Having a future Ghost Rider join a new version of the Guardians of the Galaxy is a promising concept. Initially, Autolycus believed them to be enemies, but he ended up joining the eclectic super team when he discovered they were actually on his side. This time around, the man behind the fiery skull was Wileaydus Autolycus, a former priest who became disillusioned by his church (the Universal Church of Truth).ĭesperate to make a change in the world, Autolycus took the powers of the Ghost Rider and started going by the name "Spirit of Vengeance." Sometime after taking on the Spirit of Vengeance mantle, the hero came across the Guardians of the Galaxy. Being from the future, however, this rider was completely different from his past counterparts.
One of the characters he chose to put in the superhero group was Ghost Rider. Back in the '90s, Jim Valentino decided to put a fun spin on the Guardians of the Galaxy by exploring a version of the team that existed in the 31st century. In fact, one of the incarnations of the character even became part of the Guardians of the Galaxy for a time. Ghost Rider may be primarily based on Earth, but he isn't above going on the occasional cosmic adventure. Still, despite his remarkable powers and intriguing backstory, it's tough to place him higher on this list given his villainous nature. While his career as an evil-doer was short, Vengeance proved to be one of Ghost Rider's most powerful and intimidating baddies. This caused a portion of Ghost Rider's power to be transferred into Kowalski, turning the former Deputy into the villain known as Vengeance. Kowalski went after Johnny Blaze and he managed to shoot the hero in the chest. Some time after that confrontation, Kowalski was approached by the servant of a disgraced angel, who led him to a special shotgun capable of killing Ghost Rider. Kowalski ultimately lost the fight, and all he was left with was an unbridled hatred for the Ghost Rider. Kowalski ultimately saved himself, but he got embroiled in a confrontation with Ghost Rider after the Spirit of Vengeance tried to kill Wojciehowicz instead of bringing him to justice. To the Deputy's misfortune, the owner of the funeral home, Clayton Wojciehowicz, turned out to be a cannibal who cut off Kowalski's right hand in hopes of making him his next meal. His investigation eventually led him to the mysterious Wojciehowicz Funeral Home. In his first storyline, Kowalski looked into Highway 18, a road known for its numerous car crashes. In 2008, a character named Deputy Kowalski made his debut in the Ghost Rider universe. Heroes aren't the only people to have wielded the Ghost Rider power. With that in mind, we at CBR thought it'd be appropriate to rank the 16 most prominent versions of the rider: Due to the sheer number of Ghost Riders that have popped up throughout the decades, it may be hard to decide who's a better representation of the Spirit of Vengeance. While not all of those versions have achieved mainstream popularity, each one's played an important part in building up the Ghost Rider mythology. Due to the ever-evolving nature of comic books, various writers and artists have explored different incarnations of Ghost Rider.
Ever since his debut, the character has gone on to appear in multiple television series (both animated and live action), video games and has even been the focus of two feature films.Īn interesting thing about the antihero is the fact that, while Johnny Blaze could be considered the most popular carrier of the fiery mantle, he isn't the only individual to have wielded the Spirit of Vengeance. The character was a fresh and exciting take on the classic superhero concept and readers quickly embraced him. Back in 1972, Marvel introduced Johnny Blaze, a gifted daredevil who became the antihero known as Ghost Rider after selling his soul to a demon.