This article is about Johnny Blaze. For other characters who share the mantle, see Ghost Rider.
Ghost Rider (real name Johnny Blaze) is a supernatural entity originating from Marvel Comics as an superhero, by possession of a human host.
It is depicted as a demonic rider or the devil with a flaming skull for a head and a flaming chain as a weapon. Despite its frightening form, it will only punish those who have done wrong in life and shield the innocent from harm. Thus, it only appears when innocent blood has been shed.
Ghost Rider appears within Death Valley when the Hulk and his allies enter carrying the imprisoned Abomination. After chasing them down and subduing both Abomination and Red Hulk, he intends to punish both of them for their past crimes. Ghost Rider uses his penance stare on Abomination which burns the gamma out of him and regresses him back to Emil Blonsky. As he proceeds to do the same for Red Hulk, Red Hulk proves to by too resistant to the stare so Ghost Rider drags him to a bad place on a military train that he took control of with the the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. in pursuit. However, Ghost Rider teleports the group into a twisted dimension to have Red Hulk devoured by a creature as punishment. When Red Hulk finally repents his mistake for creating the Hulk, Ghost Rider spares Red Hulk and helps the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. evade the creature and return to Death Valley. When A-Bomb invites Ghost Rider with them, Ghost Rider summons his motorcycle and rides off, stating that there is still evil in the world to avenge.
Johnny Blaze appears in the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode "The Good Samaritan", via flashback. As the original Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze, was revealed to be responsible for Robbie's resurrection and transformation into the second Ghost Rider when Blaze imparted some of his powers to revive Robbie, on the conditions that he swears to go after those who spill innocent blood.
Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. is the second television show Ghost Rider has made an appearance in and with a speaking role. Incidentally, the first one the character was in was the Incredible Hulk, which also centered around Hulk.
In the comics, the Ghost Rider was the result of the demon Zarathos possessing stunt motorcyclist Johnny Blaze after Blaze made a deal with Mephisto, one of the Lords of Hell of the Marvel Universe. Other Ghost Riders have also appeared after Blaze, such as his younger Brother Daniel Ketch. While the version that appeared in Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H. is unknown, he does use the Penance Stare which was the signature ability of the Ketch version and later Blaze. He is also shown to have a race car as a secondary vehicle, a nod to current Ghost Rider Robbie Reyes.
The movie rights to Ghost Rider were owned by Sony Pictures, alongside Spider-Man. They were both eventually given back to Marvel Studios after both films to reach their company's expectations, with Marvel and Sony sharing the Spider-Man movie rights.
Johnny Blaze/Ghost Rider was played by Nicolas Cage in the films Ghost Rider (2007) and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2012).