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"I'm gonna own this curse, and I'm gonna use it against you. Whenever innocent blood is spilled, it'll be my father's blood. And you'll find me there, a spirit of vengeance, fighting fire with fire."
―Johnny Blaze[src]

Johnathon "Johnny" Blaze is a stunt motorcyclist who sold his soul to the demon Mephistopheles. After becoming the host of the fallen archangel Zarathos, he became known as Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance; who has lust to punish the guilty and consume their souls.

After Johnny defeated Mephistopheles, Zarathos was freed from Hell's corruption and became the angelic entity known as the Spirit of Justice.

Biography[]

Ghost Rider[]

"I'm gonna own this curse... and I'm gonna use it against you. Whenever innocent blood is spilt, it'll be my father's blood... and you'll find me there. A spirit of vengeance... fighting fire with fire."
―Johnny Blaze[src]

As a teenager, Johnny worked with his father as a stunt motorcycle rider and had a crush on Roxanne Simpson, who he wanted to flee away with. When he discovered his father's lung cancer, Johnny felt ashamed for his plans of leaving, but that very night a stranger proposed him to sell his soul, in exchange of Barton's health. Skeptical, Johnny accepted, and the next morning Barton was healed from cancer and gave Johnny his favourite motorcycle and blessing and let him go away with his beloved Roxanne. Just a moment before he actually fled, Johnny heard Barton's death in an incident during the show. Being tricked by Mephistopheles, he realized he'll never be free of his curse and left everything behind, including Roxanne.

Blaze1

Johnny Blaze.

Years later, Johnny had become a stunt rider known for his dynamic stunts and for his uncanny ability to walk away from life-threatening crashes. His manager and best friend Mack speculated that Johnny must have a guardian angel protecting him. Johnny, however, speculated that it could be "something else".

Johnny was driven straight to the station on his "first ride" where he transformed fully into the Ghost Rider and a fight ensued. In the process, Johnny acquired a heavy chain, which he used to kill Gressil while the others escape. While searching for the quarry, Ghost Rider hears a woman being mugged. He stopped the mugger and used his most powerful weapon on him, the Penance Stare; a power by which a person is subjected to all the pain they have ever caused others. As the mugger ended up in a catatonic state, worse than death, implied to be the "burning" of his soul.

Ghostrider

Ghost Rider on his Hell cycle

The next day, Johnny woke up in a cemetery chapel (where his father is buried), where he meets a man called the Caretaker, who seemed to know all the history of the Ghost Rider. When he arrived home, Johnny found Roxanne and revealed himself as the Devil's bounty hunter. She left in anger and disbelief at his tale. As Roxanne left, the police arrived and took Johnny into custody for his connection to the damage done to the city and the deaths caused by Blackheart. He was put in a holding cell with some other prisoners, who mock Johnny and beat him before he assumed his Ghost Rider form, knocking the prisoners down before taking one of their jackets and leaving, after recognizing the only one who made no attempt to harm him as "innocent", to hunt down Blackheart. That night, Roxanne recognized Johnny, while he (as the Ghost Rider) was fighting Abigor, in full view of the city and a large police force. Johnny destroyed Abigor, faced the police, and then left. Observing the scene after obtaining the location of the contract, Blackheart realized that Roxanne was Johnny's weakness.

Johnny went for advice to the Caretaker, who tpld him of Johnny's predecessor, Carter Slade, a Texas Ranger who was a man of honor before his greed placed him before the gallows for his misdeeds. Slade then made a deal with Mephistopheles to break free; in return, Slade became the Ghost Rider who hid the contract of San Venganza. The Caretaker then warned Johnny to stay away from those whom Blackheart and the fallen angels can use against him.

Blackheart already planned to use Roxanne and was in search of her. He found her at Johnny's apartment, reading some books pertaining to demonic lore in the effort to understand Johnny's actions. Blackheart killed Mack and stunned Roxanne, before Johnny arrived and was assaulted by Blackheart. Transforming into the Ghost Rider, Johnny attempted to use the Penance Stare on his enemy, but Blackheart was immortal to it because he has no soul to burn. Blackheart threatened to kill Roxanne, using her life as the means of exchange for the Contract of San Venganza. Johnny went to the caretaker, asking to have this contract.

The Caretaker told Johnny that San Venganza would be "Hell on Earth" if Blackheart claimed the contract, and admonished Johnny to think before he acts. Johnny, however, convinced the Caretaker that he had a plan by which to overcome their enemy. The Caretaker revealed that he is Carter Slade, still alive because of his own power as a Ghost Rider, and offered to show Johnny the way to San Venganza. They rode together into the desert – Carter Slade on a skeletal, flaming phantom horse, Johnny Blaze on his skeletally decorated, flaming motorcycle – leaving a destructive trail of fire in their wake. Some distance from the town, they stopped. Slade gave Johnny his shotgun (a sawn-off Winchester Model 1887/1901) and told him to "use the shadows" before riding away and fading into nothing, seemingly dying of his own depletion of strength.

Having killed Wallow, the last of Blackheart's three demons, Johnny gave the contract to Blackheart but became the Ghost Rider as he does, hoping to pummel his foe into submission. Blackheart shrugged off the attack and managed to subdue Ghost Rider as the sun rose. With Johnny rendered powerless, Blackheart used the contract to absorb the 1,000 souls into his body, taking the name "Legion". Johnny attempted in vain to lure his enemy into the shadowed area of the church until Roxanne grabbed his discarded shotgun, shooting Legion several times before tossing the gun to Johnny.

Holding the weapon in the shadows, Johnny transformed the shotgun into a Hell weapon and blasted Legion apart with hellfire. The souls of San Venganza restored the demon quickly, whereupon Johnny used the Penance Stare to destroy him. Legion's thousand corrupt souls were seared and he fell, comatose and blind. Ghost Rider then tossed Blackheart's comatose body aside, and reverted to his normal form. He was at first ashamed of his monstrous appearance before Roxanne, until she showed him that she was not afraid of what Johnny had become.

Mephistopheles appeared and gave Johnny his soul, offering to take back the curse of the Ghost Rider. Johnny refused, saying that he will use his power against Mephistopheles, and against all harm that comes to the innocent. Infuriated of being robbed of the power, Mephistopheles vowed to make Johnny pay, to which Johnny recited his favorite saying; "you can't live in fear".

Mephistopheles then disappeared, taking Blackheart's body with him. Johnny and Roxanne shared some parting words at the tree on which Johnny carved "J&R forever". Roxanne told him that he got his second chance before sharing a final kiss with him. Johnny rode away on his motorcycle, now a legend in his own right.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance[]

Johnny Blaze had been hiding for five years in eastern Europe and was confronted by Moreau. Moreau made Johnny a deal, if Johnny used the Rider to rescue the boy, Moreau and his group of monks, led by Methodius, would remove the demon from Johnny's body. Johnny changed into the Ghost Rider and rescued the boy from Ray Carrigan.

Danny and Johnny bond over their demonic natures. Johnny, Nadya Ketch and Moreau took Danny to Methodius and the monks fulfilled their promise. They removed the Ghost Rider from Johnny after telling him the demon's background. The demon's name is Zarathos and he was an angel, a Spirit of Justice sent to protect man. But he was taken to hell, corrupted and his mission of protecting the innocent, turned into punishing the guilty and he turned into the devil's Spirit of Vengeance. But the monks rid Johnny of the Rider, then they decided that Danny was dangerous and because he was born with his power they can not remove it, so they decided to kill the boy. Blackout showed up, killed the monks and captured Danny.

Johnny, Moreau and Nadya went to stop Roarke, Blackout killed Moreua, Johnny was about to be killed as well, but Danny realizing that he had all of Roarke's powers, put the power of Zarathos back into Johnny. Once again as the Rider, Johnny killed Blackout and a road chase occured with the Rider chasing Roarke and the boy. Ghost Rider crashed Roarke's car and sent him back to Hell and Danny was killed in the crash. Johnny could feel the angelic part of Zarathos' presence and his hands glowed with blue fire as the angel resurrected the boy. With Roarke beaten, Johnny rode into the night not as the demonic Spirit of Vengeance, but as the angelic Spirit of Justice.

Character traits[]

As Johnny Blaze[]

Johnny is a good person cursed with a sense of guilt for the death of his father and is angry for having been tricked by Mephistopheles. He tries the most dangerous stunts, wanting to prove to himself that he is actually doing all the stunts himself, and not Mephisto or the Ghost Rider preventing him from dying before he fulfills his contract. He is also humorous, sarcastic, somewhat cynical and strong willed.

Johnny is a skillful stunt driver, the best on field, and acts as a daredevil in everything in his life. He has a mild addiction to candies, which he consumes in enormous quantities. He also has quirks, as he drank water from a pitcher in a public restaurant. With each transformation into Ghost Rider, Johnny laughs maniacally or becomes hysterical as the Rider's personality takes over.

Johnny had some difficulty being in sunlight, as Moreau said that the Ghost Rider possessing him liked dark places, but only before the Ghost Rider was made an angelic force once again.

As Ghost Rider[]

Ghost Rider is tough, ruthless, merciless, nearly emotionless and consumed by a lust to punish the guilty. He cares more about punishing the guilty than protecting the innocent.

Ghost Rider was said to feed on the evil of his victims, but seemed to have a tendency to be more violent towards those who were themselves guilty of violence, or proceeded to attack and provoke him when he encountered them. He is said to have viewed all sins or crimes as equal, even if it was as seemingly harmless as a "white lie" or "illegal download".

While Ghost Rider has no conscience and only "hunger" according to Johnny, it does have a sense of humor and sometimes acts somewhat cartoonish. He mockingly waged his finger at a cop that dislocated his jaw with a baton after putting it back in without any problems, laughed when he landed in a river and could still ride as if it were land, and shouted "Ye Hah!" when he lassoing a helicopter. He sometimes has one-liners when defeating enemies, such as when he mocked Gressel as he begged for mercy, saying "sorry, all out of mercy", or when Blackout was killed and his body run over, causing him to say "road kill".

Ghost Rider is quite aggressive in his behavior, as after he lassoed the helicopter chasing him, he said "You're pissing me off!" to the pilot, who apologized in fear before he was released. He also continued to make quips, hum and laugh or giggle maniacally while in combat or killing others. He acts animalistic in some of his mannerisms and posture, with growling, snarling and even roaring.

Despite his monstrous behavior, it shares Johnny's mannerisms, ability to feel emotion and most notably his love for Roxanne Simpson. His feelings for her affected Ghost Rider making his flame turn blue and calm and he tried to walk to her before he was shot repeatedly, which changed him back and caused him to make a wall of fire against the police who shot him. His fire changed blue again when he was near her, and he hid his face in shame of what he was, while she was able to touch him without being burned.

Powers and Abilities[]

Powers[]

  • Angelic Physiology: After becoming the host of the archangel Zarathos, Johnny Blaze gained several physical and supernatural attributes. After Zarathos' angelic grace and connection to Heaven were restored, these attributes became significantly more powerful than before.
    • Transformation: Johnny Blaze is capable of transforming into a fiery skeletal entity at will.
    • Superhuman Strength: Ghost Rider is much stronger than normal humans and many other supernatural entities. He can lift objects that weigh up to 100 tons, send other individuals flying several feet away and pull helicopter from the sky with his chain relatively easily. He is also able to overpower a group of thugs, common angels and demons with little to no effort at all. Ghost Rider's strength is rivalled only by Michael.
    • Superhuman Durability: Ghost Rider is far more durable than normal humans and many other supernatural entities. In his human form, he cannot be injured fatally and survived every incident he experienced as a daredevil, sometimes without being injured at all. However, in Ghost Rider's fiery skeletal form, he was able to withstand Blackheart's powerful blows and was almost completely unfazed by them. He can withstand great impacts; such as surviving extreme temperature, explosions and falls from tremendous heights, that would have severely injured or kill a normal human.
    • Superhuman Speed: Ghost Rider is much faster than normal humans and many other supernatural entities. He is able to cover short distances in a matter of seconds, as well as appear behind his opponents before they can react in time. Ghost Rider can also move so fast that he looks like he is teleporting; but in truth, he is actually moving too fast for the human eye to see.
    • Superhuman Agility: Ghost Rider is far more agile than normal humans and many other supernatural entities. He is able to perfectly balance on his motorcycle; despite it moving at high speeds.
    • Superhuman Reflexes: Ghost Rider's reflexes are much faster than normal humans and many other supernatural entities.
    • Superhuman Dexterity: Ghost Rider's dexterity is far more greatly developed than normal humans and many other supernatural entities. He is able to to use his chain while on his motorcycle to grapple onto a building and change direction.
    • Superhuman Stamina: Ghost Rider possesses far more stamina than normal humans and many other supernatural entities, allowing him to remain physically active for long periods of time; he can never get tired.
    • Superhuman Senses: Ghost Rider is able to sense the presence of other supernatural entities over small or vast distances. He is also able to sense whether or not humans have committed unspeakable sins.
    • Superhuman Jumping: Ghost Rider can jump much higher than normal humans and many other supernatural entities. He can jump several feet off the ground.
    • Accelerated Healing Factor: Ghost Rider is able to heal much faster, more extensively and efficiently than than normal humans and many other supernatural entities. He can completely heal from physical injuries in a matter of seconds. Ghost Rider is also able to heal other individuals from physical injuries as well.
    • Immortality: Ghost Rider is immortal and cannot be killed by natural means.
    • Pyrogenesis: Ghost Rider can generate, create and project bright blue fire from both of his hands or his entire body. Ghost Rider's holy angelic flames are also are much brighter than his demonic flames.
    • Pyrokinesis: Ghost Rider can manipulate fire. He is able infuse objects, weapons, vehicles or machines with his holy angelic flames and grant them supernatural attributes.
    • Penance Stare: Ghost Rider is able to burn the souls of the guilty via direct eye contact; inflicting on them the equivalent pain or suffering they have inflicted on their victims.
    • Resurrection: Ghost Rider is able to bring other individuals back to life via holy angelic flames. He was able to revive Danny Ketch despite the fact that he is half-demon.
    • Telekinesis: Ghost Rider can telekinetically move objects or other individuals without physically touching them. He can control his chain to wrap his chain around his opponents without physically doing so.

Abilities[]

  • Expert Hand-To-Hand Combatant: Ghost Rider is a highly skilled hand-to-hand combatant. His combat skills combined with his physical and supernatural attributes; make him a formidable opponent alone in single combat.
  • Expert Chain Fighter: Ghost Rider is a highly skilled chain fighter. He is able to use his chain as a improvised lasso, whip or flail. Ghost Rider once wrapped the chain around his fist like a knuckle duster; to punch a hole in Gressil's face.
  • Skilled Marksman: Ghost Rider is a skilled marksman.
  • Expert Driver: Johnny is a highly skilled driver. He is capable of driving most other vehicles; such as motorcycles and trucks. He is also an excellent stunt rider.

Weaknesses[]

  • Limitations: Although Ghost Rider is incredibly powerful, he does have his limits; for example, he is unable to match God in terms of "raw power".
  • Soulless Entities: Ghost Rider's penance stare does not have any effect on other supernatural entities; who have no souls to burn; which was demonstrated during his first confrontation against Blackheart.

Former Weaknesses[]

After Zarathos' connection to Hell was severed and his angelic grace was restored, many of Ghost Rider's weaknesses no longer affected him. They are:

  • Limitations: Ghost Rider's connection to Hell had greatly diminished his physical and supernatural attributes.
  • Sunlight: When Ghost Rider was exposed to direct sunlight he would transform back into his human form.
    • Lack of Control: Unlike Carter Slade, Ghost Rider was incapable of transforming into his fiery skeletal form at will; due to the fact that has been trying to suppress Zarathos.
  • Limited Healing Factor: Although Ghost Rider could heal incredibly fast, he did have limits and was unable heal from physical injuries when in his human form.

Equipment[]

  • Hellcycle: Johnny rides a motorcycle to travel to several different cities and towns across the United States, it was given to Johnny by his father, Barton Blaze, prior to his death. As Ghost Rider, Johnny is able to enchante the motorcycle with his demonic flames, later holy angelic flames; granting it supernatural attributes. When the Heavencycle is in its fiery skeletal form, it can travel several miles in minutes and on any surface, whether vertical, upside down or even on water. It is also immune to damage and does not need to be maintained in order to function. It is also capable of driving by itself and can be summoned by Ghost Rider at will.
  • Hellfire Chain: Johnny is very proficient in using an length of chain in combat, he obtained it during his first confrontation against the members of the Hidden. As Ghost Rider, Johnny is able to enchant the chain; granting it supernatural attributes.
  • Hellfire Shotgun: Johnny is very proficient in using a sawed-off Winchester 1887 lever-action shotgun. It was given to Johnny by Carter Slade; prior to his final confrontation against Blackheart. As Ghost Rider, Johnny is able to enchant the shotgun with his demonic flames, granting it supernatural attributes.

Relationships[]

Appearances/Actors[]

  • Earth-121347 (1 video game)

Behind the scenes[]

  • Nicolas Cage has a tattoo of Ghost Rider's head on his shoulder and the make up artists had to cover it for playing Johnny Blaze.
  • Nicolas Cage wore a hairpiece in the first film.
  • In the first film, Cage wore a green mask to make the CGI fire.
  • Johnny Depp and Eric Bana were both considered for the role of Ghost Rider before Nicolas Cage was cast.
  • Rumors persist that Nicolas Cage's abs in the movie were CGI, but writer and director Mark Steven Johnson refutes this on the DVD audio commentary.
  • To create the Ghost Rider's voice, sound designer Dane A. Davis recorded all of Nicolas Cage's lines as the Ghost Rider, and then filtered them through three different kinds of animal growls (played backwards, covering three separate frequencies) then played them through a mechanical volumizer, before finally giving them a fiery crackle. Writer and director Mark Steven Johnson compared it to "a deep, demonic, mechanical lion's roar" and said "one thing is for sure, his voice will shake the theater!".

Trivia[]

  • The Ghost Rider's skull was redesigned for the sequel. The new skull appears to be black and charred, indicating that the skull is actually on fire as opposed to the clean fleshless skull simply cloaked in fire in the previous film.
  • Nicolas Cage is an avid comics fan. He took his stage surname, Cage from character Luke Cage. His son is named "Kal-El", Superman's kryptonian name. He was previously considered to play Green Goblin in Spider-Man and Superman in Tim Burton's cancelled Superman Lives, but Ghost Rider is Cage's first role based on a comic character.

Gallery[]

Ghost Rider[]

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance[]

See Also[]

MDB


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