Ghost Rider is one of the strangest characters in the Marvel Universe. He is a being from Hell that is played as an antihero with a host that made a deal with the Devil to save his own father, only to have that Devil betray him. Interestingly, Johnny Blaze isn't the first, and he wasn't the last Ghost Rider.
Through the years, a past version of the Ghost Rider, known as the Phantom Rider, sought vengeance. After Blaze, the role was ed on to his half-brother Danny Ketch and then Robbie Reyes, who now portrays Ghost Rider. Meanwhile, Johnny went on to become the King of Hell, and things just got weirder.
Trail of Tears
Released in 2007, Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears by Garth Ennis (Preacher) and Clayton Crain featured Caleb, a freed slave who was murdered and became Ghost Rider. This isn't Ghost Rider as most people know him, as he rides a horse through the Confederate South in a supernatural western that is more about revenge than about the regular Ghost Rider vengeance stories. The hero here isn't even Ghost Rider, but a former soldier that Caleb saved before his death.
Heaven's On Fire
Ghost Riders: Heaven's on Fire by Jason Aaron and Roland Boschi is a 2009 series that features Johnny Blaze as Ghost Rider and concludes the Aaron run with a six-issue storyline. A man showed up and said he was in Heaven and is scared to go back because Zadkiel has taken over and conquered it. It is up to Blaze and Danny Ketch to somehow save the world. It all starts when the two set out to save the Anti-Christ's life, and things get stranger from there.
Road to Damnation
Garth Ennis started working on Ghost Rider in 2005 with Clayton Crain, and together they created the storyline "Road to Damnation." In this story, the demon Kazaan is trying to Hell to Earth — literally. When this starts, Johnny Blaze has been trapped in Hell for two years and makes a deal with an angel named Malachi. If he can stop Kazaan, he will be freed and allowed to return to Earth. As with all Ennis stories, this is violent, funny, and very dark.
Rise of the Midnight Sons
In the '90s, Marvel changed everything about Ghost Rider. It was time to team up the demonic Marvel antiheroes and set them off after a force even eviler than all of them combined. This included both Johnny Blaze and Danny Ketch, with Ketch as Ghost Rider.
It also included names like Hannibal King (the Ryan Reynolds' character from Blade: Trinity), Morbius the Living Vampire, Blade, and a new Ghost Rider known as Vengeance. It is like a monster squad team up in Marvel Comics.
Hell Bent And Heaven Bound
This Ghost Rider story was where Jason Aaron started his run on the title. This went from issues 20-25 of the 2008-2009 run by Aaron and Marko Djurdjevic. This was the start of the long-running battle between Ghost Rider and Zadkiel and was in the middle of the war in Heaven. It also brought back Daniel Ketch and might be the most grindhouse styled Ghost Rider storyline with Johnny Blaze fighting for all humanity.
Damnation
Not to be confused with "Road to Damnation," Ghost Rider: Damnation was a 2018 storyline created by Donny Cates and Nick Spencer, and this once again featured Johnny Blaze in Hell. This took place after Secret Empire, where Las Vegas was destroyed.
Marvel characters ended up as Ghost Rider hosts, including Doctor Strange, Captain Marvel, Black Panther, Hawkeye, Falcon, and Jane Foster's Thor.
Venom: Circle of Four
To understand how crazy Venom: Circle of Four is, this is a team-up series where three of the strongest characters in Marvel Comics all teamed up to become a symbiote Ghost Rider to save the day. Created by Rick Remender, Jeff Parker, and Rob Williams in 2012, they all fought to stop Blackheart.
Blackheart, the son of Mephisto, wanted to bring Hell on Earth and Mephisto wanted him stopped. Agent Venom, Red-Hulk, X-23, and Ghost Rider fought to stop him, and it all resulted in Venom, Red-Hulk, and Ghost Rider all ing to form one being who had the classic line, "wwe am smashh for venggeance."
Challenge of the Ghost Riders
As mentioned a few times, Johnny Blaze was the King of Hell for a while, taking over for Mephisto. While he did it to get the evil Mephisto out of power, the entire job of running Hell has a way of corrupting a man's soul, and in "Challenge of the Ghost Riders," this happened. This was in Avengers Vol. 8 #22-25 by Jason Aaron, and Stehano Cassell and Robbie Reyes wanted to be exorcised of the Ghost Rider, but Johnny brought him to Hell for a deadly race.
Ghost Racers
In 2015, Felipe Smith and Juan Gedeon created a weird Ghost Rider story that brought back several different Ghost Rider versions, including Robbie Reyes, Alejandra Jones, Carter Slade, Johnny Blaze, and Daniel Ketch. This took place on the alternate Earth-15513, known as Battlerealm, and was part of the Battleworld storyline following the incursion of the Earths in Secret Wars. The bad guy was Arcade, who forced all the Ghost Riders into a deadly game.
Cosmic Ghost Rider
Easily the weirdest Ghost Rider in history was from Earth-TRN666 and was a Frank Castle Ghost Rider. He first appeared in 2017's Thanos Vol. 2 #13 by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw. During the final battle with Thanos, Punisher died when he was hit in the head with flying debris and then returned from Hell as the new Ghost Rider. He ended up time traveling and doing weird things like trying to kill baby Thanos and almost destroying history.
