Johnathon Blaze (Earth-21399)

Early Life
Johnathon Blaze was born to single father Barton Blaze in a travelling motor carnival. Barton was their star performer during the seventies, and Johnny was trained to carry on the tradition. Johnny's specialty was dirt bike freestyle jumps, and he occasionally found time to compete in the amateur bike racing circuit. It was at one such race that Johnny met his first love, Roxanne Simpson.

One fateful day, Barton's chain-smoking habit caught up with him when he contracted lung cancer. He attempted to keep the news secret from his then-22-year-old son, but Johnny discovered it anyway when he found a letter from the doctor's office in the trash can and was understandably upset, both for Barton keeping it secret and for the fact that Johnny couldn't do anything about it.

Deal with the Devil
Two months later, while doing some routine maintenance on the cycles late at night, Johnny was visited by an unnamed stranger who offered to cure Barton's cancer at the bizarre cost of Johnny's “soul”. Initially skeptical, Johnny nevertheless agreed, figuring he had nothing to lose.

The next day, Barton's cancer went into remission, as if it had never existed. While the doctors were unable to explain it, Barton didn't care, as he had never felt better for quite a while, and intended to celebrate by wowing the audience with a new stunt in the next show: jumping over a helicopter.

Barton never made it to the chopper, as he somehow lost control of his bike and crashed while approaching a ring of fire. Johnny arrived just in time to see the stranger he'd made the deal with smile and then disappear from sight. Afraid of what the stranger would do to him, Johnny completed the helicopter stunt in memory of Barton and then fled the carnival, only stopping long enough to say goodbye to Roxanne.

Becoming the Spirit of Vengeance
While resting at a middle-of-nowhere truck stop in the Missouri countryside, he again encountered the stranger, who revealed himself as the demon Blackheart and attempted to collect Johnny's soul as payment for their bargain. Johnny, feeling he was at the end of the line, begged pathetically for his life to be spared, so Blackheart “mercifully” decided he would bond Johnny's mortal vessel with the demonic Spirit of Vengeance, Zarathos, transforming Johnny into the dreaded Ghost Rider.

Powers

 * Demonic Transformation
 * Superhuman Strength
 * Invulnerability: No worldly creature nor weapon can harm the Ghost Rider.
 * Superhuman Senses: The Ghost Rider can tell the purity of a person's soul by sight alone. It also possesses the extrasensory ability to detect supernatural creatures or occurrences within a certain radius of itself. This sense cannot tell the exact nature of such, only its presence, direction and distance.
 * Hellfire Manipulation
 * Penance Stare: By forcing a victim to make eye contact with it, the Ghost Rider can force the target to relive every evil act they have ever committed, feeling every bit of pain they ever caused. This leaves the unfortunate victim in agony – if their deeds were particularly heinous (multiple murders, rapes, torture, genocide, etc.), the victim will burst into flames and disintegrate. The Penance Stare cannot affect those who do not have souls – this includes artificial creations and other demons.

Abilities

 * Driving
 * Mechanics
 * Hand-to-Hand Combat

Transportation

 * Hell Cycle

Weapons

 * Hellfire Chain

Trivia

 * Johnny Blaze and the Ghost Rider have differing musical tastes. Johnny tends to prefer softer country and rock hits from the seventies which he uses to remind him of his father, while the Ghost Rider looks to heavy metal songs, usually with Satanic overtones or lyrics discussing vengeance or the hunting of victims - its favorite song seems to be "Laid to Rest" by Lamb of God.