GHOST RIDER (DANNY KETCH)

 

GHOST RIDER II

 

Real Name: Daniel Ketch

First Appearance: Ghost Rider (Vol. 1) #1, May 1990

History/Powers: Daniel "Danny" Ketch is Johnny Blaze's younger brother, and his time as the Ghost Rider is intrinsically tied to Noble Kale. During the time of the Puritans in the New England colonies of America, a man named Noble Kale was transformed into a Spirit of Vengeance by forces beyond his control. A direct ancestor of John Blaze and Danny Ketch, he was supposedly part of the same bloodline that contained the Medallion of Power, which was proven to be a ruse. Allegedly, his origin is that Mephisto was banned from claiming Kale's soul by an angel, and so they were forced to reach common ground. Kale would have his memories stripped from him, and serve as a Ghost Rider, rising up to enact vengeance whenever innocent blood was spilled. His presence would manifest itself each generation through the medallion shards of his bloodline, allowing him to take as a host body the firstborn of the generation, be they male or female. Thus Kale was denied entry into either Heaven or Hell, the guilty were punished, and Mephisto could lay claim on the souls of those evildoers who suffered under the Ghost Rider's wrath, as well as enjoying the curse Noble's presence placed on the family Kale.

Noble Kale's soul was bonded to the specific Spirit of Vengeance he served as a host for while alive, and the Kale Spirit of Vengeance did possess one of his descendants with each generation. In the generation immediately prior to the current one, where a woman named Naomi Kale was a Ghost Rider and Noble's host body, and the mother of John, Barbara, and Daniel. With her husband (and father to her children) Barton Blaze dead and her life apparently ruined by the circumstances of her curse, Naomi left one son (John Blaze) in the care of her late husband's best friend, Crash Simpson, and her other children were adopted by a family in Brooklyn (thus Barbara and Dan Ketch). In order to end the cursed continuation of Noble Kale's presence, Naomi performed a mystical ceremony which would block the firstborn of the next generation, her son Johnny, from harboring Noble's spirit. Finishing the ceremony and getting into a conflict with Mephisto, Naomi died of a long-suffering illness she had. Thus, Johnny Blaze was shielded from the Kale Spirit of Vengeance (although nothing prevented him from becoming another Ghost Rider, as seen), and the curse leapfrogged to the second-born, Barbara Ketch.

As adults, Dan and his sister Barbara stumbled onto an exchange between two criminal parties, and Barbara was near-fatally shot by a crossbow bolt while they were escaping. Dan and the badly-wounded Barbara hid in a junkyard right next to Naomi Kale's old motorcycle. The motorcycle's gas-cap began to glow and -- his hands covered with Barbara's innocent blood -- Dan touched the cap and unleashed the Noble Kale version of Ghost Rider once again. It must be pointed out here that, as the third-born of the generation, Dan would not have any medallion shard tied to his life essence, and thus should've been incapable of channeling Noble Kale, or any Spirit of Vengeance for that matter. It was supposedly the blood of his sister, who should have possessed the other Kale-bloodline shard, that allowed Dan to become a Ghost Rider. Considering later revelations, the same logic applies, except that there are no medallions shards and Barbara's blood merely conducted the curse of the Kale Spirit of Vengeance, nothing more.

Whenever innocent blood was shed in his vicinity, the gas cap would begin to glow and Dan would transform into Ghost Rider by touching it. The motorcycle, even in its normal state, did not require gas or maintenance and could drive itself to Dan's location if necessary, in order to initiate the change. Over time, Dan learned to initiate the change at will, summoning the motorcycle to him consciously, or even transform without the motorcycle, as the Midnight Sons' symbol burned out of his palms with hellfire. Once transformed, Ghost Rider possessed superhuman strength, reflexes, tireless stamina, and considerable coping ability when it comes to physical harm. Not only was this Ghost Rider superhumanly durable, his hellfire could regenerate any damage done to his bones and form. Once, he was even reduced to a pile of ash, yet a flash of hellfire reconstructed him within minutes. He was covered with hellfire like his predecessor, but the Kale Ghost Rider did not employ it as an offensive weapon. Instead, he punished the guilty with his penance stare: By getting someone to look into his empty eye sockets, Ghost Rider could force them to experience all the physical and psychological suffering they had caused in their lifetimes, an overwhelming and horrific experience for most criminals. The penance stare had the added side effect of allowing Ghost Rider to perceive all these wrongdoings as they were relived by his victim, enabling him to gauge their guilt or innocence of various specific crimes.

He used a length of mystical chain which could be employed for various purposes. It responded to his thoughts, lashed at opponents or wrapping around them as a restraint. The chain could magically extend itself to various lengths, and sections of it could be detached, thus letting him bind an opponent while still having a chain to use. He could straighten the chain and use it as a spear, and later would make it into a scythe by forging a blade of hellfire on one end. The chain links could also detach and be fired as a spray of projectiles, either to inflict blunt force or be mystical altered to possess razor sharp tips. After striking a target, the links returned to him and re-forged into a single length of chain. Transforming along with Ketch, the now flaming motorcycle could reach speeds of over 250 mph, and drop a battering ram before its front wheel to smash through barriers. It enabled him to drive straight up or across 90 degree inclines, over water, or even upside down.

Initially, the Kale Ghost Rider was amnesiac again (as he became with each new host he assumed), capable of thinking about nothing but his quest for vengeance. After Dan was mortally wounded by Blackout, Ghost Rider was forced to remain active for weeks without changing back. This helped break down his mental barriers, allowing his personality to reassert itself, although his true memories still didn't resurface. After learning about the Medallion of Power, Dan and Ghost Rider simply assumed that the Ghost Rider's personality was that of the Spirit of Vengeance Dan was channeling. It would be many more months before Ghost Rider learned of his history as Noble Kale. Briefly, Noble was separated from Dan and re-assumed a human form, taking over Blackheart's corner of Hell. However, the Spirit of Vengeance needed a physical host to support its power, not just a spiritual one, and so Noble Kale was forced to recombine with Dan Ketch. Years later, Dan Ketch forcibly exorcised Noble Kale and the Spirit of Vengeance from his body, and neither have appeared since.

Later, Dan Ketch suffered miserably after exorcising Noble Kale from his body, falling into a state of drunken depression and self-destruction. At his weakest, he was manipulated by the archangel named Zadkiel into becoming his agent on Earth, as the treacherous archangel made plans to assault Heaven itself, and he needed the power of the Spirits of Vengeance behind him. Dan was given limited doses of Spirit power, letting him transform for only a few minutes at a time, to revive his addiction and make him hungry for more. Then, Zadkiel deceived him into thinking that the Spirits of Vengeance ultimately consumed their hosts, funneling too much energy through an all-too human frame so that the host's soul dissolved and was cost its place in the afterlife. With Zadkiel's lies and his own addiction to convince him he was doing the right thing, Dan was manipulated into becoming a Spirit vampire, leeching the power from other Spirits of Vengeance around the globe. Supposedly, he was "saving" the hosts from eventually losing their souls to the Spirit power. In order to keep his own soul safe, Dan willingly gave it over to Zadkiel for "safekeeping", thus making him that much easier for the archangel to control. Over time, Dan consolidated the power of all the Earthly Spirits of Vengeance into his own body, demonstrating incredible strength and power, and new abilities like creating free-acting hellfire duplicates of himself, or flying using angelic wings of fire. During this time, his hellfire often burned with blue flame instead of orange. Once he was successful, however, Zadkiel stripped Dan of the Spirits' power and cast him back down to Earth, with only the residual power of one Spirit of Vengeance still in his system.