Ghost Rider (Ketch)

Origin

Dan Ketch was born in the Quentin Carnival where his parents, Naomi Kale and Barton Blaze, shared top billing with their good friend Craig “Crash” Simpson in their motorcycle stunt act. Dan was the youngest of the Blaze children, which included his brother Johnny, and sister Barbara.

Unknown to Blaze family, Naomi was the descendant of Noble Kale; Noble was cursed by Mephisto in the 18th century to exist in an empty void. Noble would come forth to every first child in each new Kale generation, allowing them to be transformed into the Ghost Rider.

Character Creation

Danny Ketch made his first appearance in “Ghost Rider” volume 2, #1 in May 1990; and was created by Howard Mackie and Javier Saltares.

Mayor Story Arcs

Birth of the New Ghost Rider

The ancient being known as Caretaker approached Naomi and told her that both her eldest Johnny and her youngest Danny would both become a Ghost Rider. Caretaker offered to help safeguard Naomi’s children,which she agreed to, and faked her own death, going into hiding while she sought out a way to lift the family curse of the Ghost Rider. Naomi allowed the Caretaker to place Dan and Barbara in the care of a widow named Francis Ketch who lived in Cypress Hills. Naomi would watch over her children for some time until in a battle with Mephisto she lost her life.

Dan and Barbara were too young to remember that Barton and Naomi were their real parents. Dan had a normal childhood, expressing an interest in motorbikes at an early age. Dan’s best friend, and eventual object of his affections, was Stacy Dolan. Danny’s bond with his sister was especially deep — the two were fairly inseparable, well into their late teens. One Halloween night, Danny and Barbara took a shortcut through a graveyard … Barb had convinced Dan to take her (in hopes of seeing Harry Houdini’s grave). Reluctantly, Danny agreed and they went on.

On their way through, the two saw a man called Deathwatch killing a man and taking his briefcase. Barbara screamed at the sight of the man dead on the floor and the screams attracted the attention of Deathwatch and his men. The two tried to escape but one of Deathwatch’s men managed to shoot Barbara in the chest with a cross-bow…thus causing extreme injuries. Dan carried Barbara off to hide in a nearby junkyard.

While hiding, Dan noticed an unusual motorcycle. Looking brand new and out of place among the wreckage, the motorcycle seemed to call out to Danny. Danny, his fingertips dripping with Barbara’s blood , reached out and touched the motorcycle. The contact between the bike and innocent blood spilled activated the piece of the medallion of power within Dan and transformed him into the living spirit of vengeance, the Ghost Rider. Ghost Rider easily defeated Deathwatch and his men, and took Barbara to the hospital. Unfortunately, her injuries were too severe, and she fell into a coma.

Early Days

Ghost Rider’s primary target in the early days was Deathwatch, who was competing with Kingpin to find a group of canisters. He also came across various gangs in the Cypress Hills area. One of Deathwatch’s employees, Blackout, a mutant who believed himself a powerful vampire, would fight Ghost Rider many times; in one of these fights Ghost Rider would badly burn and disfigure Blackout’s face. Since then Blackout has had a strong grudge against Ghost Rider.

Later, Blackout would find out Ghost Rider’s secret identity and take revenge on him by killing Barbara in her hospital bed. After Barbara’s death, Dan became more withdrawn from the people who loved him and started to take his mission of vengeance more seriously. Dan started fighting more powerful foes such as Zodiak, Scarecrow, NIghtmare, Snowblind, and the anti-hero Suicide. He would also fight the Brood alongside the X-Men. Later on, he would finally defeat Deathwatch by stabbing him in the heart and causing a major explosion at his headquarters.

Johnny Blaze Returns & the Rise of the Midnight Sons

All the media attention surrounding the new Ghost Rider caught the attention of Johnny Blaze, the previous Ghost Rider. Blaze tracked down Dan, believing that Zarathos was free again. Johnny shot Dan at point-blank range with a shotgun, but instead of shooting bullets the gun began producing hellfire. This surprised Blaze, who thought he had lost his Ghost Rider powers when Zarathos was captured in the soul crystal.

Dan was badly injured by this and barley survived the encounter. Dan convinced Johnny that he was not Zarathos. Together, he and Johnny defeat Blackout who was killing the Morlocks. Johnny would stay with Dan in order to watch over him and help teach him about his powers. The two would team up helping Spider-Man defeat Hobgoblin, Venom, Demogoblin, Hag and Troll who tried to bring Deathwatch back from the dead. Blaze was worried about his younger brother’s welfare and was happy with the spirit [Noble Kale] that was bound with Dan.

During some time, Blackout was under the rule of the FIRM and was hired to capture Ghost Rider. He meets up with Dan and he bites Dan in the neck draining him of all his blood and killing him. However while Dan was dead, the Ghost Rider spirit took over. During this time, the Spirit of Dan would talk to the Ghost Rider through the spirit world. At one point, he warns Ghost Rider of the rise of a powerful demon known as Lilith, the mother of demons, and appeared to take over the world with her demon children the Lilin. Around this time, the Caretaker re-emerged. Together, Ghost Rider and Blaze would search different areas to find the members of the Midnight Sons, the Earths only defence against the occult which was seen in the vision. During the battle of the Midnight Sons and the Lilin, Lilith creates a demon version of Dan and sets it out to attack the Midnight Sons but the demon is easily stopped. Together, they defeat Lilith and her children and, an ally of the Midnight Sons, Doctor Strange brings Dan back from the dead.

Family Ties

Caretaker revealed that he was a member of the ancient group known as The Blood; Caretaker had been put in charge of protecting two special families, in which certain family members had a piece of the medallion of power bound to their souls. This left them open to being bound to their ancestor, Noble Kale. Caretaker revealed that Danny and Johnny were actually brothers and each of them had a piece of the medallion of power bound to their soul.

Caretaker told them about the second family that also had pieces of the medallion bound to their souls. The second family of whom he was speaking of was the Badilino family and a member of the family named Michael Badilino, a tough cop from New York, had recently been transformed into the being known as Vengeance.

A short time after this, Lilith reappeared and again planned to steal all the pieces of the medallion of power, but this time she was joined by a very powerful being known as Centurious who was in charge of the FIRM that planned on capturing Ghost Rider early on. As a result of these actions, there occurred an all-out war between Ghost Rider’s group (the Midnight Sons) and Caretaker’s old group (the Blood) vs. the Lilin and Zarathos’s group (the Fallen), who were formerly part of the Blood but now supported Zarathos. Dan would die during a fight with Zarathos, but he would later be brought back from the dead and help Vengeance take out Anton Hellgate.

Noble Kale

After the war, Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange, started taking an interest in the spirit that dwelt within Dan. Strange would later say that Ghost Rider’s powers were “God-like”. Strange found that Dan was related to a talented sorceress named Jennifer Kale. Jenifer helped the soul within Dan to discover its true identity and all of its memories.

The soul that was in Dan was called Noble Kale. Noble lived in the 18th century and was the son of an overbearing Pastor. Noble had fallen in love with a black woman called Magdalena. Magdalena gave birth to Noble’s child but their happiness was short-lived, as the Pastor Kale discovered Noble’s illegitimate child and had Magdalena branded as a witch and burned at the stake. As she was dying, she cursed Pastor, damning him to the ancient cult known as the Furies, who seek revenge for harmed women.

Fearing for his life, Pastor summoned Mephisto and traded his son’s soul for protection from the Furies. Mephisto transformed Noble into the first Ghost Rider by activating his piece of the medallion of power within him. Noble was able to defeat the Furies but then turned on his father, who tried to placate Noble with a sacrifice — Noble’s son.

Grief-stricken, Noble killed himself. When Mephisto appeared to claim Noble’s soul, he found himself opposed by an angel called Uriel who also wanted the soul. It was finally decided that neither Heaven nor Hell would posses Noble’s soul, and instead it would dwell in an empty void, to be summoned forth when needed.

King of Hell

Blackheart became more and more obsessed with destroying the Ghost Rider, unleashing his own spirits of vengeance, made up of Wallow, Pao Fu, Doghead and Verminus Rex. When Ghost Rider refused to join them, the other spirits of vengeance battled him and in his weakened state, Pao Fu was able to kill him. Noble, as the Ghost Rider and Dan were sent to hell and separated. Blackheart offered the Ghost Rider a demonic bargain: Noble would have to marry both Pao Fu and a spirit called Black Rose, and in return Noble would regain his mortal form and would be free of the curse of the Medallion of Power.

Dan was contacted by his dead mother, Naomi Kale’s, soul, who led him through Hell. At the end of the journey, Dan discovered the final secret of Noble’s origin: Noble was the angel of death. Dan managed to tell Noble of this, but in the end could not survive the conditions of Hell and died.

Now, fully aware of his true identity and upset at Dan’s death, Noble destroyed Blackheart and his Spirits of Vengeance and became the new ruler of Hell. With his new found powers, Noble revives Dan and gives him his soul back, and sends him back to New York.

Noble’s rule was interrupted, although the exact circumstances are unknown, which resulted in Noble being cast out of Hell. Left without a human host, Noble wandered around New York with his hellfire raging out of control, confused about his identity. Dan stumbled upon Noble and recognized that Noble’s powers were fluctuating because he lacked a human host. The two merged once more and rode off to restart their mission of vengeance.

The Return

Recently Danny has returned to Ghost Rider comics but now he’s working for Zadkiel, Danny turns up outside Caretaker’s home along with some of his worst enemies, Orb, Death Ninja, Doghead ,and even Blackout. Caretaker is prepared and blows Dog head’s head off with the Hellfire Shotgun. Amidst the chaos, The Orb and Death Ninja manage to sneak in, but soon find themselves in a room full of Ghost Rider history such as Vengeance’s old bike, Danny’s old spare bike, a copy of the Medallion of power, Phantom Rider’s guns and hat, crystal of souls, lots of newspaper clippings and the journal of Pastor Kale.

The Orb stumbles and is hit by a nail filled loose floor board while Death Ninja is killed by Caretaker. By this time, Blackout has made his way inside. Caretaker then stabs Blackout in the crotch with Death Ninja’s sword. This was mainly just a way to tick Blackout off because as Caretaker ever so discretely said “You got no balls”. As Blackout is about to kill Caretaker Danny steps in and has a long argument with Caretaker. It’s revealed that Danny was never meant to be a Ghost Rider. By this time Danny’s elder brother and fellow Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, had arrived with a nun on the back of his bike but this was no regular nun she was called Sara and she was the Caretaker’s granddaughter,

Danny leaves the house and waits for it to burn down so that they could get into Caretaker’s secret library of Ghost Rider history (located beneath the house) Danny does not want to confront Johnny at this point but starts to burn the books anyway whilst Johnny is fighting with Blackout.

Johnny than sees Danny burning the books, and is about to chase after him but at this point the old Caretaker is dead and Sara has gained total knowledge of the Ghost Riders and is now the the new Caretaker. She joins him and stops him from chasing after Danny, Danny manages to get away, during this time Johnny and the new Caretaker follow Danny on Johnny’s motorbike, it revealed that Caretaker was unwilling working for Zadkiel and everything he had ever told Dan and Johnny was either a lie or half-truth and the only true thing he ever told them was about them being brothers. Danny then tracks down another Ghost Rider called Nima, Nima was an old man who was the Ghost Rider of Tibet (revealing that Johnny and Danny where not the only Ghost Rider, seeing as how they only delivered vengeance in the United States, and other countries need a spirits of vengeance as well) when confronted by Danny, Nima is easily beaten. Johnny and the new Caretaker arrive shortly after but are too late to save Nima, so they try to gather there thoughts by getting some sleep.

When Night falls Danny sneaks into the house to try and take out the new Caretaker but is stopped by his older brother. Johnny chases after him much to Sara’s chagrin, they begin to fight but with Johnny holding back. The brothers start to argue about their family curse but Danny sees it “a Gift”, This enrages Johnny and so he tells his Brother that he’s not giving him his Ghost Rider power, Danny than replies with “You misunderstand me Johnny, I don’t need your Ghost Rider, ” I’VE GOT MY OWN!!”.

Johnny is shown discontent to fight his brother but transforms in Ghost Rider, Danny dominates Johnny in the fight until Johnny finally uses his trademark hellfire explosion and begins to takes the upper hand in the fight, Johnny than does the unthinkable, he uses the Penance stare on Danny [Danny’s trademark move] but it has no great affect on Dan but it did reveal that Danny had been killing other Ghost Riders something Dan is not proud about.

After another short fight Dan gets hold of Johnny and shows him why guilty conscious should fear the penance star, Dan reveals all of Johnny guilt to him at once, however this did not kill Johnny but did cause him to transform back into his human form and break down, unlike the other Ghost Rider’s he has killed, Danny shows that he still loves his brother and even asks Johnny if he wants him to take the power away from him and with Johnny braking down he says “yes” , Danny then begins to drain the power from Johnny which he takes no pleasure in doing but before he an complete the process, the Caretaker takes Dan by surprise and knocking Dan away from Johnny, she grabs Johnny on her bike and runs with Johnny screaming at Dan to take it away. Its round 1 to Danny.

Danny is later seen in Tokyo, where he has found Japan’s Ghost Rider, Yoshio Kannabe, but Dan had run into Yoshio’s caretaker, this Caretaker had also been lying to his Ghost Rider and killed himself rather than face the wrath of the Japanese Ghost Rider, but Yoshio thought that Dan had killed his caretaker and the the two transformed into their Ghost Rider’s and began to fight, Danny was much more powerful than Yoshio and quickly defeated him and drained him of his power but Danny felt guilty for taking the power of all the other Ghost Rider’s, it is reveled that Danny was being used by Zadkiel to gain all the spirits of vengeance so he could take on God him [or her] self, but Zadkiel tells Danny that he saving the other Ghost Rider host but this again was a lie, Zadkiel had sensed that Dan was beginning to doubt him so he sent some of his Dark angels to make sure Dan went through with his mission.

Danny next tracks Molek [the Thailand Ghost Rider], Bai Gu Jing [the Chinese Ghost Rider], Sara [the New Caretaker] and his elder brother Johnny Blaze to the City of the Skulls in Africa where they meet the other last remaining Ghost Rider’s, Jambo and his wife who are also Ghost Riders. Danny leads his army of Dark Angels into battle against the other Ghost Rider’s and the army of Skull City [humans] and to everyone’s surprise except Danny’s, Johnny has overcome his depression and is ready to fight. During the fight Danny clones himself with avatars to steal the powers of the Spirits of Vengeance quicker. He then challenges Blaze to a race around the world. Who ever wins claims the fate of man kind. The Race is interrupted by former Ghost Rider victim Kowalski who shoots Blaze. But Ketch shoots fire at Kowalski and then steals the power of Johnny Blaze. Then Danny flies up to Heaven with all of the powers of the Spirits of Vengeance, and realizes he has been tricked by Zadkiel who used the all of the Ghost Rider power to open the gates of Heaven. Danny is then thrown out of heaven back to earth.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO DANNY KETCH?

Dan Ketch was a hero, he was the Ghost Rider, but that’s in the past now there is a hole in his soul where there should be hellfire and vengeance, Dan Ketch faded away but vengeance never sleeps for long.

These events take place before his return to the mainstream Ghost Rider series. Dan is in a bar getting drunk and starts fighting with the other customers, Danny beats them all then returns to the bar where he tries to chat up a woman but is quickly turned down by the woman who tells him he has to much damage behind his eyes before Danny can say anything else the woman walks out of the bar and when he tries to chase her he is attacked by a crow, Danny is forced back into the bar where he continues to get even more drunk. Later that night Danny phones a lady called Mary Le Bow, while on the phone Danny breaks down crying screaming “Give it back”, it is reveled that Mary is a powerful sorceress and that Danny had come to her asking her to remove the Ghost Rider from him, so Mary preformed an exorcism and removed the Ghost Rider from him but there was a problem later on Danny discovered that he could not live without the power, he has become addicted to the power and probably could not function without it.

Danny hung up on Mary, who was also upset about Danny’s problems, Danny rode off into the night wondering the streets until he runs into a van but the van was being used as a get away car, Dan was slung to the curb and the van went into a lamp post. When Dan looked up there was a crow [the same one from the bar] stood there and started talking to him but before Dan could talk the crow told Dan that things are about to get weird and then Dan is then turned up right and for the first time in years he transforms into Ghost Rider, but there is a problem Dan’s only getting a weak dose of power from the Crow and only has 60 seconds before it runs out also Dan was not at full power he had no hellfire and no peace stare but Dan didn’t need them he was happy with dose, he tore through the gang with ease and he loved it but he enjoyed it to much, when the dose ran out one of the robbers was still standing and he has a shotgun to Dan’s head.

Luckily for Dan, Mary had located him and had come ready for the goons, she unleashed an arsenal of magic on them after this she tries to talk to Dan but he just rides away blaming her for whats happened to him. The next morning Danny is visited by the same woman that turned him down at the bar the night before, the woman tells Dan her name is Shoba Mirza she want Danny to help find the thing that was killing Ghost Rider’s, Dan has no idea that there are other Ghost Rider’s in the world and has no idea what Shoba is talking about, Shoba starts to get frustrated and decides to make Dan reveal his Ghost Rider but little does she know that Dan is no longer a Ghost Rider and blasts him with hell fire, Dan is sent flying across the room and lies injured on the floor but Shoba still thinks he’s putting on a facade and leaves.

Later that night Dan tries to say sorry but breaks down crying again, Mary also gets upset, it is reveled that one week after Dan exorcism that he got so desperate to fell the power again that in an effort to re-create hell fire that Dan pours himself in gasoline and tries to set himself on fire but before he could he was tackled by a fireman but Dan manged to get away. Back in the present Dan tells Mary about last night and how he had a taste of the power, Mary tells Dan that she will run some tests, she leaves Dan in the cafe to wait but a man claiming that Dan beat up his father in a bar a couple nights a ago and tries to attack Dan but Dan beats him.

Suddenly the same crow from the last night [the one that gave Dan his dose of power] starts talking to Dan and leads him away from the cafe to a rooftop where they saw Shoba in an ally, Dan asks why they’re watching her but then an group of rat creatures jump out of the shadows and attacks her, Dan beg the crow for another dose of power to help Shoba but the Crow directs Dan’s attention back to the ally where they see a massive flash of hell fire and to Dan’s surprise Shoba has transformed it to a Ghost Rider riding a hell fire elephant.

Dan watches on as Shoba battles the rat creatures but she is not good enough and the rat creatures over power her, Dan asks the Crow for another stronger and longer dose that last time, the Crow tells him to ask the “Boss”, Dan wish is granted and he is transformed into the Ghost Rider. Dan takes most of the rat creatures on his own but while he’s fighting them Shoba is captured by one of them, Dan does not notice until it’s to late.

The next morning the Crow his waiting for Dan and after a short conversation the Crow revels the true origin of the power of the Ghost Rider’s, it is reveled that hundreds of years ago God, unable to change anything on Earth he sent down pieces of his rage in the form of hell fire when the hell fire hit the hosts [humans] they combine to create a spirit of vengeance, they where there to do Gods work on Earth and are extremely powerful also the spirits where made to self-improve the strong spirits fought and then absorbed the weaker spirits making them stronger. However the Crow revels that the system and the host where under threat and that the Crow here to ask Dan to work for Heaven as a special Ghost Rider.

Meanwhile Mary’s mind has traveled to another Dimension seeking information about Dan’s problems but her mind is sent back to Earth by the Black Host. Back with Dan and the Crow making their way to a parking lot where they where searching for Shoba and the Crow starts telling Dan about the rat creatures from the other night, he tells Dan that the rat creatures are actually called Berev’ Ha Dentii and that he had fought one before, Verminus Rex, the Crow also tells Dan that Verminus has started his own army of rat creatures and also discovered a way to take the power from weaker Ghost Riders and absorb it and he’s been doing this for a few years.

The Crow opens a portal to Verminus’ nest, they travel down many tunnels trying to find the nest, the Crow tells Dan these tunnels used to belong to a lost civilization and that they had kept one of Heaven’s darkest secret, the Crow blast’s down a wall which a large armored being made of hell fire is chained to a wall, the Crow revels that it used to be a Ghost Rider but the host lost control of the spirit and and the spirit took over the host and is now nothing more that a shell crying out for vengeance and waiting to die . Dan is stunned by this sight but takes it in his stride. Dan get another stronger Dose of power to hunt down Verminus but before he continues down the tunnels he puts the crazed Ghost Rider out of it pain with a large hell fire blast to it’s head. They continue down the tunnels until they find more rat creatures where on sight Dan rips them apart.

Trial and Tribulations, and the Highway Man

Exactly one week after the events of the last stand of the Spirits of Vengeance, Dan is riding along the highways when he comes across a burning building, Dan tries to ignore it but he senses that the blood of the innocent has been spilled and against his will he transforms into the Ghost Rider, the transformations are now more brutal with Dan being in extreme pain during them. It is reveled that a dark creature called the Highway Man caused it. Although the Highway Man was not always an evil creature he was once a simple trucker but in his old age he found it hard to compete with the younger so in an attempt to stay on top the the competition he made a deal with the Devil. This worked out for a time but as he rode more he became less human, eventually nothing was left of the man and he became a demon, his truck was transformed into a living thing that carried a passage to hell in it, he traveled the highways looking for victims to feed to hell, he became the Highway Man.

Ghost Rider tracks down Highway Man and tries to be-head him but miss the Highway Man begins to chase Ghost Rider, Highway Man’s truck is extremely fast even quick enough to catch the Ghost Rider, the truck crushes Ghost Rider but like his brother Dan can’t die so he gets back up and tears open the side of Highway Man’s truck with his chain, The Highway Man goes berserk and again gives chase to Ghost Rider in his truck but this time Dan has a plan when the Highway Man gets close enough Ghost Rider jumps on to the front of the truck then tears off the Highway Man’s head with his chain. The truck crashes into a cliff and the rig opens to revel the gate way to Hell, the creatures there start to shout abuse at Ghost Rider saying things about Dan’s family such as his brother Johnny, his sister and his mother. The Highway Man’s head is still alive and still talking. Dan picks up the head and breaths Hellfire on to it it killing it. With the innocent avenged Dan transforms back into his human form and carries on riding the now safe highways. A couple of days later the Highway Man is back and is trying to steal an new truck.

Heavens on Fire

Trying to redeem himself after how he aided in Zadkiel’s victory, Danny Ketch wants to defeat him once and for all. He goes as far as going to the aid of a now torment Doctor Pandemonium and using his gateway to Hell in order to get the key of heaven from Satan in exchange for his soul.

Months later after getting the key, he captures Anton Satan and brings him to Johnny Blaze, Sara, Hellstorm, and Jaine Cutter with the info to defeat Zadkiel.

Ghost Rider vs. Zadkiel

When the spirits of vengeance finally confronted Zadkiel, the two were easily defeated, leaving them to wait for oblivion. when Johnny woke up, he saw Roxanne and his two children. she tells him that him and Dan are the only ones who can stop him. he says they cant take him on but she tells they wont fight alone. johnny finds Dan and tells him there gonna fight one more time. the two approach him again, but this time all the past ghost riders have come to kill him. after Zadkiel dies, Kid Blackheart arrives with his hoard of monsters, shocked to find Zadkiel dead. the ghost riders fight them and beat them easily. Roxanne says good bye to Johnny and they meet up with Sara. the two feel no different after the day, and the three of them just drive off into the sunset.

Powers/Paraphernalia

When Dan transforms into Ghost Rider all of his skin melts off and he is left with Hell-flame covered bones that his clothes completely cover (with the exception of his skull). While in this transformation, his clothes turn into a spiked leather jacket, a pair of leather pants and a pair of leather gloves. This transformation used to happen any time innocent blood was spilled, or when in the presence of evil. But Dan later learned to control these transformations and was able to turn into Ghost Rider at will. Dan is one of the most powerful beings on Earth when transformed, and is the most powerful Ghost Rider next to his elder brother Johnny Blaze. Dan’s soul is bound with is ancestor Noble Kale, who was the first ever Ghost Rider.

When Dan transforms into Ghost Rider, he has immense powers. One of these is the Penance Stare, it’s arguably his most powerful attack. The Penance Stare makes his victim feel the pain and suffering that they have ever inflicted on other people. Dan can choose the intensity of the Penance Stare’s power: from killing them to giving them never-ending nightmares. However to use the Penance Stare, Ghost Rider must lock eyes with his victim. The Penance Stare can get through most things protecting the victim’s eyes; it could not however get through Venom, because the Symbiote acted like a second pair of eyes. Also for the Penance Stare to work, the victim must have a soul. Also at one point, it was difficult for Ghost Rider to lock eyes on the villain Zodiak because it was revealed that he had too many eyes for him to focus on.

Ghost Rider has the ability to generate Hellfire [the fire that engulfs Ghost Rider’s entire body and surrounds his head]. He can generate and project Hellfire in unlimited amounts, causing massive explosions. He can project Hellfire out of his hands, mouth, eyes and can even do it through weapons (like his chains). Dan has great control over Hellfire, even redirecting Zarathos’ Hellfire blast right back at him. Hellfire burns the soul without leaving any physical damage, and is the product of God’s rage. Dan has recently shown the ability to make duplicates of himself without weakening his own power.

Dan possesses a magical chain that can take the shape of almost any weapon he can think of, such as a spear or just a normal chain to swing around. The chain can also grow to any length, and each link can be separated and used as projectiles. Ghost Rider can also channel his Hellfire through the chain.

When Dan transformed into Ghost Rider, his motorcycle transformed into a Hell-cycle that can travel near to speeds of over 500 MPH. The bike is also engulfed in Hellfire. The bike can be destroyed but by using Hellfire, Dan can transform any bike into a Hell-cycle (shown in Ghost Rider: Hearts of Darkness). The Hell-cycle can also travel over water and up vertical surfaces.

In recent issues of the current “Ghost Rider” series, Dan is one of the more powerful Ghost Rider beings in existence and now he can add to his own power by leeching the power of weaker Ghost Riders. This process also gives Dan the memories of his victims. He is also immune to physical damage from non-magical beings and heals at amazing rates. Dan can also sense when innocent blood is spilled.

Medallion of Power

The Medallion of Power is one of the many rumored sources of Ghost Rider’s powers. The Medallion of Power existed on Earth before the fall of Atlantis. During a time when man relied on the supernatural for protection and power, the Medallion was coveted by Zarathos. He sought to use the mystic power of the Medallion to take over Earth. The ancient group opposed Zarathos, whose purpose was to protect the Medallion of Power. Blood allied themselves with the old Spirit of Vengeance, they fought and the Spirit of Vengeance managed to capture Zarathos in the Medallion. But at a cost, for now the Spirit of Vengeance was also captured in the Medallion.

The high member of the Blood called Caretaker decided the Medallion was now too powerful for one person to possess alone, so the Caretaker decided to break it into pieces and place them in the souls of the descendants of two human families, the Kale family and the Badilino family. The pieces can be activated by powerful supernatural beings such as Doctor Strange and Mephisto. The pieces are actually pieces of Zarathos and the Spirit of Vengeance and, when activated, transform the descendants into the living Spirit of Vengeance, Ghost Rider. When a piece-holder dies, their piece is bound to not the next in line but the person after that, eg Naomi Kale’s [mother of the true and current Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze] piece has been bound to Johnny’s son, Craig Blaze.

Spirit of Corruption

As the Spirit of Corruption, Dan can materialize green armor and a sword called the Bright Blade. If a person is stabbed by the Bright Blade, they are overwhelmed by all of their corruption, similar to the Penance Stare. If the person isn’t corrupt, their wounds heal but only after agonizing pain. He can also burn people with a touch.

Characteristics/Status

• Gender: Male
• Height: 5’10” (as Ketch); 6’2″ (as Ghost Rider)
• Weight: 180 lbs. (as Ketch); 220 lbs. (as Ghost Rider)
• Eyes: Green (as Ketch); none (as Ghost Rider)
• Hair: Brown (as Ketch); none (as Ghost Rider)
• Identity: Secret identity
• Citizenship: American
• Marital Status: Single
• Occupation: Messenger; vigilante
• Education: High-school graduate
• Base of Operation: Mobile; formerly Cypress Hills Cemetery; Brooklyn, New York and New York City, New York

Other Versions

Ultimate Marvel

In the Ultimate Marvel universe, Danny Ketch is an Irish member of Nick Fury‘s Howling Commandos, nicknamed “The Ghost” because of his talents as a spy. He is not a Spirit of Vengeance, but possesses the ability to breathe fire. He was apparently killed after sacrificing himself to stop Galactus, but his conscience became Machine Man after inhabiting a mechanical body.

In Other Media

Television

• Ghost Rider appears in the X-Men: The Animated Series as a vision in Gambit‘s mind.
• Ghost Rider appears in the Fantastic Four: The Animated Series episode entitled “When Calls Galactus”, voiced by Richard Grieco.
• Ghost Rider appears in the Incredible Hulk: The Animated Series episode “Innocent Blood,” with Richard Grieco reprising his role. The episode was created as a backdoor pilot for a Ghost Rider spin-off, but UPN declined to pick up the series.
• Ghost Rider was planned to appear in an episode of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, where he and Spider-Man would’ve teamed up to battle Dormammu and Mysterio. However, due to Ghost Rider’s planned UPN show, the writers of Spider-Man: The Animated Series were denied permission to use him (as their show aired on Fox, a rival network).

Video Games

• Ghost Rider is a support character in Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety.
• Danny Ketch appears as an alternate costume for Johnny Blaze in Marvel Ultimate Alliance.

Merchandise

• Danny Ketch was featured in ToyBiz’s Ghost Rider toy line from the 90s.
• ToyBiz released a model kit of Danny Ketch.
• Danny Ketch was featured in ToyBiz’s Marvel Legends line.
• Danny Ketch was featured in the HeroClix figure game.
• Bowen Designs created a statue of Danny. They also created a bust of Danny.
• Danny Ketch’s evil blue-flamed form was featured in Hasbro’s Marvel Legends line.
• Iron Studios produced a statue of Danny Ketch as Ghost Rider.