Ghost Rider: Vengeance Unbound

THE GHOST RIDER TIMELINE

In every era of human history, there rode a Spirit of Vengeance. This is a comprehensive list of each known Ghost Rider, past and present.

The origins of the creature known as the Ghost Rider or the Spirit of Vengeance is one shrouded in myth and secrecy. Little is known of the Spirit's background, but some information has been collected throughout the ages.

Approx. 20,000 B.C. - The Spirits of Vengeance:

The original Spirits of Vengeance, numerous when residing in their otherdimensional home, were allies of a race of immortals known as the Blood. Together, the two groups stood against the demon Zarathos when he attempted to gain control of the Medallion of Power. During the battle, the essences of Zarathos and four of the Spirits of Vengeance were melded with the Medallion. Broken into pieces, the Medallion was placed within the blood line of two mortal families with the Caretaker to watch over them. This is the source of the Ghost Rider's power, tapping into one of the original Spirits of Vengeance.

Nothing else is known of the original Spirits in modern times. A descendant of one of the marked families, Noble Kale, was mystically merged with one of the four Spirits of Vengeance, combining into one of the first Ghost Riders. Later still, Civil War soldier Travis Parham was given a glimpse of the Spirits' realm when he touched the skull of his friend Caleb's ancestor. In this realm, Parham saw representations of all the Ghost Riders throughout history. It has been said that the Ghost Rider represents the God of Vengeance and that it is a creature as old as the Earth itself.

Information: [Ghost Rider # 42 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider # 43 (vol. 2)], [Spirits of Vengeance # 16], [Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 1], [Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 6]

2000 Years Ago - Zarathos

A demon of legendary stature, Zarathos and his followers the Fallen went to war with the Blood and the Spirits of Vengeance over the fabled Medallion of Power. At the climax of the war, Zarathos found part of his essence fused with the Medallion and his body transformed into an inert stone statue. Centuries later, a tribe led by the shaman K'Nutu discovered Zarathos' stone body and revived him. Forming a cult that worshiped the demon, the tribe build the City of Ten Thousand Souls, which held regular human sacrifices to their soul-eating god, Zarathos.

Zarathos' actions on Earth attracted the attention of Mephisto, who came to see Zarathos as a potential rival. Empowering the mortal later known as Centurious, Mephisto defeated Zarathos in battle and claimed the hellfire that housed his spirit. Enslaved to Mephisto's realm, Zarathos was sent to Earth several times to possess Mephisto's followers. He was eventually bonded with a man named Johnny Blaze and become one of the modern-day Ghost Riders.

Information: [Ghost Rider # 43 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider # 77 (vol. 1)]

1700s - Ghost Rider I/Noble Kale

The son of a strict holy man in the small town of Patience, Noble Kale fell in love with a stranded gypsy woman named Magdalena and secretly had a child with her. When Magdalena witnessed the elder Pastor Kale communicating with demons, the Pastor had her burned at the stake as a witch. While she burned, Magdalena cursed the town to death by calling down the hellish Furies, who began to slaughter the townspeople. To combat the Furies, Pastor Kale offered his son Noble to the demon Mephisto as a weapon - though they were unaware that the Kale family held half of the Medallion of Power. Noble was bound with one of the original Spirits of Vengeance and became the first known Ghost Rider. The Rider killed the Furies and then himself when he realized what he had become.

Mephisto and the angel Uriel came to a decision regarding Noble, that he would rest in the interdimensional Void until called to Earth to seek vengeance for the spilling of innocent blood. Mephisto secretly added to this compromise, cursing the first born of each Kale generation to be the human host for the Ghost Rider. Each time he was called forth, Noble would have no memory of his true identity. He was last seen bonded to his modern descendant, Daniel Ketch...his current whereabouts are unknown.

Information: [Ghost Rider # 78 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider # 79 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider # 92 (vol. 2)]

1867 - Ghost Rider II/Caleb

The next recorded appearance of a Ghost Rider came two years after the end of the American Civil War. A former slave named Caleb took in a wounded confederate soldier named Travis Parham and nursed him back to health. While working off his debt, Parham discovered a cave that held a collection of glowing skulls. Upon touching the skulls, Parham saw a vision of a hellish netherrealm populated by a creature with a burning skull for a head. Caleb told Parham that the creature he saw came from his ancestor's country and could be called upon when something needed to be made right; an instrument of vengeance.

After Parham's departure, Caleb and his family were murdered by a band of marauders led by George Reagan. Parham returned years later and swore to kill Reagan and his band, unaware that a mysterious cloaked rider was already on their trail. This Ghost Rider killed each of Reagan's men and finally Reagan himself, but the killers returned after having made a deal with a demon. In a final showdown between Reagan's band and the Ghost Rider, Parham discovered that the Rider was actually his former friend Caleb, powered by the Spirit of Vengeance that Travis had envisioned years before. Caleb gave Parham another vision of Ghost Riders throughout history, including ones from future eras, before departing to whereabouts unknown.

Information: [Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 1], [Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 6]

1914-1918 - Ghost Rider III/ unknown (last name possibly Kale)

Next to nothing is known about the third documented Ghost Rider. One of the descendants of the Kale family, this soldier fought on the side of the United States during World War I in Europe.

While fighting in Europe, this Ghost Rider came into conflict with Verminous Rex, a rat-like creature from Germany that fed his cannibalistic urges by eating the flesh of fallen soldiers. Rex was killed by the Ghost Rider, and when he encountered Rex in the modern day Noble Kale remembered their World War I encounter.

Information: [Ghost Rider # 89 (vol. 2)]

1945 - The Blazing Skull/Mark Todd

Operating as a superhuman adventurer during World War II, the Blazing Skull was a reporter named Mark Todd. While on assignment covering the second Sino-Japanese War, Todd discovered a hidden cave and was taken in by a race of subterranean Skull Men. These beings with flaming skulls told Todd that he would be their "emissary to the world of flesh" and gave him a skull mask to don in their image. Upon donning the mask, Todd himself had a flaming skull and pyrokinetic power over flame. He fought alongside the Invaders during World War II and then fell into obscurity. He was recently uncovered by the present-day incarnation of the Invaders in an Iraqi prison, having aged not a day since the 1940s.

Though connections between the two have been made, it has never been substantiated whether or not Todd was the Ghost Rider of his time. There are amazing coincidences in his story, particularly the flaming skull and the race of "Skull Men" that could have actually been the Spirits of Vengeance of old. The Blazing Skull remains as an adventurer in the modern era alongside his teammates in the Invaders.

Information: [Midnight Sons Unlimited # 9]

Early 1970s - Ghost Rider IV/Naomi Kale

The next recorded Ghost Rider was yet another descendant of the Kale family line, a young woman named Naomi. Living with the curse for most of her life, Naomi eventually fell in love with and married a stunt biker named Barton Blaze. Together the two birthed three children: John, Barbara, and Daniel. When the curse reasserted itself, Naomi left Barton and John while faking the deaths of herself and her two younger children. While Barbara and Daniel were given to the Ketch family by the Caretaker, Naomi spent her time studying witchcraft.

Through numerous spells (which unfortunately shortened her life span considerably) and demonic deals, Naomi freed her oldest child Johnny from the Ghost Rider curse. Naomi was finally caught by the demon lord Mephisto, who forced her to transform into the Ghost Rider one last time, an act which she could not survive. As she lay dying, Mephisto's proxy Pastor Kale informed her that the Kale curse had skipped to the second oldest child - Barbara - and that while Johnny would not become "the" Ghost Rider he could still become "a" Ghost Rider. Naomi died and was buried in an unmarked grave in Cypress Hills Cemetary. Years later, her disembodied spirit guided her son Daniel into recovering the lost memories of their ancestor, Noble, and she was finally allowed to pass on to the next world.

Information: [Ghost Rider # -1], [Ghost Rider # 93 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider: Finale]

Mid 1970s - Ghost Rider V/Max Parrish

A noted archaelogist, Max Parrish became involved in the hunt for the mysterious "Amulet of Z" alongside his neice, Cammy, and her adolescent friends Susan and Johnny Storm (later the Invisible Woman and Human Torch of the Fantastic Four). While in possession of the Amulet, Parrish and the children were pursued by the demonic Comte St. Germaine, who wanted the Amulet for his master, Dracula.

While on the run from the Comte, the Amulet of Z began to speak to Parrish and Johnny Storm, appearing as a ghostly apparition consumed by flames. The Amulet was in truth a physical representation of the fabled Medallion of Power, and the spirit was that of Zarathos, a part of whom had been trapped within the Medallion. When Zarathos offered to possess young Storm to save them, Parrish stood in his place and was transformed into the Ghost Rider. After defeating the Comte, Zarathos was set to ride off with the body of Parrish, but was stopped by Johnny Storm when the boy ripped the Medallion of Power free from the front of the demon's motorcycle (actually a car mystically transformed into a bike). Parrish was freed from Zarathos' possession and the remains of the destroyed car - along with the Medallion - was placed in a junkyard adjacent to Cypress Hills Cemetary. Following these events, the essence of Zarathos was purged from the Medallion of Power, making the demon whole while he remained in servitude to Mephisto.

Information: [Before the 4: The Storms # 3]

VENGEANCE UNBOUND
HOME
THE GHOST RIDER TIMELINE In every era of human history, there rode a Spirit of Vengeance. This is a comprehensive list of each known Ghost Rider, past and present. The origins of the creature known as the Ghost Rider or the Spirit of Vengeance is one shrouded in myth and secrecy. Little is known of the Spirit's background, but some information has been collected throughout the ages. Approx. 20,000 B.C. - The Spirits of Vengeance: The original Spirits of Vengeance, numerous when residing in their otherdimensional home, were allies of a race of immortals known as the Blood. Together, the two groups stood against the demon Zarathos when he attempted to gain control of the Medallion of Power. During the battle, the essences of Zarathos and four of the Spirits of Vengeance were melded with the Medallion. Broken into pieces, the Medallion was placed within the blood line of two mortal families with the Caretaker to watch over them. This is the source of the Ghost Rider's power, tapping into one of the original Spirits of Vengeance. Nothing else is known of the original Spirits in modern times. A descendant of one of the marked families, Noble Kale, was mystically merged with one of the four Spirits of Vengeance, combining into one of the first Ghost Riders. Later still, Civil War soldier Travis Parham was given a glimpse of the Spirits' realm when he touched the skull of his friend Caleb's ancestor. In this realm, Parham saw representations of all the Ghost Riders throughout history. It has been said that the Ghost Rider represents the God of Vengeance and that it is a creature as old as the Earth itself. Information: [Ghost Rider # 42 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider # 43 (vol. 2)], [Spirits of Vengeance # 16], [Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 1], [Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 6] 2000 Years Ago - Zarathos A demon of legendary stature, Zarathos and his followers the Fallen went to war with the Blood and the Spirits of Vengeance over the fabled Medallion of Power. At the climax of the war, Zarathos found part of his essence fused with the Medallion and his body transformed into an inert stone statue. Centuries later, a tribe led by the shaman K'Nutu discovered Zarathos' stone body and revived him. Forming a cult that worshiped the demon, the tribe build the City of Ten Thousand Souls, which held regular human sacrifices to their soul-eating god, Zarathos. Zarathos' actions on Earth attracted the attention of Mephisto, who came to see Zarathos as a potential rival. Empowering the mortal later known as Centurious, Mephisto defeated Zarathos in battle and claimed the hellfire that housed his spirit. Enslaved to Mephisto's realm, Zarathos was sent to Earth several times to possess Mephisto's followers. He was eventually bonded with a man named Johnny Blaze and become one of the modern-day Ghost Riders. Information: [Ghost Rider # 43 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider # 77 (vol. 1)] 1700s - Ghost Rider I/Noble Kale The son of a strict holy man in the small town of Patience, Noble Kale fell in love with a stranded gypsy woman named Magdalena and secretly had a child with her. When Magdalena witnessed the elder Pastor Kale communicating with demons, the Pastor had her burned at the stake as a witch. While she burned, Magdalena cursed the town to death by calling down the hellish Furies, who began to slaughter the townspeople. To combat the Furies, Pastor Kale offered his son Noble to the demon Mephisto as a weapon - though they were unaware that the Kale family held half of the Medallion of Power. Noble was bound with one of the original Spirits of Vengeance and became the first known Ghost Rider. The Rider killed the Furies and then himself when he realized what he had become. Mephisto and the angel Uriel came to a decision regarding Noble, that he would rest in the interdimensional Void until called to Earth to seek vengeance for the spilling of innocent blood. Mephisto secretly added to this compromise, cursing the first born of each Kale generation to be the human host for the Ghost Rider. Each time he was called forth, Noble would have no memory of his true identity. He was last seen bonded to his modern descendant, Daniel Ketch...his current whereabouts are unknown. Information: [Ghost Rider # 78 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider # 79 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider # 92 (vol. 2)] 1867 - Ghost Rider II/Caleb The next recorded appearance of a Ghost Rider came two years after the end of the American Civil War. A former slave named Caleb took in a wounded confederate soldier named Travis Parham and nursed him back to health. While working off his debt, Parham discovered a cave that held a collection of glowing skulls. Upon touching the skulls, Parham saw a vision of a hellish netherrealm populated by a creature with a burning skull for a head. Caleb told Parham that the creature he saw came from his ancestor's country and could be called upon when something needed to be made right; an instrument of vengeance. After Parham's departure, Caleb and his family were murdered by a band of marauders led by George Reagan. Parham returned years later and swore to kill Reagan and his band, unaware that a mysterious cloaked rider was already on their trail. This Ghost Rider killed each of Reagan's men and finally Reagan himself, but the killers returned after having made a deal with a demon. In a final showdown between Reagan's band and the Ghost Rider, Parham discovered that the Rider was actually his former friend Caleb, powered by the Spirit of Vengeance that Travis had envisioned years before. Caleb gave Parham another vision of Ghost Riders throughout history, including ones from future eras, before departing to whereabouts unknown. Information: [Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 1], [Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 6] 1914-1918 - Ghost Rider III/ unknown (last name possibly Kale) Next to nothing is known about the third documented Ghost Rider. One of the descendants of the Kale family, this soldier fought on the side of the United States during World War I in Europe. While fighting in Europe, this Ghost Rider came into conflict with Verminous Rex, a rat-like creature from Germany that fed his cannibalistic urges by eating the flesh of fallen soldiers. Rex was killed by the Ghost Rider, and when he encountered Rex in the modern day Noble Kale remembered their World War I encounter. Information: [Ghost Rider # 89 (vol. 2)] 1945 - The Blazing Skull/Mark Todd Operating as a superhuman adventurer during World War II, the Blazing Skull was a reporter named Mark Todd. While on assignment covering the second Sino-Japanese War, Todd discovered a hidden cave and was taken in by a race of subterranean Skull Men. These beings with flaming skulls told Todd that he would be their "emissary to the world of flesh" and gave him a skull mask to don in their image. Upon donning the mask, Todd himself had a flaming skull and pyrokinetic power over flame. He fought alongside the Invaders during World War II and then fell into obscurity. He was recently uncovered by the present-day incarnation of the Invaders in an Iraqi prison, having aged not a day since the 1940s. Though connections between the two have been made, it has never been substantiated whether or not Todd was the Ghost Rider of his time. There are amazing coincidences in his story, particularly the flaming skull and the race of "Skull Men" that could have actually been the Spirits of Vengeance of old. The Blazing Skull remains as an adventurer in the modern era alongside his teammates in the Invaders. Information: [Midnight Sons Unlimited # 9] Early 1970s - Ghost Rider IV/Naomi Kale The next recorded Ghost Rider was yet another descendant of the Kale family line, a young woman named Naomi. Living with the curse for most of her life, Naomi eventually fell in love with and married a stunt biker named Barton Blaze. Together the two birthed three children: John, Barbara, and Daniel. When the curse reasserted itself, Naomi left Barton and John while faking the deaths of herself and her two younger children. While Barbara and Daniel were given to the Ketch family by the Caretaker, Naomi spent her time studying witchcraft. Through numerous spells (which unfortunately shortened her life span considerably) and demonic deals, Naomi freed her oldest child Johnny from the Ghost Rider curse. Naomi was finally caught by the demon lord Mephisto, who forced her to transform into the Ghost Rider one last time, an act which she could not survive. As she lay dying, Mephisto's proxy Pastor Kale informed her that the Kale curse had skipped to the second oldest child - Barbara - and that while Johnny would not become "the" Ghost Rider he could still become "a" Ghost Rider. Naomi died and was buried in an unmarked grave in Cypress Hills Cemetary. Years later, her disembodied spirit guided her son Daniel into recovering the lost memories of their ancestor, Noble, and she was finally allowed to pass on to the next world. Information: [Ghost Rider # -1], [Ghost Rider # 93 (vol. 2)], [Ghost Rider: Finale] Mid 1970s - Ghost Rider V/Max Parrish A noted archaelogist, Max Parrish became involved in the hunt for the mysterious "Amulet of Z" alongside his neice, Cammy, and her adolescent friends Susan and Johnny Storm (later the Invisible Woman and Human Torch of the Fantastic Four). While in possession of the Amulet, Parrish and the children were pursued by the demonic Comte St. Germaine, who wanted the Amulet for his master, Dracula. While on the run from the Comte, the Amulet of Z began to speak to Parrish and Johnny Storm, appearing as a ghostly apparition consumed by flames. The Amulet was in truth a physical representation of the fabled Medallion of Power, and the spirit was that of Zarathos, a part of whom had been trapped within the Medallion. When Zarathos offered to possess young Storm to save them, Parrish stood in his place and was transformed into the Ghost Rider. After defeating the Comte, Zarathos was set to ride off with the body of Parrish, but was stopped by Johnny Storm when the boy ripped the Medallion of Power free from the front of the demon's motorcycle (actually a car mystically transformed into a bike). Parrish was freed from Zarathos' possession and the remains of the destroyed car - along with the Medallion - was placed in a junkyard adjacent to Cypress Hills Cemetary. Following these events, the essence of Zarathos was purged from the Medallion of Power, making the demon whole while he remained in servitude to Mephisto. Information: [Before the 4: The Storms # 3]	Index: Spirits of Vengeance 1st app: Ghost Rider # 42 (vol. 2) Zarathos 1st app (in true form): Ghost Rider # 76 (vol. 1) Ghost Rider I 1st app: Ghost Rider # 78 (vol. 2) Ghost Rider II 1st app: Ghost Rider: Trail of Tears # 2 Ghost Rider III 1st app: Ghost Rider # 89 (vol. 2) Blazing Skull 1st app: Mystic Comics # 1 Ghost Rider IV 1st app: Ghost Rider # -1 Ghost Rider V 1st app: The Storms # 3