses of the four heroes to torment and battle them, Flash’s being an Evangelist who used the symbiote, his father and his drinking problem to fight him. Though they fought well, the heroes died in the end. In Hell, Mephisto made an offer for the heroes to live in exchange for defeating Blackheart.
They managed to get the Spirit of Vengeance, which had been trapped by Blackheart and wanted to get it to Blaze, in order to become the Ghost Rider again. Throughout the battle, Venom and Red Hulk were thrown away by Blackheart. Red Hulk bonded with the Spirit, becoming the new Ghost Rider with the addition of the symbiote from Flash.
Blackheart was beaten when his Antithesis was created by the Ghost Rider using the mirror which created Antithesis. Meanwhile, X-23 and Flash helped Johnny Blaze return to Hell through the dimensional portal it appeared and destroy it.
When Las Vegas returned to normal, Red Hulk returned Spirit of Vengeance to Alejandra and the symbiote to Flash. When the Secret Avengers arrived, Captain America tried to take Venom to custody, but he convinced Cap to let him join the Secret Avengers, allowing Beast and Giant-Man to make the symbiote more controllable.
| Powers | Weapon | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Hellfire Chain | Demon Hellfire Motorcycle |
13. Ghost Hammer (AKA T’Challa)
Another amalgam-Ghost Rider similar to the one from Circle of Four – but arguably more powerful – is Ghost Hammer, who is Thor, Black Panther, Iron Man, and Ghost Rider combined.
Debuting in Secret Warps: Arachknight Annual #1 by Al Ewing and Carlos Gómez, this Ghost Rider is a demon, a god, a tech genius, and a king all rolled into one. A product of Warp World, and created to be the ultimate cosmic warrior, Ghost Hammer is almost incalculably powerful.
But, like most of the other ‘mashup’ Ghost Riders on this list, their existence feels cheap and unearned, which is why Ghost Hammer isn’t featured as prominently as other, more established Ghost Riders on this list.
12. Ghost Rider, One Milion BC (AKA The First Rider)
The young man who came to be the first Ghost Rider lived on Earth about a million years ago as part of a group of cavemen. At an early age, he realized he was smarter than the rest of his pack, a fact he kept to himself out of fear of being isolated. One day, a mysterious man approached the pack and quickly became the leader by violent means.
Eventually, the stranger revealed himself to be a Wendigo and devoured the entire pack save for the young boy. Before leaving, the man gave the boy the name “Ghost” and challenged the boy to find him. With everyone he had ever known gone, the boy chose to venture out beyond his cave, convinced that if the stranger could survive then so could he.
Eventually, Ghost grew exhausted due to the harsh environment. It was then he was approached by a snake which convinced him to say its real name as a way to achieve his goal. Ghost was then bonded to a Spirit of Vengeance, befriending a mammoth right after his transformation.
Five years later, Ghost finally tracked down the Wendigo to exact his revenge and engaged him in an intense fight. The fight ended with the Wendigo pushing Ghost’s mammoth off a cliff with him, though the Wendigo claimed that he would survive the fall, but wondered if the Rider could survive the loneliness now that his mammoth friend was gone. The Rider was then approached by Odin and Lady Phoenix, who asked him to join the prehistoric Avengers.
Together they fought an out-of-control Celestial known as the Fallen. After his new mammoth was killed, Ghost Rider swore vengeance on the Fallen and vowed to drink its blood. The Avengers eventually defeated the Fallen and sealed it in an underground chamber in what would become the modern-day country of South Africa. He later joined his allies in battling the First Host.
11. Caleb (AKA The Grim Rider)
Caleb was a former slave who purchased his and his wife’s freedom sometime before or during the American Civil War. After one battle between Confederate and Union forces, he discovered the injured confederate lieutenant Travis Parham and nursed him back to health. Instead of leaving to return to battle, Travis stayed with Caleb and his family for two years helping around the farm. After the end of the war, he left and traveled to the frontier. After Travis left, he and his family were attacked and brutally killed by George Reagan and his gang since they felt superior to Caleb.
Two years later, Caleb returned from the dead, having been brought back by some form of Spirit of Vengeance. He killed three of the Dragwells and the fourth member rose from the dead before bursting into flames at Caleb’s hand. At the same time, Travis also returned and the pair both began tracking down Reagan’s gang for Caleb’s murder.
Between the pair, Reagan’s gang were all killed one by one, with Caleb trying to kill Reagan himself and stopping Travis. However, Reagan killed himself before he could do so.
10. Naomi Kale (AKA Clara Blaze)
A descendant of Noble Kale, Naomi Kale was the wife Barton Blaze and mother of Johnny Blaze. She apparently changed her name to Clara. While her children Danny and Barbara were young and with Barton badly hurt in an accident, the Caretaker asked that the children be separated to protect them. Naomi reluctantly agreed. Dan and Barbara were placed in the care of the Ketches, while John was taken to the Quentin Carnival.
Naomi traveled the country on her motorcycle, placing a medallion (a symbol of the actual medallion of power contained in the family) on it.
After approximately 10 years had passed, and suffering from a terminal illness, Naomi decided to visit her children. She saw John at the carnival and helped him with a bully, but Crash Simpson had her removed from the grounds. She then went to see Dan and Barbara on Barbara’s birthday. A suspicious police officer asked her to leave.
Naomi then went to visit an unknown grave, but was confronted by Mephisto. She grabbed the medallion from her bike and attempted to battle Mephisto as the Ghost Rider. Naomi was killed, and Destin Kale was summoned to dig a grave for her body and her motorcycle.
9. Hellhawk (AKA Chief Hellhawk)
Chief Hellhawk of the Lakota Tribe (who first appeared in Ghost Rider #33 by Jason Aaron and Tony Moore) is one of the earliest-known Ghost Riders.
His life is widely a mystery, with one of the few times he appears in Marvel Comics canon being the issue depicting his death by the hand of the Spirit of Corruption.
However, the reason he sits so prominently on this list is because of his canonical rivalry with another, far more powerful Ghost Rider: Noble Kale – elevating Chief Hellhawk’s standing by association.
8. Noble Kale (AKA Angel of Death)
The story of the Ghost Rider began over twenty thousand years ago, when the immortals known as the Blood allied themselves with the original Spirits of Vengeance in a war against a soul-stealing demon named Zarathos. To win this war, the Blood created the mystical Medallion of Power, which housed the assembled power of the Spirits of Vengeance. A portion of Zarathos became trapped in this Medallion, too, leading the Blood to decide that the artifact was too powerful to be kept intact. The Medallion was broken into shards and placed into the spiritual bloodlines of two families, both of which would be overseen and protected by a Blood named Caretaker.
This arrangement lasted until the 17th century, when a young Puritan man Noble Kale of the spiritual bloodline fell in love with a woman named Magdelena. Fearing the reaction from his fire-and-brimstone pastor father, Noble hid his romance. They also had a child, and shortly after Magdalena discovered that Pastor Kale was a servant of Mephisto so in order to keep his secret, Pastor Kale had Magdalena branded a witch and burned at the stake.
As she died, she cursed Pastor Kale, invoking the legendary Furies to seek vengeance in her name, and these ancient spirits went on a destructive rampage. Pastor Kale sought aid from the demon Mephisto, offering Noble’s soul as payment. Mephisto recognized the Medallion shard within Noble Kale and activated it, transforming the young man into a living Spirit of Vengeance, a Ghost Rider.
As the Ghost Rider, Noble defeated the Furies and began hunted both witches and overzealous witch hunters; eventually forming a fierce rivalry with the Lakota Ghost Rider Hellhawk. Noble ultimately turning on his own father, who slew Noble’s son as a sacrificial offering to Ghost Rider.
A horrified Noble tried to commit suicide, but Mephisto appeared, seeking to claim his soul. An angelic being named Uriel intervened, stating Noble’s soul belonged in Heaven. It was decided that Noble’s soul belonged to neither Heaven nor Hell, but would instead be consigned to the void, to be summoned forth by his descendants.
He inhabited the first-born child of each generation, with documented occurrences during World War I and the lifetime of Naomi Kale, the birth mother of Dan Ketch and his siblings. Fearing for her children, Naomi left Dan and his sister Barbara with Francis Ketch in Cypress Hills, New York. Her oldest son was left with his father while she unsuccessfully attempted to end the curse.
7. Alejandra Jones (AKA Guardian Fantasma)
Alejandra Jones is the daughter of an American human trafficker and an unknown Mexican woman. Like her brothers and sisters, Alejandra was sold by her father and ended up with Adam in Nicaragua, where she and other orphans were trained within the confines of a temple to become the next Ghost Rider.
Adam was later able to convince Johnny Blaze, the current Ghost Rider, to give up the curse. Adam then resurrected the Seeker to choose the next Ghost Rider. Alejandra was chosen and was sent to Dayton, Ohio to fight Skadi, the daughter of the Red Skull and the Serpent’s loyal subject. Alejandra put up a good fight but was ultimately defeated.
Meanwhile, Johnny Blaze learned from Mephisto that Adam’s ultimate goal was to wipe all sin from humanity, effectively turning humanity into mindless, emotionless beings. Blaze, feeling guilty for selfishly giving up the curse, agreed to help him separate the Ghost Rider from Adam.
Shortly after Alejandra and Adam returned to the temple, he ordered her to extinguish the sin from her fellow students. When she refused, Adam enslaved her.When Blaze arrived, he and the Seeker, who disagreed with Adam’s plans, joined sides to stop him.
Adam turned Alejandra into a bomb of sorts that, after exploding, wiped the sin out of everyone in Nicaragua, save for Blaze and the Seeker, who grabbed Blaze and used his ability to nullify the Ghost Rider’s power to protect him from the blast.
6. Robbie Reyes (AKA The All-New Ghost Rider)
Robbie Reyes was a young mechanic working in East Los Angeles, California. The neighborhood he lived in, Hillrock Heights, was plagued with gangs and corruption, making life difficult for him and his brother, Gabe, who looked up to him as a hero.
Eager to move to a safer neighborhood, Robbie entered a street race to earn fifty thousand dollars. Unbeknownst to him, the car he used was inhabited by a ghost. As he was taking the lead; however, he was followed by whom he assumed to be the police. Worried about what would happen to Gabe without him, Robbie tried to escape, but inadvertently drove into a dead end.
He left his car and attempted to explain himself to his pursuers, only for them to violently open fire upon him, killing him. They attempted to burn the car and Robbie’s body; however, as they left, the ghost possessed Robbie, transforming him into a new Ghost Rider.The Ghost Rider gave chase and managed to take out a handful of Robbie’s attackers, though some of them got away.
5. Cosmic Ghost Rider (AKA Frank Castle)
| Basic Information | |
| Physical Characteristics | |
| Origin and Living Status | |
| Personal Information | |
| Creator | |
| Appearance |
During the heroes of Earth’s last stand against Thanos, the Punisher was hit in the head by the debris of a building the Hulk was thrown into and died, his soul being subsequently sent to Hell. Willing to give anything in order to punish Thanos for slaughtering his planet, the Punisher signed a demonic deal with Mephisto and became the latest Ghost Rider.
When he returned to Earth, however, Thanos was already gone and everything on the planet was dead. The Ghost Rider spent the next countless years alone, roaming endlessly and undying with no one to kill or love. After even Mephisto fell silent to his calls, he began to lose his mind.
When a badly injured Galactus arrived on Earth seeking help against Thanos, unaware that the population of Earth had already been killed by him, the Ghost Rider offered the dead planet to him in exchange for the chance of punishing the Mad Titan as his herald; an offer that the Great Devourer accepted. Together they roamed the cosmos on a quest to halt Thanos’ systematic annihilation of every living being in existence, which led them to become legends.
Their story lasted centuries, but came to an end once they finally confronted Thanos, who beheaded Galactus as he approached to battle. The undying Rider was offered by Thanos the chance to see more evil than he could punish in a thousand lifetimes, and thus became his servant.
| Powers | Weapons | Transportation |
|---|---|---|
| Spirit of Vengeance Hellfire Manipulation Superhuman Strength Superhuman Durability Penance Stare Immortality Meta Possession Remote Possession Mystical Chain Projection Power Cosmic Interstellar Travel Energy Projection Cosmic Penance Stare Telekinesis Weapon Fabrication | Punisher’s Suit Ghost Rider’s Chain | Hell Cycle |
4. Danny Ketch (AKA Death Rider)
On Halloween night when they were teenagers, Danny took his sister Barbara to a graveyard to give her the opportunity to take pictures of the grave of Harry Houdini. During this excursion, the siblings stumbled upon a confrontation between two gangs, one led by Deathwatch and the other made up of cronies belonging to the Kingpin. The two gangs began fighting each other, and Barbara cried out, causing Deathwatch to become aware of her presence.
Barbara was shot through the chest with an arrow by one of Deathwatch’s henchmen, so Danny grabbed his sister’s body and ran away to a nearby junkyard. Distressed and covered in his sister’s blood, he hid there with his sister’s unconscious body from Deathwatch’s henchmen until he noticed a pristine motorbike with a glowing gas cap.
Inspecting the glowing gas cap, Danny touched it with his blood-stained hand and instantly transformed into Ghost Rider, a Spirit of Vengeance whose mission was to take revenge on those who shed innocent blood. As Ghost Rider, both Daniel’s mind and Ghost Rider’s mind were in control, resulting in Danny being only somewhat influential in his own actions.
Ghost Rider confronted and began to torture the henchmen of Deathwatch, but was interrupted by the arrival of the police. Leaving Barbara’s body behind, Ghost Rider escaped the police on his flaming motorbike, which had also been transformed when Danny touched the glowing gas cap. Eventually, Ghost Rider drove into a secluded alleyway where he turned back into Daniel Ketch.
Barbara’s unconscious body was taken to a hospital by the cops, but not much time later she was killed by Blackout, who had learned Daniel’s secret identity and sought revenge on Ghost Rider for burning his face (an injury Blackout actually had himself to blame for).Dan’s good friend Jack D’Auria was also eventually caught up in the conflict against Deathwatch’s men, where he helped Ghost Rider fight them.
3. Johnny Blaze (AKA The Ghost Rider)
Zarathos the demon had built a power base for himself many years ago. Zarathos had a penchant for human souls which led him into many conflicts, including against the Blood cult and his fellow demon Mephisto, who felt that Zarathos was one of his rivals. Because of these conflicts, and Mephisto’s belief about their rivalry, he tricked Zarathos and enslaved him, trapping him in the bodies of various mortals throughout the years while keeping him amnesiac.
The torture of Zarathos combined with Mephisto’s search for a mystical artifact, known as the Medallion of Power which had been crafted by another of Zarathos’ foes, the Blood, to house the essences of the original Spirits of Vengeance.
This medallion had become embedded into the spiritual bloodline of two families after it was broken. The Kale family were one of these bloodlines who drew the attention of Mephisto in the 18th century after the shard of the medallion within Noble Kale transformed him into a Spirit of Vengeance known as the Ghost Rider. Mephisto tried and failed to corrupt Noble and set his sights on rest of the Kale clan, watching them from then on the firstborn Noble of every generation manifest their power.
Johnny Blaze was born the son of Barton Blaze and Naomi Kale and spent his formative years growing up among the Quentin Carnival. Both of Blaze’s parents starred alongside Craig “Crash” Simpson in a motorcycle show. This life seemed idyllic for a time, until Blaze’s mother left him and took his siblings Barbara and Daniel with her and left him behind.
Naomi was aware of her family curse and was afraid of the suffering that would come to Johnny as it had to her, she chose to leave him and to place his siblings into the care of Francis Ketch whose name they would take.
Johnny was deeply affected by the abandonment of his mother to the point that it caused him to repress many memories he had of both her and his siblings. Shortly after the loss of his mother, Johnny would also lose his father Barton to a stun accident and came to be adopted by their friend Crash and his wife Mona Simpson.
The couple hoped to hide the truth of Johnny’s painful past from him and instead fabricated a less tragic backstory for him, including that his mother ‘Clara Blaze’ had died. Johnny grew up happy among the Simpson family and grew ever closer to his foster sister Roxanne, leading to their relationship growing beyond a familial sibling bond as they fell in love.
2. Kushala (AKA Spirit Rider)
Kushala was an Apache woman who lived in the mid-1800s. While her tribe was being attacked by the U.S. Army, Kushala’s parents were killed. In an act of rage, she prayed to her creator, but instead was possessed by a Spirit of Vengeance. With this new power, she burnt everyone until all that remained were their spirits.
Now going by Demon Rider, Kushala traveled the world seeking out and studying different forms of magic in an attempt to understand her curse. With the help of Auntie Jessa, she gained more control over her demon, and her skills in the mystic arts eventually led to her becoming the Sorcerer Supreme of her era.
While searching for a cure, Kushala met Merlin, who promised to exorcise the Spirit of Vengeance should she join a team of Sorcerers Supreme of different eras to defeat a powerful entity called The Forgotten.
After defeating The Forgotten, however, the team was betrayed by their teammate Sir Isaac Newton, who proceeded to remove the Spirit of Vengeance from Kushala to help him in his quest to become a god. Feeling empty without the spirit inside of her, Kushala realized she couldn’t allow that power to fall into the wrong hands and that she would have to “burn so the world does not”.
After defeating Newton and coming to terms with her burden, Kushala was ready to return to her time, but Merlin told her that her story wasn’t finished yet and that her fates were yet to be determined. Before vanishing and leaving her stranded in the present, Merlin simply told her: “Live wisely. Remember… Time is cruel. But a life well lived is not…”
With Merlin’s departure, she accompanied Doctor Strange to the Sanctum Sanctorum with Mindful One,[who she’d grown very close to during this adventure.
Months later, she was called by Laussa Odinsdottir to summon the ghosts of several powerful warriors from her era to defend Earth from the invasion of Malekith the Accursed and this Dark Council.
1. The All-Rider (AKA Roberto Reyes)
Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider’s newest role in the Marvel Universe is being teased, as the hero is destined to become the All-Rider. In Avengers Forever #2, Deathlok tells the tortured hero that Reyes is not like other Ghost Riders, as he’s encountered many different Spirits of Vegenaces from across the Multiverse. None of them are like him as he calls him the All-Rider and the Multiversal Spirit of Vengeance.
Marvel Comics is expanding their Multiverse considerably in the ongoing Avengers Forever series, which sees different variants of their greatest heroes work together to stop the darkest threats across the cosmos.
The series focuses on three heroes, Deathlok, Ghost Rider, and Tony Stark’s Invincible Ant-Man. As Stark tries to free Ghost Rider and Deathlok and introduce them to his own reality’s Avengers squad, the Black Skull tortures Robbie Reyes, as he wants to know who has sent him to his world. Despite the constant pain and suffering, Deathlok ensures Ghost Rider he’s got a big part to play in saving the Multiverse and refers to him as the All-Rider.
In Avengers Forever #2 by Jason Aaron, Aaron Kuder, Carlos Magno, Scott Hanna, Roberto Poggi, Cam Smith, Guru-eFX, and VC’s Cory Petit, the Ghost Rider endures endless torture at the hands of the Black Skull. The Nazi symbiote villain seeks answers on why Ghost Rider is on his Earth and wants to break the hero.
Despite enduring incredible pain and suffering, Robbie Reyes’ fellow inmate Deathlok ensures him that he’s not like any other Ghost Riders, and he was ripped across the Multiverse for a reason. Deathlok points out he’s not like any of Spirit of Vengeance. He tells Ghost Rider anything he touches can be turned into a Hell Ride, as he’s the All-Rider, the Multiversal Spirit of Vengeance.
