This article is about Johnny Blaze. For other characters who share the mantle, see Ghost Rider.
Ghost Rider (real name Johnny Blaze) is a supernatural entity named Zarathos originating from Marvel Comics as a superhero, by possession of a human host.
It is depicted as a demonic rider or the devil with a flaming skull for a head and a flaming chain as a weapon. Despite its frightening form, it will only punish those who have done wrong in life and shield the innocent from harm. Thus, it only appears when innocent blood has been shed.
Johnny Blaze was created by Gary Friedrich and Mike Ploog.
Superhuman Durability: Ghost Rider has an immunity to must forms of injury. He can be run over, stabbed, or crushed and still be just fine. Bullets either pass through his skeleton body, or bounce off his bones.
Superhuman Strength: Ghost Rider, despite being a skeleton, is immensely strong. He can lift cars, lift fully grown men with no effort, and battle demons stronger than him.
Superhuman Speed: Ghost Rider can move and react faster than a normal human.
Superhuman Stamina: Ghost Rider can't get tired, and thus can be active for days, even weeks.
Resurrection: Ghost Rider can bring people back from the dead. He brought Robbie back from death, turning him into the new Ghost Rider.
Fire manipulation: Ghost Rider can manipulate both regular fire and hellfire. He can shoot it out of his hands, mouth, and create walls of fire.
Fire Immunity: Ghost Rider is immune to all fire, even in human form.
Penance Stare: If anyone looks into Ghost Riders eyes, he can inflict all the pain they've caused to others back at them, burning their souls. His stare doesn't work on people who have no remorse for their actions (the Punisher), and beings that have no soul.
Hell Motorcycle: Ghost Rider can imbue his motorcycle with hellish energy, turning it into a supernatural motorcycle. It can drive on water, up walls, and faster than a normal vehicle.
Hell Chain: Ghost Rider's signature weapon. He can use it as a whip to attack his enemies. He can set it on fire as well, notably when he used it to kill the wind demon, Abigor.
Abilities
Expert Driver: Ghost Rider is a highly skilled driver on the motorcycle.
Ghost Rider appears within Death Valley when the Hulk and his allies enter carrying the imprisoned Abomination. After chasing them down and subduing both Abomination and Red Hulk, he intends to punish both of them for their past crimes. Ghost Rider uses his penance stare on Abomination which burns the gamma out of him and regresses him back to Emil Blonsky. As he proceeds to do the same for Red Hulk, Red Hulk proves to by too resistant to the stare so Ghost Rider drags him to a bad place on a military train that he took control of with the the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. in pursuit. However, Ghost Rider teleports the group into a twisted dimension to have Red Hulk devoured by a creature as punishment. When Red Hulk finally repents his mistake for creating the Hulk, Ghost Rider spares Red Hulk and helps the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. evade the creature and return to Death Valley. When A-Bomb invites Ghost Rider with them, Ghost Rider summons his motorcycle and rides off, stating that there is still evil in the world to avenge.
Johnny Blaze appears in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "The Good Samaritan", via flashback. As the original Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, was revealed to be responsible for Robbie's resurrection and transformation into the second Ghost Rider when Blaze imparted some of his powers to revive Robbie, on the conditions that he swears to go after those who spill innocent blood.
Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. is the second television show Ghost Rider has made an appearance in and with a speaking role. Incidentally, the first one the character was in was the Incredible Hulk, which also centered around Hulk.
In the comics, the Ghost Rider was the result of the demon Zarathos possessing stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze after Blaze made a deal with Mephisto, one of the Lords of Hell of the Marvel Universe. Other Ghost Riders have also appeared after Blaze, such as his younger Brother Daniel Ketch. While the version that appeared in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. is unknown, he does use the Penance Stare which was the signature ability of the Ketch version and later Blaze. He is also shown to have a race car as a secondary vehicle, a nod to current Ghost Rider Robbie Reyes.
The movie rights to Ghost Rider were owned by Sony Pictures, alongside Spider-Man. They were both eventually given back to Marvel Studios after both films to reach their company's expectations, with Marvel and Sony sharing the Spider-Man movie rights.
Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider was originally considered to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Deadpool & Wolverine, with Nicolas Cage returning to the role. However Cage ultimately declined the offer to reprise the role.[1]
