Ghost Rider, starring Nicolas Cage, was released on the big screen in 2007. The audience’s true feelings on the picture were difficult to determine (and still are, it appears).
Many people thought it was a fun one-time watch with enough action to keep you entertained for nearly two hours, while others said it was a shame the filmmakers didn’t do honour to the comics, which had so much potential. Fans still wish for the franchise to return as a more vital component of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The film Ghost Rider portrays the narrative of stuntman Johnny Blaze, who as a child is visited by Mephisto, a.k.a. the Devil. Blaze gives up his soul in exchange for his father’s cancer-free existence, but his father dies soon after in a bicycling accident.
Years later, the Devil urges Blaze to once again do his bidding by killing Blackheart and retrieving the San Venganza contract. He rides off on his motorcycle at the end of the movie, intending to pursue a vigilante life, protecting the innocent from the likes of the Devil.
Although the verdict on the film is still out, there has been plenty of action, reaction, and soul exchanges in the Ghost Rider Marvel Comic Universe to fill a lifetime. Today, we’ll look at some of the franchise’s villains that have left an indelible imprint.
The Steel Sisters- Steel Wind and Steel Vengeance
RurikoTsumurais saved by the Freakmaster, a wealthy man who utilises Cybernetics to replace her mangled body parts after a near-fatal boat accident. As a result, he transforms her into Steel Wind, a superhuman red-eyed Ghost Rider.
The Freakmaster sends Steel Wind to cause havoc and destruction on carnivals for his own selfish desires, but she quickly finds herself in a fight with Blaze. Blaze transforms into the Ghost Rider just as Steel Wind attacks him with her sophisticated weapons and battle skills, barely able to contain his newly gained powers after becoming the Spirit of Vengeance.
He pelts her with hellfire, murdering her. As a result, Sadae Tsumura contacts Centurious, a servant of the Devil Mephisto, to request Ruriko’s return to life.
Sadae herself is quite skilled in combat and knows her way around motorcycles. She gives up her soul to Centurious and in the process turns into a cyborg Ghost Rider named Steel Vengeance herself.
Things seem to go okay for a while for the blue-eyed and pink-haired Steel Sister, but when it is time for her to clash with Blaze once again, she fails to murder him, infuriating Centurious who kills her in revenge.
Having appeared for the very first time in Ghost Rider Vol. 2 #75, the Steel Sisters have become one of the Ghost Riders’ famous enemies as they have battled not just Johnny but others on numerous occasions too.
The Witch Woman a.k.a Linda Littletrees
Linda Littletrees is tricked into selling her soul to Satan and transforms into the Witch Woman, first appearing in Marvel Spotlight Vol. 1 #10. In an attempt to reclaim Blazeagain’s soul, Satan sends the Witch Woman after him, but she fails, and Satan turns her own abilities against her.
To defeat Blaze Himself, he adopts Linda’s life form. Meanwhile, Linda’s father and fiancé, Snake Dance and Sam Silvercloud, enlist the aid of DaimonHellstrom, the Antichrist, to save her, and Hellstrom succeeds in rescuing Linda’s body from Hell with the help of Blaze.
One of her abilities is having a solid hold over hellfire manipulation, helping her grow closer to Blaze later, as she teaches him how to better control his own powers. Years later, while helping her in a victim situation over the custody of her child with Sam, Blaze learns that she has once again become the Witch Woman.
Left with no choice, he uses his powers to stop Linda and turns her in to the authorities who take her away to locations that are still unknown. Linda acts more as an anti-hero than a true villain as we see her humanity repeatedly interfere with the goals set for her by Mephisto. But even then, she is a tough character who can defeat the Ghost Rider easily!
The Darkhold Dwarf
We’ve been hearing the word “Darkhold” a lot since the end of WandaVision. We observed Wanda a.k.a. the Scarlet Witch studying the book after Agatha Harkness cleared up a lot of confusion about what it is.
The Darkhold, penned by Chthon, the God of Chaos, was initially written on flesh and became known as the Book of the Damned. Chthon’s goal in writing this book and leaving it on Earth was to maintain control over the planet even after he was exiled.
From the origins of vampirism and lycanthropy to summoning Chthon and other malevolent Gods, the Darkhold contains many black magic spells that are so powerful that they corrupt all those who read it, making them possessed by the Elder God Chthon Himself.
The Darkhold Dwarf, appearing first in Darkhold: Pages from The Book of Sins #1, is an agent of Chthon. He is notorious for stealing pages from this book and sealing them in separate black envelopes to give them to people and corrupt them from time to time.
The creepiest feature of this 3’6” man, who iswell dressed at all times, is the way he approaches those he urges to read from the Darkhold. It is almost as if one’s deepest darkest self has come to life, asking them to give into their temptations.
When we think about it, it’s a bit of a stretch to call the Darkhold Dwarf a villain because he never forces anyone to make the decisions they do, and he never hides what they’re signing up for.
The Orb
In Marvel Comics, there have been several Orbs, the first of which was a regular man who wore an eyeball-shaped mask over his head for dramatic effect. Drake Shannon was the co-owner of the Quentin Carnival, where Blaze used to perform, when he first debuted in Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1 #15.
After he dies while attempting to take over the circus, another Orb takes his position and becomes a mercenary for the angel Zadkiel. The second Orb’s origins and real identity are unknown till date, but unlike Drake, he is born with an actual giant blue eyeball where his head should have been, which caused his parents to abandon him at birth.
Orb is sent on many missions and is unable to fulfil most of them, but on one of them he faces off against the Watcher, an extra-terrestrial whose duty is to watch over the Universe and ends up absorbing its eye in his chest.
Given that he had the ability to see into a person’s soul, he becomes almost too powerful as he now possesses cosmic abilities as well. The Orb, like the Steel Sisters, is one of the Ghost Riders’ most famous enemies as he is sworn into Zadkiel’s Task Force of Ghost Rider Foes.
Blackheart
If we were to rank the Ghost Rider universe’s villains, Blackheart would undoubtedly be at the top, having taken his fight against all things good more seriously than even the Devil (and his father) Mephisto. Given that he is formed out of brutality, cruelty, murder, and dark forces, he is one of the most aptly named characters in the Marvel Universe.
Beginning with his first appearance in Daredevil #270, Mephisto Himself prepared Blackheart to unleash damnation on Earth on several occasions. And, despite the fact that he began his fight against this lawyer turned town hero, Blackheart truly shone once he faced Ghost Rider.
After many attempts of trying to corrupt heroes like Spider-Man and Daredevil, Blackheart finally found the ones that gave into their temptations- Ghost Rider, the Punisher and Wolverine. Using these three and his growing powers, he dethrones Mephisto and rules over Limbo himself.
There are some undeniably fascinating elements to Blackheart apart from his ghoulish dark appearance with quills on his head and a wicked tail. Not only this but what could be more terrifying than someone thinking that Satan of all things vile in this world, is too soft?
Centurious
Following a disastrous love affair in which a small tribe’s prince gave up his soul to the Devil, this guy wandered the earth for many years, losing his humanity and earning the moniker Centurious, the soulless man.
With the passage of time, the immortal Centurious began to lose more and more of his memories, and in spite of having his own soul stripped away, he began stealing the souls of the innocent. Centurious was victorious after a long battle with the demon Zarathos(https://translate.google.com/?sl=en&tl=hi&text=Zarathos percent 20&op=translate)with a weak Zarathos trapped inside him.
This soulless man clad in red and showing off long white hair first appears in Ghost Rider Vol. 2 #74 and is notorious for running crime rings, bringing together supervillains and getting pulled into occasional fights with Ghost Riders Blaze, Ketch and even Steel Wind. But even though he fights against Blaze, his arch nemesis will always remain Zarathos.
Mephisto a.k.a the Devil
Mephisto is not the Lucifer we read about in our Bibles, despite his best efforts, but he is the Devil in the Marvel Universe, where he feeds on people’s need to believe in one real evil. With sharp ears and fangs, this red-skinned demon God has become increasingly obsessed with enticing humans and stealing their souls.
The true narrative of his beginnings has been lost over time due to his age, but he originally appeared in Silver Surfer Vol. 1 #3. He possesses superhuman speed, strength, and stamina, as well as regenerative abilities, magic manipulation, immortality, shape shifting, and reality manipulation, all of which are enough to defeat practically anyone.
Mephistopheles is not the only demon figure in Marvel as is evident by now. Many who live in his realm are demon-spawns or soulless bodies and are usually busy causing chaos somewhere or the other.
Though he is one of the major villainous influences in Ghost Rider becoming who he is, Mephisto has overtime plagued many other Marvel heroes like Thor, Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch. Some fans think him too clichéd a character but in argument, clichés are that for a reason!
Zarathos
Zarathos would be the most popular Ghost Rider villain, due to his constant battles with Mephisto and Centurious and his role as the key component of Blaze’s Ghost Rider. Zarathos, like Mephisto, has no known origins other than the fact that he was summoned for the first time by a priest named K’Nutu.
First appearing in Marvel Spotlight #5, Zarathos went on to become the deadliest of Marvel villains, the only one who could equal the Devil in terms of strength. He, too, has incredible strength, speed, and endurance, as well as the capacity to manipulate nature and magic. He can also control hellfire, enhance negative energy, teleport, and gain strength from the souls he consumes.
When Mephisto binds Zarathos with Johnny Blaze’s mortal body, making him the Ghost Rider, the shift in power between Blaze and Zarathos is constant. The two briefly reach an agreement and combine their power to defeat Mephisto. However, Zarathosis soon trapped inside a relic called the Soul Chamber along with Centurious.
When the two escape, Zarathos hatches a plan to take over the planet Earth with Lilith, the mother of demons, once and for all. But, before they can make any moves, they are confronted and defeated by the Midnight Sons, a collection of nine beings brought together by Doctor Strange that have ties to the occult and work towards the greater good.
Death Ninja
The Death Ninja is a flaming red zombie from head to toe with only his white eyes visible through the mask, another perfect example of great artwork. In Ghost Rider Vol. 1, he made his first appearance. 3 #3and was one of Deathwatch’s pawns, a demon sworn to destruction, before being destroyed (quite quickly) by Blaze’s Ghost Rider.
He does not, however, remain dead and returns as a vengeful zombie who goes on a murdering spree in order to attract Blaze’s attention. It works because they fight again, and Blaze wins again. The Death Ninja has battled Blaze numerous times and lost each time, but with each reincarnation, he becomes more vengeful and deadly than before.
The idea behind his character is simple- a loyal soldier that refuses to die a true death until he can bring his master the Ghost Rider he has asked for. But given how he constantly loses, this makes him rank towards the lower side in terms of dangerous villains. Fans of zombie fiction have deeply enjoyed him over the years and given how he gets stronger each time he returns, maybe one day he might actually defeat Blaze.
Vengeance a.k.a Kowalski
We’ve previously mentioned it about Blackheart, but Vengeance is an absolutely great name. Ghost Rider made his first appearance in Ghost Rider Vol. 6 #21, oblivious of the netherworld and the supernatural, Police Officer Kowalski is involved in a terrible incident on Roadway 18, a cursed highway.
When Ghost Rider Blaze arrives just in time to save Kowalski from a cannibal, he is injured by the police while attempting to stop Kowalski from arresting the cannibal.
This causes him to mistakenly give Kowalski the Penance Stare, which burns away his soul, and everything that happens after that is a result of Kowalski’s desire to avenge the Ghost Rider for ruining his life.
Archangel Zadkiel gives Kowalski a special gun to kill Blaze at the Quentin Carnival, but he is met there with not one, but two Ghost Riders as Danny Ketch is also present on his motorcycle.
Blaze is injured and Danny attacks Kowalski, somehow causing him to absorb some of the Ghost Rider powers and the next fight between them happens at the Gates of Heaven. There, the two Ghost Riders combine their power and take Kowalski down after which he is trapped and left there to guard the gates himself.
Stephen Lords a.k.a Deathwatch
Stephen Lords was a crime boss in the mortal world who was hell-bent on becoming the Kingpin. Danny Ketch sought to stop him from succeeding in his most famous scheme, which involved the use of enough biotoxins to destroy all of New York and New Jersey.
Stephen is stabbed by Ketch’s mystic chain, which appears to kill him, after a long battle between the two. When Zarathos and Lilin emerge, these trans-lords manifest as Deathwatch, a horrific monster.
Dressed in a red and black costume and mask that covers everything except his eyes, this demon first appears in Ghost Rider Vol. 3 #1. Despite being an antagonist that most fans love to hate, we have to admit that Deathwatch’s powers are pretty cool. Not only is he skilled in martial arts and ninjutsu, Deathwatch also gets more powerful around pain and death as he draws energy from its negativity.
Zadkiel
If you’re wondering why an angel is on a list of villains, remember that Lucifer was once an angel as well, and if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the CW show Supernatural, it’s that angels can be just as bad as demons. Zadkiel’s skin is grey, his eyes are red, and he possesses creepy insect-like wings on his shoulders.
As much as that sounds like the parademons from DC’s Justice League, the two should not be confused. He originally appeared in Ghost Rider Annual #2, and Zadkiel is to Lucifer what Judas is to Jesus in the Bible. After assisting him in planning a war against Heaven, he betrays Lucifer last minute and joins the angels leading to Lucifer’s defeat.
Since then, Zadkiel sits waiting and plotting his own coup on Heaven so that he may be able to avoid the mistakes Lucifer made and attack better. Danny Ketch unknowingly becomes the pawn Zadkiel uses to burn Heaven, but on realising what he has done, he gets together with Blaze’s Ghost Rider and the Antichrist DaimonHellstrom to defeat Zadkiel.
This archangel’s powers are very similar to Zarathos and Mephisto and Biblical in nature too. He has superhuman strength, speed, stamina and durability, immortality, regenerative abilities, flight, and ability to manipulate magic.