Johnathon Blaze (Earth-121347)

"This thing... there's no conscience... just hunger... The Rider's going to come out, and when he does, he'll destroy whoever's got it coming."

―Johnny Blaze^[src]

Jonathan "Johnny" Blaze is a stunt motorcyclist who sold his soul to the Devil. He became possessed by the fiery mad angel Zarathos and become Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance, a superhuman being possessed by a lust to punish the guilty and damn their souls.

After defeating the Devil in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Johnny has become an angelic being on a mission to protect the innocent, 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 Blaze works with his father as a stunt motorcycle rider and he has a crush on Roxanne Simpson, who he wants to flee away with. When he discovers his father's lung cancer, Johnny feels ashamed for his plans of leaving, but the very night a stranger proposes him to sell his very soul, in exchange of Barton's health. Skeptical, Johnny accepts, and the next morning Barton is healed from cancer and gives him his favourite motorcycle and blessing and lets him go away with his beloved Roxanne. Just a moment before he actually flees, Johnny assists to Barton's death in an incident during the show. Being tricked by Mephistopheles, he realizes he'll never be free of his curse and leaves everything behind, Roxanne included.

Years later, Johnny (Nicholas Cage) has 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 (Donal Logue) speculates that Johnny must have a guardian angel protecting him. Johnny, however, speculates that it could be "something else". Later, on his next By that time, Johnny is driven straight to the station on his "first ride" where he transforms fully into the Ghost Rider and a fight ensues. In the process, Johnny acquires a heavy chain, which he uses to kill Gressil while the others escape. While searching for the quarry, Ghost Rider hears a woman (Rebel Wilson) being mugged. He stops the mugger and uses 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 ends up in a catatonic state, worse than death, which is implied to be the "burning" of his soul.

The next day, Johnny wakes up in a cemetery chapel, where he meets a man called the Caretaker (Sam Elliott), who seems to know all the history of the Ghost Rider. When he arrives home, Johnny finds Roxanne and reveals himself as the Devil's bounty hunter. She leaves in anger and disbelief at his tale. As Roxanne leaves, the police arrive and take Johnny into custody for his connection to the damage done to the city and the deaths caused by Blackheart. He is put in a holding cell with some other prisoners, who mock Johnny and beat him before he assumes 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 recognizes Johnny, while he (as the Ghost Rider) is fighting Abigor, in full view of the city and a large police force. Johnny destroys Abigor, faces the police, and then leaves. Observing the scene after obtaining the location of the contract, Blackheart realizes that Roxanne is Johnny's weakness.

Johnny goes for advice to the Caretaker, who tells 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 warns Johnny to stay away from those whom Blackheart and the fallen angels can use against him. Unfortunately, Blackheart already plans to use Roxanne and is in search of her. He finds her at Johnny's apartment, reading some books pertaining to demonic lore in the effort to understand Johnny's actions. Blackheart kills Mack and stuns Roxanne, before Johnny arrives and is assaulted by Blackheart. Transforming into the Ghost Rider, Johnny attempts to use the Penance Stare on his enemy, but Blackheart is impervious to it because he has no (human) soul to burn. Blackheart then threatens to kill Roxanne, using her life as the means of exchange for the Contract of San Venganza. Johnny thence goes to the caretaker, asking to have this contract.

The Caretaker tells Johnny that San Venganza will be "Hell on Earth" if Blackheart claims the contract, and admonishes Johnny to think before he acts. Johnny, however, convinces the Caretaker that he has a plan by which to overcome their enemy. The Caretaker then reveals that he is Carter Slade, still alive because of his own power as a Ghost Rider, and offers to show Johnny the way to San Venganza. They ride 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 stop. Slade gives Johnny his shotgun (a sawn-off Winchester Model 1887/1901) and tells him to "use the shadows" before riding away and dying of his own depletion of strength.

Having killed Wallow, the last of Blackheart's three demons, Johnny gives the contract to Blackheart but becomes the Ghost Rider as he does, hoping to pummel his foe into submission. Blackheart shrugs off the attack and manages to subdue Ghost Rider as the sun rises. With Johnny rendered powerless, Blackheart uses the contract to absorb the 1,000 souls into his body, taking the name "Legion". Johnny attempts in vain to lure his enemy into the shadowed area of the church until Roxanne grabs his discarded shotgun, shooting Legion several times before tossing the gun to Johnny. Holding the weapon in the shadows, Johnny transforms the shotgun into a Ghost Rider weapon and blasts Legion apart with hellfire. The souls of San Venganza restore the demon quickly, whereupon Johnny uses the Penance Stare to destroy him. Legion's thousand corrupt souls are seared and he falls, comatose and blind. Ghost Rider then tosses Blackheart's comatose body aside, and reverts to his normal form. He is at first ashamed of his monstrous appearance before Roxanne, until she shows him that she is not afraid of what Johnny has become.

Mephistopheles appears and gives Johnny his soul, offering to take back the curse of the Ghost Rider. Johnny refuses, 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 vows to make Johnny pay, to which Johnny in response recites his favorite saying: "You can't live in fear". Mephistopheles then disappears, taking Blackheart's body with him. Johnny and Roxanne share some parting words at the tree on which Johnny carved "J&R FOREVER" at the beginning of the film. Roxanne then tells Johnny that he got his second chance before sharing a final kiss with him. Johnny then rides away on his motorcycle, now a legend in his own right.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance

Johnny Blaze has been hiding for five years in eastern Europe and is confronted by Moreau. Moreau makes Johnny a deal, if Johnny uses the Rider to rescue the boy, Moreau and his group of monks, led by Methodius, will remove the demon from Johnny's body. Johnny changes into the Ghost Rider and resuces the boy from Carrigan.

Danny and Johnny bond over there demonic natures. Johnny, Nadya and Moreau take Danny to Methodius and the monks fulfil their promise. They remove 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 is dangerous and because he was born with his power they can not remove it, so they decide to kill the boy. But Blackout shows up, kills the monks and captures Danny.

Johnny, Moreau and Nadya go to stop Roarke, Blackout kills Moreua, Johnny is about to be killed aswell, but Danny realising that he has all of Roarke's powers, puts the power of Zarathos back into Johnny. Once again as the Rider, Johnny kills Blackout and a road chase occurs with the Rider chasing Roarke and the boy. Ghost Rider crashes Roarke's car and sends him back to hell and Danny is killed in the crash. But Johnny can feel the angelic part of Zarathos' presence and his hands glows with blue fire as the angel resurrects the boy. With Roarke beaten, Johnny rides 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 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 he acts as a daredevil in everything in his life. He has a sort of addiction to candies, which he consumes in enormous quantities. He also has quirks, as he drank water from a pitcher in a public restaurant.

As Ghost Rider

The Ghost Rider is tough, ruthless, merciless, nearly emotionless and consumed a lust to punish the guilty. Therefore, he cares more about punishing the guilty than it does protecting the innocent.

While the 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 it as if it were land, and shouted "Ye Hah!" when he lassoing a helicopter.

Also, every time that Johnny transforms into the Ghost Rider, he is almost always laughing maniacally and viciously, as the Rider's personality takes over the body. He is also 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 is also shown acting animalistic in his some of his mannerisms and posture, especially in the second film, as he was shown growling, snarling and even roaring.

However, despite being its monstrous behavior, it shares Johnny's mannerism, ability to feel emotion and most notably his love for Roxanne Simpson. His feelings for her affected the Rider that his flame turned 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 agains 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. There are times when

Equipment

The-hellcycle — The Hellcycle as it appears in *Ghost Rider*.

Formerly a shotgun given to him by Carter Slade before his final battle with Blackheart.

Hellcycle: Motorcycle which can be transformed by hellfire whenever he becomes Ghost Rider. As it is enchanted, it can move only any surface, wether vertical, upside down or even on water.

Ghost Rider's Hellfire Chain: Utilizing an length piece of chain he found upon his first time as Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider's chain has become a mystic weapon capable of transforming into a wide variety of different weapons.

Mental Commands: The chain obeys the mental commands of Ghost Rider. When inactive it will link to itself in a loop so that it can be worn as an accoutrement to Ghost Rider's clothing. When Ghost Rider wills it to do so it separates to form a multipurpose weapon.

Variable Length: The chain is capable of mystically extending to greater lengths, it's upper limits are unknown.
Lasso: With the chain gripped at one end, the other can be used to ensnare a target in a manner similar to a lasso. It is also capable of being used as a whip, but it is also strong enough to break and cut through objects and people. In fact, it can become super heated to burn through its targets or even turn them into molten liquid.
Hellfire: In addition, he can apply hellfire to it to use it to disintergrating his enemies.

Powers and Abilities

Ghost Rider is the supernatural combination between human host and experienced motorcyclist Johnny Blaze and the demonic Zarathos. As Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze possesses a variety of supernatural powers.

Demonic Powers and Abilities

Johnny Blaze possesses the supernatural ability to transform into Ghost Rider at will. These transformations can either involve Johnny's flesh turning to fire or his flesh burning off at various speeds. At one point, Johnny's body erupted with flames like a grenade, (which did not affect his clothing) revealing the Rider. The transformation is more painful when it is delayed or when the flesh burns off, though sometimes, the Ghost Rider's personality has already taken over, rendering the transformation seemingly painless. However, with each transformation, while slowly transforming, Johnny usually has laughed maniacally or as the Rider's personality takes over. Originally, he would automatically transform at night or in the presence of evil. However, he has begun to gain control over his transformations and can transform through an act of will or when innocent blood is spilled. The power of Ghost Rider depends on who is in control over Ghost Rider (Johnny and the spirit inhabit the same body, but while transformed Ghost Rider is in control, Johnny Blaze only influences it's decisions to an extent as he takes the "back seat" except when he sees Roxanne, he effectively calm down, shown when his flame shrinks and turns harmlessly blue. So in a way, it may be the type of psychological condition like with the Hulk whenever he sees Betty). Carter Slade has stated Ghost Rider is powerful, however, it is unknown how powerful. Nonetheless, Johnny Blaze, as Ghost Rider, is one of the strongest and most powerful beings on the planet, while Ghost Rider, is for all intents and purposes described as boundless in power to the extent where Ghost Rider was able to defeat Blackheart as Legion in battle; Ghost Rider is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe.

Superhuman Strength: Ghost Rider possesses formidable superhuman strength sufficient to lift up to 25 tons or maybe more. He can effortlessly lift a person, or even an elemental demon, from the ground and send them flying through the air, all with one hand. His strength is matched only by the greatest of demons, while he can overpower lesser demons. With this strength, Ghost Rider was able to beat all of Blackheart's minions and Blackheart himself as Legion. He was even shown to be able to effortlessly pull a helicopter from the sky with his chain.
Superhuman Stamina: Ghost Rider has limitless stamina and does not feel fatigue.
Superhuman Dexterity: Ghost Rider's mastery over his chain beyond human capability. He also shown to be highly agile, allowing him to use his chain while on his motorcycle to grapple onto a building and change direction, as well as jump several feet of a moving car to land perfectly on his motorcycle.
Superhuman Speed: Ghost Rider can move at erratic speeds that no mortal can achieve; allowing him to cover short distances either instantaneously or in mere seconds, to the point where he appears to be teleporting, as he can seamlessly appear behind someone without even physically moving his body.
Invulnerability: In human form, Johnny is the same like any human being and is subject to the same vulnerabilities, as shown when Slade had to stitch him up. Still, in human form, he cannot be injured fatally and survived every incident he experienced as a daredevil. However, Johnny Blaze, while as Ghost Rider, is highly resistant to the point of being basically immune to all types of bodily damage as he has taken blows from beings such as Blackheart with no sign of pain or discomfort. Ghost Rider is capable of withstanding great impact forces, temperature and pressure extremes, powerful energy blasts, explosions, and falls from great heights without sustaining injury. As his bodily tissues have been transformed, leaving only a skeleton, most projectiles such as bullets simply pass through him, bounce off his bones or burn away due to the level of hellfire emitted from him. Ghost Rider's body is for all intents immune to physical injury, as he is evidently not able to feel pain and is able to survive with no apparent discomfort no matter how severe the injury.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his invulnerability to conventional forms of injury, if his being is ever damaged, the magical energies imbuing him allows Ghost Rider to instantly regenerate any and all damage done without any discomfort or any evident pain. However, this is not extended to Johnny in his human form, while Johnny is able to survive fatal accidents without lingering side effects.
Hellfire Manipulation: Ghost Rider is a powerful pyrokinetic and possesses the ability to generate, control, and project mystical fire, or "hellfire" at will. Hellfire is an emphyreal and supernatural flame that burns the soul of a person and can be used to burn their physical body. He can utilize this fire in various ways, including projecting it from his eyes, hands, mouth, or even channel it from his body into his weapons like his shotgun, form walls of hellfire, and even transform a regular motorcycle into an tricked out one that could ride on any surface, even on water. He has used his hellfire to enchant a normal chain he found, as well as making a shotgun shoot fireballs and turning a crane into a powerful flaming mech that caused explosions when hit against the ground. His fire even affects clothing, allowing him to make the spikes grow larger on a leather jacket and gloves he took from one of his victims. In the second film, his clothing became burnt looking when he transformed. He can also unleash the hellfire in omni-directional attacks that are incredibly powerful. After being shot in the mouth with an automatic machine pistol, the bullets vanished in the fames on his body and quickly he vomited the rounds back at his opponents as molten metal. When asked what happens if he had to urinate in that form, Johnny described it as a flamethrower.
Mystical Chain Projection: Ghost Rider made a normal chain mystical with his powers and made it capable of superheating or cooling instantly, growing in length, cutting and burning through almost anything, or even twirl as fast as helicopter rotor blades.
Penance Stare: Ghost Rider's most powerful weapon, as stated by Slade, is the supernatural ability to cause any individual who stares into his eyes to see and feel every bit of pain they have ever inflicted on anyone in their entire lifetime. In the first move, this abilty left the eyes completely burnt the victim in catatonic state, worse than death, which is said to be the "burning" of the soul. In the second movie, ability not only caused great agony, but also completely incinerated the body.
Skilled Hand-To-Hand Combatant: Although he's had no proper training, Ghost Rider is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant and has become quite adept at using his powers in combat situations.

Angelic Powers and Abilities

After defeating Mephistopheles and sending him back to Hell, Johnny was freed from his influence. This allowed him to feel the presence of the angel Zarathos within him. His angelic abilities are characterized by holy blue flame instead of regular fire. His angelic flames are much brighter than his demonic flames. Johnny possesses the same strength and power while in his angelic form as he did in his demonic form. It is possible that his abilities have grown stronger now that Zarathos' grace and union with Heaven and God have been restored.

Resurrection: Johnny put Danny's soul back into his body and revived him just by touching his cheek with his skeletal hand infused with blue fire.
Superhuman Strength: Ghost Rider possesses formidable superhuman strength sufficient to lift up to 25 tons or maybe more. He can effortlessly lift a person, or even an elemental demon, from the ground and send them flying through the air, all with one hand. His strength is matched only by the greatest of demons, while he can overpower lesser demons. With this strength, Ghost Rider was able to beat all of Blackheart's minions and Blackheart himself as Legion. He was even shown to be able to effortlessly pull a helicopter from the sky with his chain.
Superhuman Stamina: Ghost Rider has limitless stamina and does not feel fatigue.
Superhuman Dexterity: Ghost Rider's mastery over his chain beyond human capability. He also shown to be highly agile, allowing him to use his chain while on his motorcycle to grapple onto a building and change direction, as well as jump several feet of a moving car to land perfectly on his motorcycle.
Superhuman Speed: Ghost Rider can move at erratic speeds that no mortal can achieve; allowing him to cover short distances either instantaneously or in mere seconds, to the point where he appears to be teleporting, as he can seamlessly appear behind someone without even physically moving his body.
Invulnerability: In human form, Johnny is the same like any human being and is subject to the same vulnerabilities, as shown when Slade had to stitch him up. Still, in human form, he cannot be injured fatally and survived every incident he experienced as a daredevil. However, Johnny Blaze, while as Ghost Rider, is highly resistant to the point of being basically immune to all types of bodily damage as he has taken blows from beings such as Blackheart with no sign of pain or discomfort. Ghost Rider is capable of withstanding great impact forces, temperature and pressure extremes, powerful energy blasts, explosions, and falls from great heights without sustaining injury. As his bodily tissues have been transformed, leaving only a skeleton, most projectiles such as bullets simply pass through him, bounce off his bones or burn away due to the level of hellfire emitted from him. Ghost Rider's body is for all intents immune to physical injury, as he is evidently not able to feel pain and is able to survive with no apparent discomfort no matter how severe the injury.
Regenerative Healing Factor: Despite his invulnerability to conventional forms of injury, if his being is ever damaged, the magical energies imbuing him allows Ghost Rider to instantly regenerate any and all damage done without any discomfort or any evident pain. However, this is not extended to Johnny in his human form, while Johnny is able to survive fatal accidents without lingering side effects.
Heavenfire Manipulation: Ghost Rider is a powerful pyrokinetic and possesses the ability to generate, control, and project mystical fire, or "heavenfire" at will. Heavenfire is an emphyreal and supernatural flame that burns the soul of a person and can be used to burn their physical body. He can utilize this fire in various ways, including projecting it from his eyes, hands, mouth, or even channel it from his body into his weapons like his shotgun, form walls of hellfire, and even transform a regular motorcycle into an tricked out one that could ride on any surface, even on water. He has used his heavenfire to enchant a normal chain he found, as well as making a shotgun shoot fireballs and turning a crane into a powerful flaming mech that caused explosions when hit against the ground. His fire even affects clothing, allowing him to make the spikes grow larger on a leather jacket and gloves he took from one of his victims. In the second film, his clothing became burnt looking when he transformed. He can also unleash the heavenfire in omni-directional attacks that are incredibly powerful. After being shot in the mouth with an automatic machine pistol, the bullets vanished in the fames on his body and quickly he vomited the rounds back at his opponents as molten metal. When asked what happens if he had to urinate in that form, Johnny described it as a flamethrower.
Mystical Chain Projection: Ghost Rider made a normal chain mystical with his powers and made it capable of superheating or cooling instantly, growing in length, cutting and burning through almost anything, or even twirl as fast as helicopter rotor blades.
Penance Stare: Ghost Rider's most powerful weapon, as stated by Slade, is the supernatural ability to cause any individual who stares into his eyes to see and feel every bit of pain they have ever inflicted on anyone in their entire lifetime. In the first move, this abilty left the eyes completely burnt the victim in catatonic state, worse than death, which is said to be the "burning" of the soul. In the second movie, ability not only caused great agony, but also completely incinerated the body.
Skilled Hand-To-Hand Combatant: Although he's had no proper training, Ghost Rider is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant and has become quite adept at using his powers in combat situations.

As Johnny Blaze

Expert Stunt Rider: Johnny is an expert stunt rider.

Relationships

Barton Blaze - Father.
Roxanne Simpson - Love interest.
Zarathos - Demon possessor, reluctant ally.
Carter Slade - Ally.
Mephistopheles - Enemy.
Blackheart - Enemy.
Randall Mackenzie - Friend.
Moreau - Ally
Blackout - Enemy.
Danny Ketch - Ally.
Nadya Ketch - Ally.
Methodius - Enemy.

Appearances/Actors

Canon (2 films)
- Ghost Rider (First appearance) - Nicolas Cage and Matt Long (Young)
- Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance - Nicolas Cage and Ionut Cristian Lefter (Young)

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.

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.