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From Johnny Blaze and his family to the classic heroes of yesteryear, here is a look at the best versions of Ghost Rider in Marvel Comics.
10) Phantom Rider
Phantom Rider is Carter Slade, and he was the original Ghost Rider (although there were hosts before him with different names), although he is very different in appearance and powers. Carter was shot numerous times by white men pretending to be Native Americans to cause unrest in the West. A Native American tribe took him in, and their medicine man, Flaming Star, believed Carter to be the Chosen One sent to him.
When Carter miraculously awoke, restored to health, Flamingh Star gave him a white costume and a white horse named Banshee, and he became the first Ghost Rider. This version has no access to Hellfire or any other power of the Ghost Riders in the future, and only has his Spirit Gun as a weapon. He debuted in Ghost Rider #1 (1966) and soon had his name changed to Phantom Rider to differentiate between the other Ghost Riders.
9) Caleb
Caleb was a former enslaved man who purchased the freedom of himself and his wife around the American Civil War. However, he and his family were soon murdered by a gang led by a man named George Reagan. Two years later, he returned from the dead as the Spirit of Vengeance and began to seek revenge. The story was told in Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears in 2007. He has most of the powers of any other Ghost Rider, as well as possession and dimensional travel. In the end, Caleb and his close friend Travis were both sent to the demonic plane as punishment for their thirst for vengeance.
8) Barbara Ketch
Barbara Ketch is Danny Ketch’s sister, and she made her first appearance in Ghost Rider Vol. 3 #1 in 1990. She was murdered when she and Dan went to a graveyard and were attacked by Deathwatch and his ninjas, and she was murdered by Blackout while in the hospital. Danny always held her death close to him, and part of why he fights is the memory of his sister. That made it shocking when she returned in the new Spirit of Violence series as the titular character seeking to feast on the suffering of the various Ghost Riders.
7) Noble Kale
Noble Kale is the Angel of Death and made his first appearance in Ghost Rider (1990) #1. Noble Kale is the man who really started the legacy of the Ghost Riders in Marvel Comics, the ancestor of Neomi Kale, Johnny Blaze, and Danny Ketch. He is also the reason all of those characters were destined to become Ghost Riders. He is extremely powerful, a man who killed witch hunters and some real witches in the 17th Century before fighting Mephisto himself. He is also immortal, as he is not allowed to enter Heaven or Hell and instead passes through the firstborn child of every generation of his family.
6) Hellverine
Hellverine is one of the newest Ghost Riders in Marvel Comics, as it is the former Daken, Wolverine’s son, who returned from Hell as a new Weapon of Vengeance. Bagra-Ghul was a demon that once possessed Wolverine, and it was such a great idea that Marvel brought it back with Daken after Sabretooth murdered him. Bagra-Ghul brought Daken back from the dead and tried to use him against Wolverine. The storyline is almost like a mix between Hellraiser and Ghost Rider, with the former Daken punishing sinners as a work of twisted art. He has the same powers as other Ghost Riders, as well as the use of his flaming Wolverine claws.
