Ghost Rider's "powers?"

[MikeVic]

I was just wondering what Ghost Rider's powers are? What can he do, and how did he get them? :)

[bd2999]

Which Ghost Rider? It really depends on which one for the origin.

Johnny Blaze sold his soul to the devil, Mephisto, and so Mephisto decided to put the demon Zarathos into Blaze's body. It is sort of a killing two birds with one stone for Mephisto. He gets to mess with two people, one of which he really does not like. I don't recall right off why he sold his soul. It may have been to save his love, its been a while since I read the only origin.

Daniel Ketch became the Ghost Rider after his sister was shot and bleeding to death. A motorcycle was laying nearby and he touched the gas-cap, which was in reality the Medalion of Power. When Ketch touched it he became host to the Spirit of Vengeance, later revealed as Noble Kale.

Note: There is much more to both origins than that, especially Ketch's, but those are the circumstances under which they became the Ghost Rider.

Powers are alot more general really. Both Ghost Riders have super human strength to a decent degree, both are extremly durable (Especially the Ketch GR who has been reduced to ash on numerous occasions and recombined in a few minutes), they are also basicly enhanced in every physical way compared to a normal person and are beyond what even the best human could do.

Blaze Ghost Rider was also able to create a motorcycle out of hellfire and fire bolts of hellfire. That could either be true sculding hot fire, or cold fire that burned a person's soul.

Ketch Ghost Rider had a mystical chain that he could summon at will and turn into a number of weapons. He also had a motorcycle that he could repair easily if it was broken but he could not make it out of hellfire like Blaze could. His most famous power is the Pennance Stare, it forces the person recieving it to relive their worst sins, only many times worse. He can not blast bolts of fire, at least he never did in his own series. He did it a few times in other books, but I attribute that to the writter not knowing his exact powers.

Those are the general powers. I am sure that I left some specific ones out, but those are the main ones.

[Beta Ray Bill]

Real Name: John "Johnny" Blaze
Occupation: Former stunt motorcyclist
Legal Status: American with no criminal record
Identity: Johnny Blaze's former identity as the Demonic Ghost Rider is unknown to the general public.
Other Aliases: The Ghost Rider
Place of Birth: Waukegan, Illinois
Marital Status: Single
Known Relatives: Barton (father, deceased), Clara (mother, deceased), Craig "Crash" Simpson (stepfather, deceased), Mona Simpson (stepmother, deceased), Roxanne Simpson (wife)
Group Affiliation: Former member of the Champions of Los Angeles
First Appearance: MARVEL SPOTLIGHT #5

History: Johnny Blaze was the son of stunt motorcyclist Barton Blaze, the top attraction at Crash Simpson's Daredevil Cycle Show. The Elder Blaze was killed performing a dangerous stunt, and Johnny, now an orphan (his mother Clara having died shortly after his birth), was adopted by Crash Simpson and his wife Mona. At first frightened of motorcycles, Blaze soon conquered his fear and became an accomplished amateur motorcyclist. Blaze practiced stuntriding on his own, and became romantically involved with his stepsister Roxanne Simpson.

Blaze also began to take interest in the occult. Just when then the Simpson Cycle Show was about to get a chance at fame with a booking at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Crash Simpson learned that he was dying of a rare blood disease. Desperate to save his stepfather, Blaze performed a ritual to summon up the "devil," whom Blaze believed to be the Biblical Satan but was actually the demon lord Mephisto. Mephisto agreed to save Simpson from his fatal disease in return for Blaze's soul.

At Madison Square Garden, Crash Simpson performed the greatest stunt of his career, a cycle jump over 22 cars widths, and crashed to his death. Blaze was shocked, since he believed the "devil" would protect his stepfather. When Mephisto appeared to collect Blaze's soul, the demon explained that only promised to save Simpson from the diseased, and nothing more. However, before Mephisto could take Blaze's soul, Roxanne Simpson arrived and recited a spell of banishment she read in one of Blaze's occult books. Mephisto was forced to leave without Blaze's soul, but was able to graft the essence of the demon Zarathos to Blaze's body.

Zarathos was a demon who attacked human souls. In order to capture Zarathos, many centuries ago Mephisto stole the soul of an American Indian now known as Centurious. When Zarathos' attacked on Centurious therefore proved ineffective, the demon's followers lost faith in him. Mephisto then stole the living flames that was Zarathos' soul. Over the centuries Mephisto amused himself by placing the essence of Zarathos within various human hosts. Johnny Blaze was the latest of these.

Blaze was unaware of the separate consciousness of the being that dwelled within him, and believed that the demonic personality was a sinister side of his own personality. At first the demon manifested itself every nightfall, mystically burning Blaze's flesh to become a fiery skeletal being. Using his demonic hellfire to create a fiery motorcycle to ride, the composite Zarathos. Blaze entity became publicly known as the Ghost Rider. Whenever the Ghost Rider returned to human form, Blaze's flesh would immediately restore.

At first Johnny Blaze dominated the Ghost Rider's personality. After a few months, Blaze's automatic transformations at nightfall ended. He then became the Ghost Rider whenever he mystically sensed "evil" in his vicinity. Later, Blaze was able to control his transformations as well as the actions of the demon when it manifested itself. It was during this period that the Ghost Rider became a member of the Champions of Los Angeles, a short-lived group of superhuman adventurers. But the more Blaze became the Ghost Rider, the stronger the demon became. Eventually Zarathos tried to take control of their composite form. Blaze no longer summoned the demon within him to help him accomplish his ends, such as fighting crime. Instead, Blaze valiantly struggled to prevent Zarathos from taking control and wreaking havoc.

Centurious still lived and sought vengeance on Zarathos for being the reason why he lost his soul. Centurious entrapped Blaze's soul within his "crystal of souls" and then defeated Zarathos. Zarathos cracked open the crystal, releasing Blaze's soul and many others, and entrapping Centurious within the crystal when it mystically resealed. An associate of Centurious offered to send Zarathos into the crystal to take vengeance, and the demon agreed. Zarathos' essence was sucked out of Blaze's body into the crystal, where Zarathos grapples eternally with Centurious, neither able to defeat the other.

Johnny Blaze thus been permanently freed his bond to Zarathos. Blaze and Roxanne Simpson have been traveled through America together by motorcycle. Ghost Rider roared to life once again when teenager Dan Ketch and his sister, Barbara, chanced upon the illegal activities of the crime lord Deathwatch. The siblings attempted to escape, but Barbara Ketch was mortally wounded. Soaked in blood after dragging his sister's body into a trash heap, Dan Ketch came across a mysterious, mystical motorcycle. Touching its glowing gas cap, he stood transformed into the Spirit of Vengeance. Ghost Rider's return attracted the attention of Blaze, who believed him to be Zarathos. Blaze set out to exorcise the demon, thereby liberating its hapless host. But when Ghost Rider convinced his predecessor he was not Zarathos, the two became allies. Later, Blaze and Ketch learned they were long-lost brothers.

Having lost his wife and children, Blaze again finds himself possessed by the demon Zarathos. And so Ghost Rider -- blood-born Spirit of Vengeance, High Lord of Hell on Earth -- haunts America's highways, visiting his righteous wrath upon the souls of the wicked and the damned.

Height: 5 ft. 10 in.
Weight: 180 lbs.
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Reddish blond

Strength Level: Johnny Blaze possesses the normal human strength of a man of his age, height, and build, who engages in moderate regular exercise.

Known Superhuman Powers: As the Ghost Rider, Blaze possessed superhuman strength, enabling him to lift (press) about 5 tons, and immunity to must forms of conventional injury. He could create "hellfire" that could harm or traumatize a human soul, and with which he created a fiery motorcycle he rode. Blaze possessed none of these powers in human form.

Other Abilities: Johnny Blaze is one of the greatest living stunt motorcyclists. He has some knowledge of the occult, but has forsworn using it.

[bd2999]

See, I told you it was long. I used to know it by heart, but not so much anymore. Anyway, the only thing that I don't agree with is the strength level. I can't comment a ton on the old Ghost Rider but I would say that going with his showings he is at least class 10 or so strength. The newer Ghost Rider, Ketch, seems to be stronger thant Spidey and has done some decent strength feats with little effort and seems to be class 15 or 20. I always thought the Blaze GR was stronger though . I just don't now of any feats right off to back up my claim rightn ow.

[ednemo]

Ketch/Ghost Rider could also make a bike out of flame. At least according to the Midnight Suns storyline. He made one for Johnny Blaze to ride.

[StoneGold]

I thought it was he could make any motorcycle into, for lack of a better term, a Hellbike? Or at least that's what he did in... crap, what was the book called, the one with Wolverine, Punisher and Ghost Rider, JRJR did the artwork on it.

[tricksterpup]

He had the mystical ability to light Grills with out lighter fluid.

[StoneGold]

He had the mystical ability to light Grills with out lighter fluid.
Doesn't count, he uses clean burning, efficient propane gas.

[Jessica Drew]

....A motorcycle was laying nearby and he touched the gas-cap, which was in reality the Medalion of Power....

My gas cap is acutally the opening to the (ever-increasing) Sucking Pit of Take-Home Pay.

[HMPL]

When Ketch touched it he became host to the Spirit of Vengeance, later revealed as Noble Kale.

This spirit of vengence was also the original Ghost Rider from the wild west.

Side note: Noble Kale was also the son of a warlock who masquaraded as a preacher.

P.S. Where's all the love for Vance Noland, another Ghost rider?!? Viva El Jinete Fantasma!!!!!!11