GHOST RIDER (JOHNNY BLAZE)

 

GHOST RIDER

 

Real Name: Johnathon Barton Blaze

First Appearance: Marvel Spotlight (Vol. 1) #5, May 1972

Powers: The Spirits of Vengeance are aspects of the Judeo-Christian God's Divine Wrath, living spiritual weapons which act as angelic parasites to bond with human hosts. Designed to assume the shape of iconic forms, the Spirits of Vengeance manifest physically as the legendary or revered aspects of a given culture. For example: It manifests Hindu avatars in India, a shrouded figure with a knife on the streets of London, or a lone biker riding the backroads of America. The known “flaming skull” motif which tied the Spirits together was deliberate misdirection, allowing God to exercise vengeance unreported and unrecorded as most people (including the hosts) believed the Spirits to be demonic in origin. The archangel Zadkiel was placed in charge this divine covert operation and guided the Spirits to their hosts, while employing a series of agents known as Caretakers to prevent the hosts from learning the true nature of the Spirits of Vengeance.

Johnny Blaze was originally a baseline human with no superhuman powers who was working as a stunt cyclist in a carnival ran by his stepfather, Crash Simpson. After Crash developed a terminal illness, Johnny used a dark tome to summon the demon-lord Mephisto, trading his soul to Mephisto to save Crash's life. While Mephisto did save Crash's life from his injuries, Simpson died of a completely unrelated event not days later, thus rendering Johnny's sacrifice painfully moot. As Mephisto came to claim Johnny's soul, his stepsister/future wife Roxanne Simpson intervened and, through the power of her Christian faith, disrupted Mephisto's plans. However, Mephisto succeeded in appearing to graft the essence of the demonic entity Zarathos to Blaze’s body. At first, Johnny was unaware of a separate consciousness dwelling within him, and later came to believe it to be a sinister aspect of his own psyche. Initially, the demonic form manifested at nightfall, mystically burning Blaze’s flesh to become a fiery skeletal being. Initially riding conventional motorcycles and later learning how to shape his hellfire into supernatural flame-cycles, the composite Blaze/demon entity became publicly known as the Ghost Rider.

Though the Ghost Rider was originally a Mephisto-created demon form which Johnny Blaze happened to gain control over, it should be noted that any narrative (with the exception of the Judeo-Christian beginning) concerning the origins of the Spirits of Vengeance are false. Any connection they have to Zarathos and the “Medallion of Power” have been proven false. Furthermore, Roxanne Simpson's intervention allowed Johnny to remain human and on Earth during the day and he reverted to the Ghost Rider at night, but still in control of his own actions. When Johnny forfeited his soul to Mephisto, it was later established that Roxanne made an arrangement with the archangel Zadkiel. Mephisto had been trying to claim Johnny's soul and it was actually Zadkiel who stepped in and transformed Johnny into the Ghost Rider, gaining himself a new weapon while preventing Mephisto from ever truly holding Johnny in Hell, since he was now bonded to the essence of Heaven.

In any case, while transformed Johnny was nothing but a living skeleton, aglow with hellfire, and wearing a biker's outfit. He possessed Class 5 strength, superhuman endurance, reflexes, and was virtually impervious to physical injury thanks to Mephisto, who "gifted" Johnny with immortality so that he could only die while battling Mephisto or his minions, keeping his soul from being claimed in any other manner. By projecting his hellfire as energy blasts, he could cause physical damage to inanimate objects and burn his opponents, either physically or leaving their flesh cool but assaulting their souls with intense pain and torment. The Ghost Rider also possessed a mystical Penance Stare that forces his victims to experience a lifetime of pain, sorrow, and guilt of their own misdeeds all at once, often leaving them in a catatonic state. He learned to summon a flaming motorcycle into existence at will as well. This hellfire bike was composed of a Nether metal and radiated heat and flame, moved in complete silence (since it had no actual engine), and was able to perform miraculous stunts like driving straight up or alongside vertical inclines at more than 300 mph.

Later, after being tricked by the Devil into believing his soul was safe, Johnny would no longer change into Ghost Rider at night, but instead would do so in times of danger when Johnny Blaze alone would not be able to overcome the peril. He also lost his immortality and flaming motorcycle at this point, though, and so had a custom-built Skull Cycle made for him, specifically to withstand abnormal levels of impact and damage. The Ghost Rider himself still maintained superhuman durability without his immortality, able to withstand five story falls and be completely unaffected by bullets or laser weapons.

Later on, the Ghost Rider truly did assert himself, and denied the Mephisto's right to his soul. He still transformed in times of danger, his hellfire became significantly more powerful and could now recreate a hellfire Skull Cycle. Over time, Johnny's control over his powers expanded, and he became capable of triggering the transformation into Ghost Rider at will. He also learned how to use his hellfire to cast visual illusions, or shape his hellfire into rings of flame, animated fire demons, or solid ramps for transportation. Blaze began to lose control of the Ghost Rider personality, however. He had frequently used deceit on criminals, playing up his demonic appearance with mad cackling and colorful theatrical language. Johnny became less empathetic and quicker to anger as Ghost Rider, and eventually his personality dropped away completely. The Ghost Rider now acted much like a demonic seeker of vengeance mentally separate from its host body. This version of Ghost Rider dropped the Skull Cycle and hellfire manipulating tricks, recreating its own uniquely designed hellfire cycles to ride on. Eventually, Zarathos supposedly resurfaced completely and took full control over the Ghost Rider body. It became a constant battle of wills between John Blaze and Zarathos for control of their shared body, until Blaze ultimately managed to excise Zarathos out of his system, trapping Zarathos in a soul crystal with his nemesis Centurious the Soulless Man, freeing himself from the Ghost Rider. It should be noted, however, that the angelic revelations about Ghost Rider’s origin call into question whether Zarathos ever truly existed or whether he was something else entirely.

Dan Ketch, Johnny's younger brother, became the next Ghost Rider and Johnny came to New York to investigate the appearance of the new Ghost Rider. During their first encounter, Johnny made contact with this Rider's hellfire, which gave him hellfire powers, since Blazepresumably merely carried residual heavenly power from his time as a Spirit of Vengeance. Blaze could now channel hellfire through his body and into objects he touched, such as charging a dagger or a lamp’s glow with the fiery energy. Mostly though, he focused it through his shotgun as flaming, explosive blasts. He could also summon a flaming motorcycle to ride by firing a blast of hellfire into a normal motorcycle, completely reworking the bike into a demon ride. Briefly, Johnny’s body was severely damaged by agents of Centurious, causing the hellfire in his system to burn out uncontrollably from his skin. He was forced to wear a second skin of armor plating to contain his excess energy as his body healed, covering his chest, arms, and the left side of his face.

Blaze’s cybernetic armor was composed of lightweight modularly high carbon organic steel-like meshing with healing properties, protecting Blaze’s damaged body from high impact while continually healing his injuries. The armor’s mystical properties that contained the hellfire in Blaze’s body at the time. During this time, Blaze carried a modified Toz-194 12-gauge double-handed pump action shotgun capable of projecting hellfire blasts and normal shotgun rounds. The hellfire blasts could imbue objects (including motorcycles) with hellfire to increase performance and to cause various forms of damage such as force impact, fiery explosions, or burning the souls of those who’ve harmed innocents.

Later, Blaze was retaken by the Ghost Rider curse and drawn into Hell for months. He eventually returned to Earth with the power to transform into a Spirit of Vengeance at will, becoming a Ghost Rider that more closely resembled Dan Ketch's variation. As the Rider, Johnny possesses superhuman strength, endurance, and durability again, and a detachable length of chain he can use as a weapon. He can also expel hellfire streams from his throat cavity, eyes or hands, or spew mystical chains to ensnare and tangle his opponents. Blazecan also use the penance stare. His flaming motorcycle now transformed back and forth along with him. As his battles with Mephisto and the forces of Zadkiel continued, Johnny began to cede control of the Ghost Rider to the Spirit of Vengeance he was a host for. The human host had always acted as a circuit breaker for the Spirits, and left unchecked, the Spirit of Vengeance was exponentially more powerful than when Johnny was as Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider could now match the Hulk in terms of sheer strength, regenerate entire body parts within seconds using "hellfire", charge everyday objects like sword with the mystical power of its flames, sense the presence of other Spirits as well as the sins of man, and even call down a rain of fire from heaven. The Ghost Rider's mystical flame could be magically selective as well, leaving a man untouched by the flames while incinerating his clothes and explosively burning down an entire building around him.

Johnny Blaze is a skilled stuntman and expert cyclist capable of seemingly impossible stunts, including riding a motorcycle on a tightrope. He is an excellent marksman, has limited knowledge of the occult and is capable of casting minor spells such as binding and summoning spells. In his earlier adventures, Blaze wore a one-piece racing suit made of Kevlar, a light, strong para-armid synthetic fiber, to maximize protection and durability against fire and damage. It had an internal nylon mesh for improving breathing and reducing perspiration.