Ghost Rider: Most Asked Questions

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The Marvel universe is full of superheroes and supervillains, let it be the Marvel Cinematic Universe or the Marvel Comics Universe. Many superheroes and supervillains are extremely popular among the fans whereas some are not so much. But inside this universe, there are some characters which are very suspicious and the questions related to them are often kept unanswered. One such character of the Marvel Universe is Ghost Rider. He is one of the most loved superheroes in MCU, having a huge fan base. Since his debut in the comics in 1972, Ghost Rider has been known as the Spirit of Vengeance, and that’s all. Still after so many years of his debut, there are many questions related to Ghost Rider whose answer is rarely known to anyone like: how strong is he?, what is the spirit of vengeance?, what is the source of his powers?, etc. So today we are going to answer some such questions related to Ghost Rider which are often left unanswered.

Mysteries of Ghost Rider

Before you start the post, please keep in mind that today we will discuss only about Johnny Blaze’s version of Ghost Rider and also, we have only included some major and basic questions related to Ghost Rider in this post. If the question you are searching is not included in this post, then do let us know about it in the comment section at the bottom of the page.

How Strong is he?

In the comics, after Johnny Blaze got the powers of Ghost Rider, it was shown that he could lift weights up to 5 Tonne (around 5000 kg). But with time his powers increased a lot and at the present day comics, Ghost Rider can lift a weight up to 25 Tonne (around 23000 kg).

Also, he is immune to most of the physical attacks but if in case someone tries to blow him up with a bomb, then too he can recover from that in a very short period of time. In the recent comics of Ghost Rider, we also got to see that he is many more powerful than that when he unleashes his full potential, and when he does so, the upper limit of his power reaches almost infinite. But this case is only possible if Zarathos gets complete control of Ghost Rider. Now you may be wondering who is Zarathos?

Who is Zarathos?

In simple words, Zarathos is the entity from which Ghost Rider gets his powers. But, to become Ghost Rider, Zarathos had to bond with Johnny Blaze and this was done by Mephisto, the demon who made the deal with Johnny Blaze.

Both Zarathos and Mephisto were considered as the most powerful demons of Hell, but Mephisto somehow managed to trick Zarathos and trap him inside Johnny Blaze.

Who is in Control?

Now that you know that Zarathos and Johnny Blaze are two separate identities trapped inside Ghost Rider, you may be wondering that who is actually controlling whom? Like we have seen in case of Bruce Banner and Hulk. So the answer to this question is, Johnny Blaze is the one who actually has the major controls of Ghost Rider.

But there are some incidents in the comics where Zarathos is shown taking the control from Johnny Blaze, but each time something like this happens, Johnny somehow manages to take control back from Zarathos due to his strong willpower. Apart from this, Mephisto cannot control Ghost Rider by any means, no matter how strong he is.

This is because Johnny Blaze’s willpower and Zarathos’ superpowers combine together to form an entity who is immune to Mephisto’s control.

What is Zarathos without Johnny Blaze?

Well, there is a reason why Johnny Blaze controls Zarathos most of the time and Zarathos, being a demon can do no harm to Johnny Blaze. The reason behind this is that Zarathos can’t survive without a host, like in the case of Venom symbiote.

Zarathos is a demon from Hell, who needs a human body in order to survive on Earth, and that too of a human whose willpower is strong enough to handle the spirit of Zarathos. This is why Mephisto chose Johnny Blaze as the host of Zarathos. In his early days as Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze also had to face some difficulties in order to get control over Zarathos, but with time their bond became stronger and stronger and ultimately, Johnny got full control over Ghost Rider.

Is he a God?

This is one of the most asked and most wrong perceived question regarding Ghost Rider. If Zarathos is so strong, then why do Ghost Rider gets physically weaker against some opponents? Well, the answer to this question is very simple, while Zarathos is a super strong demon from Hell, on the other side, Johnny Blaze is just a human who has his own limitations. So when Johnny Blaze turns into Ghost Rider, his powers become an average of the powers of Zarathos and himself, which basically makes Ghost Rider weaker as compared to Zarathos alone.

This is the reason why Ghost Rider seems physically weaker when compared to other superheroes like Thor and Hulk. But this can also change in the case where Zarathos gains total control over Ghost Rider. Such a case exists in the comics too. In the World War Hulk storyline, Hulk got so insanely stronger that none of the superheroes were able to match his power level to stop him. But after Zarathos took total control over Ghost Rider, he became so strong that he managed to give a tough fight to Hulk very easily.

Even Doctor Strange agrees that the unleashed power of Zarathos can make him Godlike, and in some cases even stronger than the gods.

What is Hellfire?

Most of the superpowers of Ghost Rider exist because of Hellfire. It is the fire which burns the criminals, turns every object into an usable weapon and a simple motorcycle starts crawling walls after this fire touches it.

Basically, Hellfire is also a superpower of Ghost Rider which changes the nature of an object as per the situation and need of Rider. In the comics, it is often seen that Ghost Rider is even capable of controlling those objects with telepathy which are blended with Hellfire.

What is Penance Stare?

This is the most powerful weapon of Ghost Rider, which burns the souls of his enemies just by looking into their eyes. If anyone has committed any sort of crime throughout his life, let it be any superhero or supervillain, then he cannot escape from Penance stare.

But in the comics there are two characters who have managed to survive and escape the penance stare. One is Doctor Strange, and the second one is Punisher.

Doctor Strange was hardly able to survive this, that too with the help of an Angel, while on the other hand, Punisher did it with ease because he has no regret of any of the crimes and murders he has committed.

Can He be killed?

This is also one of the most frequently asked question about Ghost Rider, and the answer to this question is ‘Yes’. Ghost Rider can be killed, but the catch here is that it is only possible when he is in human form, i.e, as Johnny Blaze. But if we talk about killing the demon Zarathos, then this is not possible by any weapon or even nuclear weapons.

If anyone tries to do so, then Zarathos will unleash his full vengeance on that person. But on the other hand, if we talk about God level weapons, then they can make Zarathos weaker after which it will be easier to kill Johnny Blaze.

Zarathos is an immortal entity, hence it is not possible to completely erase him from existence unless cosmic weapons like Ultimate Nullifier or Infinity Stones are used against him.

So this was our attempt to answer some of the frequently asked questions about Ghost Rider whose answers are rare to find anywhere else. If there is some question that we have missed, then ask it in the comments below. We’ll try our best to answer it.

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