| “ | There's good and bad in all of us. It doesn't matter how far you run, because there're some demons you just can't escape. | „ |
| ~ Johnny Blaze |
Johnathon "Johnny" Blaze is an American motorcycle stunt performer, and entertainer turned Spirit of Vengeance. He was taken by the dark angel, Zarathos, in order to exact vengeance against his father's murderers and became the legendary Ghost Rider.
Overview[]
Johnny Blaze was born the son of Barton Blaze and Naomi Kale and spent his formative years growing up among the Quentin Carnival. Both of Blaze's parents starred alongside Craig "Crash" Simpson in a motorcycle show. After the abandonment and later disappearance of his mother, Johnny continued his motorcycling stunts as he traveled across the United States, gaining quite the reputation as a result. However, his life took a turn for the worst when his father was killed in a motorcycling accident during one of his stunts.
However, Johnny discovered that his father's bike was tampered with leading him to deduce that this was an intentional sabotage and thus his father was murdered rather than it being an accident. He hunted down the last person that worked on his father's bike who revealed that he was blackmailed into sabotaging Barton's motorcycle by Ashtin Carnaby who wanted Barton to sell his carnival over to Carnaby only for Barton to reject each time. Fueled by his desire to avenge his father, Johnny traveled across the Nevada desert to confront Carnaby but was stopped when his motorcycle ran out of gas. It was from there that Johnny encountered a small 'pillar of fire' that called Johnny over. This wreathing mass of flame revealed itself to be an angel and offered Johnny the power to exact vengeance against his father's murderers to which Johnny happily obliged.
The angel then swiftly took possession of Johnny Blaze in a gruesome display as his body was set ablaze and looked as though it had been burnt down to the very bone only for Blaze to suddenly wake up and find himself laying on the road next to his bicycle thinking it may have been a nightmare. As he continued on towards Ashtin Carnaby's ranch, his wanton desire for vengeance began to take its toll and consequently resulted in his transformation as the Ghost Rider who destroyed Ashtin Carnaby's ranch, reduced his guards to nothing but ash, before finally unleashing his Penance Stare on the man. Horrified by what happened after Johnny regained control, he fled the scene and left his old life behind while also, unwillingly, performing his duties as the Ghost Rider. Five years later, Johnny Blaze was approached by Shana O'Hara, who works for the Global Occult Coalition, in Missouri and reached out to the former stunt rider for aid in finding and capturing Al Simmons as he was hunting down and killing GOC agents that have a connection to his death.
Appearance[]
As a human, Johnny Blaze is a middle-aged man likely around his early thirties with long sandy-blonde hair that usually reaches his shoulders or neck. His attire typically consists of a black leather jacket, an ecru beige shirt, dark navy blue jeans and black timberland boots. He also sports black gloves.
When transforming into the Ghost Rider, it is the usual appearance of any human that becomes the vessel of a dark angel. In his Ghost Rider form, Johnny's skull is wreathed with fierce flames that emits black smoke as if it were gasoline and his skull is black, charred, and covered in soot. His attire also changes where his clothing look as though they were being charred as his jacket would have small boiling bubbles on his shoulders and small wisps of smoke would emit off of parts of his body.
Personality[]
At his core, Johnny is a good person who cares for the well-being of others. He often blames himself for the death of his father as he believes he could have done something to prevent it and his carelessness only led him to becoming a vessel for Zarathos thereby forgoing any friendships or relationships. He is compassionate and afraid of hurting someone unintentionally, so he tries not to get close to something or someone that may trigger the Rider within him. In the beginning, Johnny was more upbeat and outgoing, if not somewhat arrogant due to his reputation, but ever since the death of his father, his mother's disappearance, and him becoming the Ghost Rider, he became cynical, gruff, and troubled. He also became introverted as his isolation from other people made him feel awkward at times though he can strike up an amicable conversation with others and every so often his former self would resurface. He can make quips and would often roll along with other people's jokes which is what sparked his friendship with Dante and the others.
As the Ghost Rider, however, he becomes an entirely different entity. When becoming the Ghost Rider he is tough, ruthless, merciless, nearly emotionless and consumed with a lust to punish the guilty. Therefore, the Rider cares more about punishing the guilty than it does protecting the innocent, but he does not in any way harm the innocent, as he is more focused on finding the guilty and leaves the innocent alone. He is also shown acting animalistic in his some of his mannerisms and posture as he was shown growling, snarling and even roaring. Ghost Rider was said to feed on the evil of his victims, but seemed to have a tendency to be more violent towards those who were themselves guilty of violence, or proceeded to attack and provoke him when he encountered them. Being that the angel which inhabits Johnny is dubbed as the Mad Angel, the Ghost Rider would often display euphoric or ecstatic moments when punishing the guilty or fighting other opponents. These displays involve bouts of maniacal laughter or taunts towards his victims and enemies. The Ghost Rider's characteristics are so great that his influence even extends towards Johnny himself as the latter would explode in a fit of laughter as he transforms.
In the beginning, Johnny found it extremely difficult to control the Rider as Zarathos would be drawn towards those who've committed sinful acts but overtime it began to mellow down. Johnny explains that his relationship with the Rider is akin to that of Jekyll and Hyde where Johnny and Zarathos would more often than not fight each other over control of Johnny's body. Zarathos and Johnny have an unstable relationship with one another as they would frequently argue over morals or the differences between right and wrong. This in turn made Johnny almost mentally unstable as, in his mind, he would be hearing and speaking to Zarathos but to others he looks as if he is talking and arguing with himself. Zarathos's influence would also surface through Johnny himself even when he is not transforming as evident when Johnny accused of Shana and Roy Mustang of forcefully dragging him into their mess and putting everyone in the helicarrier at risk because of all the dark secrets, having small fits of laughter and violent spasms, clearly attempting to suppress Zarathos. Moreover, as the Rider, he at times is unable to distinguish friend from foe when he burned almost all of Alucard's souls within him using his Penance Stare and killed several GOC staff members and soldiers during his battle against Spawn in the helicarrier. However, both Johnny and Zarathos can find common ground with each other and work together to stop a common foe.
Powers and Abilities[]
Being an agent of Heaven and the bringer of God's wrathful vengeance against sinners, the Ghost Rider is among the most powerful entities that ever walked the Earth. The power of the Ghost Rider depends on who is in control of the Rider (effectively Johnny's body). Johnny and the Dark Angel inhabit the same body, and Johnny is usually the one in control. While the Ghost Rider is in control, Johnny Blaze only influences its decisions to an extent as he takes the "back seat". As stated by John Constantine, Johnny acts as a built in safety or inhibitor, that limits the power of the Ghost Rider. Constantine also stated, that when Zarathos takes control, the Ghost Rider's powers are, for most intents and purposes, boundless and "god-like" where he can engage and overcome some of the mightiest supernatural entities such as Satan, Conquest, Moloch, and Kushiel.
As the Ghost Rider, Johnny has a vast array of powerful abilities with his most notable abilities being mostly pyrokinetic in nature. While his display of literal firepower can be distinguished as normal flames it is more attributed to the use of Hellfire, a spiritual flame that is capable of burning one's very soul and can perform all manners of incredible feats with his Hellfire. His ability to channel hellfire allows him to imbue objects and vehicles by choice with his mystical element. He can spew the fire from his eyes, mouth, hands and chest, including channeling the fire from his body into his weapons such as his shotgun. In addition to projecting and infusing hellfire, he can perform a number of attacks. He can create hellfire balls, spew out a massive wave and unleash omnidirectional explosions that are incredibly powerful, capable of bringing great pain to the likes of Theokoles who is reputed as one of the most powerful Great Evils.
He is also able to construct various objects such as walls, weapons, and his motorcycle. His preferred weapons would often be dual scythes that he fashions from his chains and could even metamorph his motorcycle to some extent into becoming a weapon as well similar to the Cavaliere Devil Arm. The chain in question is a mystical chain that is capable of growing in length, cutting through almost anything, and transforming into other weapons such as scythes, hammers, or even gauntlets and could also attach the scythes to the end of his chains. He can also spew and project chains from his mouth, chest, or entire body at will, and control the movements with his mind. While Johnny himself has no formal combat training, Zarathos himself is an extremely formidable combatant. As the Ghost Rider, he can manipulate his bladed chains with great precision and proficiency to devastatingly assault his foes over any distances and at high speed.
His host of additional abilities also include being able to control the elements, manipulate souls, sins, change his size, and much more. He can read a person's soul to determine whether or not they are pure or malevolent and can consume souls if the individual is degenerate and heartless to an extent where the victim becomes lifeless. In regards to the manipulation of souls, the Ghost Rider's most powerful weapon is in fact his Penance Stare. The Penance Stare is the supernatural ability to cause any individual who stares into his eyes to see and feel every bit of pain they have ever inflicted on anyone in their entire lifetime for all eternity. He has demonstrated that it can also target multiple individuals as it was able to incapacitate the inhabitants of the Self-Embodiment of Perfection without locking into their eyes and still inflicting great suffering. The Penance Stare is also powerful enough where, if the Rider wills it, it can completely destroy a person's body outright leaving behind nothing but ash.