Death Battle Predictions: Ghost Rider VS Spawn

“Sometimes a deal with the devil is better than no deal at all.” - Lawrence Hill

Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance of Marvel Comics. 

Spawn, the Hellspawn of Image Comics. 

These two were once ordinary men, knowing nothing but a slew of bad luck and havoc wreaked upon their lives. Desperation took over, and it led them to make a deal with the Devil himself if it meant another chance, and they were brought back as their very own vengeful punishers of sin. They are some of comic books’ finest anti-heroes, and if you find yourself in their chains, know that the weight of your sins will burn you to the ground. Will Johnny Blaze be taken by the world and its shadows, or will Al Simmons know the true meaning of Hell? Suffer the sting of hellfire and brimstone in this DEATH BATTLE!

Before We Start…

We will be using comics as the main material for both combatants, Ghost Rider will be given his mainline Earth-616 comic appearances and Spawn will be given his mainline Image series and spinoffs. 

Ghost Rider is very simple in how we will be covering Johnny Blaze and Zarathos as the mantle of the Spirit of Vengeance, but Spawn may be the more divisive to say the least. 

Spawn will have covered every lead appearance he’s had as part of Image and spin-offs with others from his cast such as Cy-Gor and The Scorched. Even though scaling won’t factor into it, the crossovers where Spawn is a major role can be seen as usable like Mars Attacks and Batman, with only one-off crossovers seen as non-viable (Invincible, Mortal Kombat, Soul Calibur, etc.). 

Background

Preview images by Hippo.

Ghost Rider

“I am more than Johnny Blaze...and less! For I am also the Ghost Rider! And wherever Blaze rides...there ride I, waiting to wreak my vengeance!”

For over 20 years, the Quentin Carnival was one of America’s most popular travelling festivals, and one of its main attractions would always be the stuntacular motorcycle shows. This is the place where young Johnny Blaze grew up, alongside his parents, Barton Blaze and Naomi Kale. Everything seemed great for Johnny, until one day his mother suddenly abandoned the circus and family, taking Johnny’s brother and sister, Barbara and Daniel with her. This was due to a family curse that Naomi was keenly aware of in the Kale family, due to some sort of medallion passed on for generations. Johnny knew nothing of this, but Naomi assumed that Johnny would be the victim of such suffering. This left him with depression and suppression of happy memories with his family, and his suffering didn’t seem to end. A stunt accident would take the life of his father Barton shortly after, and one of the other performers, Crash, would take in Johnny and raise him. All efforts to hide Blaze’s family past from him were succeeding however, and Johnny was unaware of what trouble may befall onto him for years to come.

Johnny was with Crash in the Crash Simpson Stunt Cycle Extravaganza for some time, until death struck again, this time Crash’s wife Mona. Before she died, she told Johnny to leave the riding behind, and Johnny promised her that he would, and for years would refuse any offer to partake in the shows. Just as he thought it couldn’t get any worse, Crash was hit with cancer, and he wasn’t going to live for very long. Johnny couldn’t live with this fact at all, coming to see Crash as a father figure in place of the parents he lost, and the mysticism Johnny remained oblivious to for so long would finally end. Whatever it took, he would find a way to cure Crash of his cancer, and began studying the occult. He found a spell that didn’t seem ideal for most mortal men, one that could summon the very Devil himself; Mephisto. And so, a deal was made between Johnny Blaze and the King of Hell; cure Crash of his cancer, certainly. But the price was Johnny would be sentenced to eternity in Hell. But a deal with the devil is almost bound to burn, and Crash died afterwards regardless due to a failed 22 car jump accident. 

Johnny sought to honor his father figure by attempting the jump himself, but it too failed, and it seemed like Johnny Blaze’s soul was in deep grand jeopardy. His lover at the time Roxanne proclaimed her love for Blaze despite his life's misfortunes before Mephisto could steal his end of the bargain, driving away the demon. But this isn’t where the story ends. Blaze was unaware of what Mephisto had truly done to him when the deal was made, and Blaze was now bonded with a demon named Zarathos, giving Blaze the ability to transform into a flaming leather-clad skeleton. Though Johnny still had his soul, it was being used for a new purpose, one of servitude towards Mephisto and anything he asks of. When evil was in his presence, the seeker of restitution would come to life. A protector of the innocent, yes, but also an angel that would bring about the law of justice quenched in hellfire. A force that seeks to punish the wicked, forcing them to atone for their sins and know the stare of the one who did so. When vengeance calls, the Ghost Rider answers.

Spawn

“This is my fate. This is what I've chosen to be. This world and its shadows belong to me. Now and forever, I am Spawn.”

Born in Detroit, there was a boy who would grow up to join the ranks of the US Marine Corps. Albert Simmons would slowly be molded into the best of the best part of their elite task forces apart from the CIA. That is at least until the director, Jason Wynn, took his life when he was about to leave this life of murder behind. Instead, Al’s death would leave behind his wife Wanda alone, but this wouldn’t be his end. As Al fell to Hell, he made a deal with a lord, Malebolgia. He would serve as a member of his hellspawn and a soldier part of Hell’s army if he could come back to see Wanda. And that he did…at a cost. 

Al came back now a part of his army of hellspawn, freakishly disfigured and now covered in a black suit with new extraordinary powers. But this didn’t come without a cost, it had been years since Al had died and Wanda moved on to his best friend, even having a child with him. So now Albert was left with nothing but his soul trapped in the hands of hell, an annoying clown named Violator to guide him, and a new goal in mind. Now he would not quite be a hero, but help punish those in need of penance. So he would put down the evils of the world that he would come across, and even battle the forces of Heaven and Hell in his way. 

But as the forces of Heaven and Hell kept swarming into his life, Al felt as if he was losing himself and going mad. Needing to overthrow his lord, Malebolgia, and so he did. Through blood and necroplasm, he tore Malebolgia’s head off of his shoulders and let out a scream that would shake the timbers of creation. But not without a cost, he would lose Angela and now be left in an empty hell… or so he thought. Because now it has expanded beyond what Al could comprehend, finding God, Satan and a being known as The Mother of All Existence who reigns above all. Taking a liking to Spawn and his struggles, she would follow his journey of becoming divine after eating an apple from the Garden of Eden, merging and letting Al become a god. So he would banish God & Satan from his new world, recreating it himself so he can be with Wanda once more.

And while he would face many more trials and tribulations of Hell, Heaven and beyond. Al would never truly find happiness in his life, knowing he cannot stay with Wanda. But know this, if there’s evil out there in the world and in need of penance, there’s one man- no, thing, that will stop you…and his name is Spawn.

Experience & Skill

Ghost Rider

In his circus days, Johnny Blaze was a very skilled motorcyclist. He has performed many skilled acrobatic feats and stunts, like when he jumped 18 flaming monster trucks during his stuntman days, and is capable of riding a motorcycle even on a tightrope. Growing up in the circus has also made him a skilled mechanic, building his first bike from junkyard scrap at just age nine. While Johnny has limited knowledge of the occult, Zarathos on the other hand is quite the experienced demon, waging wars on the Spirits of Vengeance and corrupting their overseers, the Blood, from over 20,000 years ago, being occasionally bonded to people as Ghost Riders for centuries. Johnny and Zarathos spent 100 years (in Hell time) beating up Mephisto.

In terms of fighting, Blaze is very skilled with his chains, being able to take down groups of men with them all at once, and is precise enough with them to target the heart of a large demon. Despite no formal training, Blaze is a somewhat skilled combatant, stated to be an excellent marksman, which is proven by his ability to shoot Jack O’Lantern’s bombs mid-air with his chains. Blaze was able to take on a much larger Hell-Spawn (wait a minute-) despite having his powers removed. He defeated an assassin hired to kill him, took down two archers on horseback while wounded, and crippled a demon by targeting specific points of the body like the kneecaps.

Spawn

Even before becoming the great Hellspawn Al was a great mercenary. He was treated as the best and was even skilled enough that he saved the president from a assaination attempt and so good at killing that Malboga wanted him as his general for his many other Hellspawns. This can be seen with his mastery of both weapons and hand to hand combat. These skills would help him a lot when he became Spawn as his skills would translate a lot well. For example Al was able to defeat over 2,000 demons all on his own, hunt demons for a week straight with little rest, use tactics so his enemy can think they have the upperhand only for Al to do a counter attack, and help with leading the Schored. His training didn’t just end there though as he would gain the teachings of both Houdini, the escape artist and expert in using Necroplasm and Cogliostro who was the person who made and was the first Hellspawn. Through them Al was able to use his powers to his fullest extent.  

As for the people he has fought, Al has been all around the place. Besides the normal everyday demons, Al has fought people like the kings of hell like Malboga and Satan both of which have centuries worth of experience given their status in hell. His other hellspawn allies on his own such as James Downing and Hush while in a weakened state because of Sinn draining much of his power. He also fought the forces of heaven including the Redeemers which is Heavens equivalent to Hellspawns and Angela who also has centuries of experience and even killed other hellspawn before fighting Al. Most notably though is along with the Scorched they were able to fend off Sin Devours. This is notable as they have the ability to scan and properly counter any Hellspawn attacks. 

Equipment

Ghost Rider

Mystical Chains

Ghost Rider can project mystical chains that can extend in length, cut through anything with hellfire, transform them into weapons, and manipulate wherever they go. Johnny can never run out of these, and can grow them through his mouth or chest. It has mystical properties as a weapon, being considered a holy one capable of banishing a demon or Ghost Rider back to Hell when no other weapon can. They are capable of matching the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak, and can restrain powerful foes like Doctor Voodoo, the Sorcerer Supreme, and the Venom symbiote.

Hellcycle

One of the most iconic vehicles in comic history, the Hellcycle is a motorcycle powered by Hellfire, leaving a trail of it behind which can be used tactically. Johnny may have a bit of a difference in style with his cycles compared to Danny Ketch, but his preference is one he can concentrate to make out of pure hellfire, being able to summon it whenever he likes, as he mentally controls it from anywhere in the world. It can also travel on walls, buildings, or any vertical surface really. It can even ride normally on water. It is also capable of summoning up chains to drag around a poor soul and be controlled by a Rider from afar for a surprise attack on foes. If it takes any damage, hellfire can easily repair it as well.

Hellfire Weaponry

On certain occasions when Johnny is separated from the Spirit of Vengeance, he still comes with hell to pay. Mephisto has been kind enough to gift him with hellfire shotguns that shoot actual beams of hellfire, or in huge blasts. It can easily shred through demons, burning their skin away, and hurt more notable beings like Adam, the first man. Yeah that makes sense. He’s also used a Hellfire Shotgun to battle with Zarathos alongside two other Spirits of Vengeance without any of his other Ghost Rider powers. 

Magic Relic

Johnny’s not without his defenses. Even as a human, he has access to a medallion that generates a barrier through which hellfire cannot pass.

Spawn

K7-Leetha

Spawn’s greatest weapon. K7-Leetha is the daughter of the Seventh house of K. An ever evolving neural parasite, it was gifted to Al Simmons and bonded with him to create Spawn. It links with the central nervous system of the host. It has been shown to be fully sentient, having a symbiotic relationship with Al by feeding off of his Necroplasm. The costume is even able to separate itself from the host entirely and fight by itself, sucking the life force out of foes. Like most creatures of Hell, Leetha feeds off of Evil, Sin, and negative emotions.  Darkness itself is even described as a power source for it. However, she also feeds off of souls, and is capable of devouring the souls of those caught in its grasp. Alongside this, Leetha’s vampiric nature allows it to draw power from other Demons. In order to be created, Leetha was made by Malebogia out of innocent souls, all of them bound to spawn and his suit.

Leetha is linked directly to both Al’s DNA and his soul. Upon bonding with him, it corrupted the natural order, Al’s remaining humanity changing the parasite. It holds a psychic bond with Spawn, and can communicate with him freely. Bound directly to his soul, Al is capable of returning back to the earthly plane as long as a part of Leetha remains. Other hellspawns have shown the ability to fuse weapons to their symbiote as well. Simply removing Leetha is also not enough to remove Al’s powers, as he and the symbiote simultaneously wield the powers of Spawn. While Malebogia has been able to control Leetha while attached to Jim Downing, he was unable to do the same to Al when he was in the costume. Even Satan, who stated to have the ability to remove these powers from Simmons found himself unable to stop Leetha, requiring a deal to make Al give up the suit.

If Al is incapacitated and unable to fight, Leetha is capable of taking over his body. Even when under a psychic attack that prevented him from attacking, Leetha resisted it and fought back. Using the identity of Spawn, she has shown herself to be extremely brutal and capable of using all the same abilities that Al is capable of. She is capable of putting small parts of herself in others, serving as a poison that can destroy the afflicted from the inside out. Even after being removed from Al, Leetha was able to exist as his shadow, a missing part of his soul that was reattached by Nyx, stitched into Al’s heart. If a piece of it remains on Earth, Spawn is able to return back from the grave, this includes while he was in the afterlife after dying in a Dead Zone. Being in the Dead Zone negates all powers and souls of those from Heaven and Hell (see below)

One of the most interesting things about K7-Leetha is her ability to adapt and grow. With every fight, the parasite grows closer to Al and grows stronger. She is an ever-evolving living weapon, adapting and changing over time. Simply inflicting violence makes her stronger, bringing her even closer with her host. She is capable of obtaining new powers over time, making her one of the strongest weapons in the universe.

Al is capable of detonating Leetha, creating a massive explosion that releases all the necroplasm inside. While this does not fully destroy the symbiote, it leaves her as a costume that will have to be regrown. Even a single thread is capable of regenerating back to full health.

These explosions are strong enough to kill Satan, an immortal being who even god cannot kill, and a weaker one opened a tear in spacetime and weakened the barriers between dimensions.

Symbiotes have also been shown to have the ability to adapt to and merge with outside forces, such as Gunslinger being able to fuse with wings ripped off of an angel. These wings are stated to be merging 

Gunslinger’s body with heaven. These symbiotes are also capable of absorbing sources of power such as these wings.

Guns

One of Spawn’s old reliable is his plethora of weapons. This includes weapons such as basic things like Pistols and machine guns but includes weapons specifically made so that any Hellspawn can die from a shot of it. While this weapon didn’t kill the intended target, Sinn, it’s still a powerful gun in his universe. If they didn’t already hurt enough, much weaker Hellspawn like Gunslinger Spawn have shown the ability to enhance bullets with Necroplasm to ensure that any human, angel, or demon isn’t getting out alive. 

Cape

One of Spawn's most notable items is his cape. Besides looking so freaking cool, it helps Spawn out in a few ways. Firstly, the cape is a living being with its own body and mind, though in the early days it wouldn’t cooperate with him as a result. Their relationship improved over time however and it can actually help Spawn in combat like protecting him like a shield and holding up any bad guys Spawn needs. It’s also able to teleport Spawn into different places and swallow enemies whole.

It can take Spawn into itself to protect him like it did with his first fight against Angela, teleport him into the wasteland which is a place Spawn can take any thug he doesn’t like and let the monsters in that realm eat them up, and can take Spawn into a shadow realm. In this place, it’s said that a Hellspawn makes the rules and for Al this means he can turn off the feeling of pain and most notably can change a person's mind. This was shown when Spawn was helping an old friend being mind controlled and made his memories be changed without breaking him. 

Chains

The last main weapon and item Spawn has is his trusty chains. The chains can act almost on its own being part of Leetha and if needed can send the chains out to any attacking foe. The chains also work defensively, acting as literal armor for Spawn. With them, Spawn can incapacitate foes while holding them in the air which makes it easier for him to deal with them but it can also help power up Spawn. If Spawn wants, he can send his chains down in hell which can send energy into him giving a boost in power.

Spawn is able to channel necroplasm through these chains directly into his victims, create enough to fill an entire alleyway, and even enhance the size of his chains to massive proportions that dwarf most humans and demons. He can add spiked edges that can rip you apart if they latch once you. Being intangible won’t save you either, as they have been able to hurt ghosts that Spawn was unable to hit otherwise.

Sword of the Spirit

After Satan broke the rules of his war with God by taking Wanda’s soul, God decided to step in. Reaching out to Spawn, he decided to give him a weapon to assist him in his journey to Hell. The Sword of the Spirit. Given to Spawn by God, The Sword of the Spirit is God’s word manifested. After receiving it, Spawn gained the ability to summon this sword at will, even being able to turn pieces of his costume into the holy blade. With a single slice, it gains the ability to rip out and absorb the souls of the demons it hits. It’s capable of sending souls to the judgement point between heaven and hell. Belial, one of Satan’s top demons, ran away in fear of this sword. This is important as Belial is stated to be one of Satan’s top demons. It’s even managed to harm Satan himself, being used to hack the king of hell apart in their bout. Spawn’s final action with this sword was to use it to forever seal Hell away from Earth following Satan’s death.

Abilities

Ghost Rider

Supernatural Physiology

As a Ghost Rider, Johnny possesses a lot of functions, taking his own abilities and smarts and combining them with those of the demon Zarathos, his very own Spirit of Vengeance. Through sheer acts of will, Johnny can transform into the Ghost Rider whenever he can, becoming an agent of Heaven itself. This used to only occur at night only, but Ghost Rider has since gained the ability to transform whenever. While Johnny and Zarathos share the body, it is primarily Johnny who acts, acting as a safety net that locks away the full extent of Zarathos. If such a safety net is broken however and Zarathos takes control, at most Johnny can only influence some of what the demon does, but ultimately takes a back seat, so Johnny’s overall control over Zarathos is dependent on his mental state. If Johnny is weakened through no fault of his own, then Zarathos indefinitely can take control.

Ghost Riders are immortal beings, with a variety of powers and abilities, all of which are primarily based around the occult, something even Johnny himself is skilled in. He can still function and move around only as a head. Even further, he’s shown to be able to still perform crucial abilities like the Penance Stare as just a head. Ghost Riders do not need to eat, sleep, or breath, and are immune to conventional aging and disease. Ghost Riders also possess immunity to any mystical attacks that target the human soul. Spirits of Vengeance are incredibly resilient beings, they can walk off attacks meant to kill them so long as there is still vengeance to exact.

Hellfire Manipulation

Fitting for the emissary of the underworld, Ghost Rider possesses total control of the esoteric supernatural endless fire of Hell itself. It can burn through anything, from people to weapons to demons, this unnatural fire can destroy all manners of otherworldly beings. It can be delivered in blasts from his hands, eyes, or his mouth up to 40 feet away. He can even manipulate regular fire. He can deliver them in explosions that “light up the sky like a second sun”. The flames themselves feel cold, as said by its victims, even going to directly attack your soul, feeling like every wound ever dealt on someone being inflicted back upon the tormentor, burning away at the mind and layers of the soul. Similarly it can completely destroy spiritual beings. This hellfire has harmed many notable Marvel characters such as Dr. Strange, Captain America, Thor, Man Thing, Rogue, and even the Incredible Hulk.

The potency of the hellfire is very dependent on Ghost Rider’s mental state, and the weaker he is, the less effective his soul-searing abilities are, but even weaker attacks can still cause harm to the soul to beings such as Angel. After all, it is the heat he gives off of his flaming skull, being so hot it can burn someone without even touching them. They've passed through The Thing's rock hide, liquid nitrogen, magical barriers, and have hurt symbiotes and brought down symbiote dragons. Even soulless beings like Null can be affected by the hellfire, who is an embodiment of anti-life and the void itself, yet it still withered away from the Ghost Rider’s hellfire. This is consistent with the fact Hellfire can even harm the likes of the Rider’s master Mephisto, a conceptual being, and also has weaker showings of harming beings said to embody darkness. 

Hellfire Infusion

Hellfire not only binds with Johnny himself, but it can also merge with objects and weapons like his iconic chains, swords, knives, crosses, and chainsaws. Or, he can imbue people or demons with it, causing implosions in their body. This can even be used to animate skeletal structures, such as a t-rex skull. Or even be infused with natural structures to cause earthquakes. He can even control weapons used against him.

Hellfire Constructs

Like a ghostly artist, Johnny can bend hellfire in a variety of ways, and is notably able to make anything out of hellfire, such as barriers around himself, or a wall of fire that could burn up the oxygen surrounding someone, making it hard for them to breathe. Conversely, he can destroy these hellfire objects he creates. If you do not possess Satanic powers, you cannot interact with objects created by the Spirit of Vengeance. Since he is comparable to the likes of other Riders like Danny Ketch, he's able to create clones made of hellfire as well. 

Hellfire Firestorm

Ghost Rider can call down hellfire from the sky onto an area, causing huge devastation that can burn through demons and set everything ablaze.

Hellfire Absorption

While hellfire is his main firepower (heh), he does not just project it, he can also easily absorb it, and regular fire in order to grow stronger or take back what hellfire he lost. He can also absorb normal fire.

Regeneration

If the Ghost Rider wasn’t already hard enough to kill with his overwhelming power and tenacity, he comes in with a built in supernatural healing factor, being able to hang onto the mortal plane to continue exacting vengeance on wretched sinners. His regeneration lets him completely regenerate lost limbs, patch up bullet holes from magical bullets, come back from having his skull/bone body dissipated, regrow his head, reform from a grenade explosion, return from total annihilation, and was once described as having “godlevel” regeneration. Ghost Riders are so dangerously immortal, even Mephisto, the devil who bonded Johnny and Zarathos, could not kill them.

Supernatural Awareness

As one would assume of a divine omnipresent harbinger of vengeance The Rider possesses an astute awareness of the fabric of reality, capable of feeling nearby magical occurrences such as evil, or even feeling presences while dormant. Borrowing from a fellow superhero based on the things that bump in the night, he can even sense danger, and will auto-transform if he’s in his human state at the time. Even while dormant the Rider is capable of picking up “scents”, which allow him to track anyone or anything. He can passively hear cries of the innocent from across the world. He can even grant people the ability to sense entities as well. As the title would imply, spirits of vengeance are capable of feeling sins, so they may reap their titular vengeance. Johnny has also shown the ability to see straight through souls directly, knowing the actions of evil on first sight.

Sin Manipulation

As a spirit of vengeance, Johnny can sense and affect the sins of people by analyzing their soul. He’s able to see every wrong action they’ve ever taken with a mere touch and has the ability to affect others' morality directly, as he can drain people of their anger, hatred, and trespasses. Adam, the first man said Ghost Rider has the power to snuff out the sin of an entire country, he just never knew he had such power, so Ghost Rider has the ability to eat sins. 

Soul Manipulation

Ghost Rider can manipulate souls in a variety of ways, primarily inflicting torment upon them with hellfire or the Penance Stare, but there are many other applications such as the ability to see through and cleanse souls. With his hellfire, he can also burn or destroy souls or ghosts such as the Apparition, even those whose souls are immortal. Additionally he’s been able to either yank a bunch of souls out of someone, in this case being Centurious (seen above), or place them back in.

Ride Symbiosis

As the name would imply, this Ghost rides by infusing any object with hellfire. He can mount and take full control of it, most iconic of which being the Hell Cycle, and this greatly amplifies any vehicle he is riding. 

Dimensional Travel

Ghost Rider is able to travel through planes. Thanks to his attachment to the physical plane via Johnny, he is able to travel from Hell to Earth safely whereas compared to other beings like Lucifer, is unable to via lack of a physical attachment. The Hellcycle has also shown capabilities of dimensional travel. 

Exorcism

An extension of Ghost Rider’s ability to control souls is his ability to force souls out of bodies, driving them back to wherever they came from. This applies to demons as well, being able to force them out of people’s bodies and send them back to Hell as well.

Summoning

Johnny is able to summon entire legions of Ghost Riders at his disposal, which he did when storming the gates of Heaven to stop Zadkiel. He can also summon angels from Heaven upon his foes to deliver God’s wrath in its most terrifying and divine form. The swords of the angels can inflict every wrong they have done to another human onto their soul. 

Astral Projection/Soul Removal

Johnny was taught a “severance spell”, which allows him to exit his own body, and approach another being’s soul. He used it during his separation (messy breakup) with Zarathos to talk to his former possessor and bypass his new host (rebound). 

Magic

Ghost Rider’s experience with the occult and supernatural has given him some pointers on certain magic spells, though he is far less experienced than someone like Dr. Strange, such as when he used a portal to transport someone to Hell, but it sent himself and the Thunderbolts to Hell instead. His page in the Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe says that Johnny knows some minor spells, such as binding and summoning spells, which is proven by his ability to summon a pentagram to restrain fellow Ghost Rider Danny Ketch. He was even told by a telepath named Linda that if he tried, he could project his thoughts into the air.

Power Absorption

Ghost Rider was able to steal the Miracle Man’s power, turning him back into a mortal man. Miracle Man’s power was sufficient enough to transform an entire Indian reservation into a large town and place a new star in the sky.

The Penance Stare

The Rider’s most famous and most potent ability, with a mere glance he can subject individuals to divine judgement, a fate in which no man can escape. People caught in its clutches will immediately experience a lifetime of pain, sorrow, and guilt from their own misdeeds. He can force people to experience all the pain and affliction they have ever caused, causing them immense anguish. In this sense, you will see through the eyes of everyone you have ever wronged, not just the sins directly. It will also force you to relive memories of your past. Since the penance stare is from the will of God himself, even morally virtuous beings can be harmed. Despite being direct divine judgement from inconceivable holy forces, the Rider possesses a degree of control over penance, choosing when it is and is not lethal. He can also choose specific points in a person’s life to hone in on. 

Due to the inconsistent nature and writing of the Penance Stare, we decided to give the best and most simplified version of what the ability is at its core. For more in-depth information, such as who it has been performed on and its weaknesses, please see its Before the Verdict section.

Misc Shared Ghost Rider Abilities

Insect Manipulation: A swarm of locusts come out of Alejandra’s mouth to destroy the Servicer.

Weather Manipulation: Alejandra can call down and weaponize lightning. In addition to this, she can form and manipulate the clouds.

Molecular Manipulation: Danny was able to de-evolve a demon that was genetically altered.

Essence Absorption: Spirits of Vengeance are capable of stealing each other’s “flame”, whether this is an extension of hellfire manipulation is unclear .

Technological Manipulation: The Hood distorted technology with their mere presence.

Resistances

Mind Manipulation: Johnny has resisted Mojo’s mind control (even though he still went mad), dispelled it instantly via transforming, ignored the sway of a mystical siren song by transforming into the rider, resisted the effects of a mind control helmet in human form, and the Marvel Handbook page states Johnny is immune to mind control. Dr. Strange has a difficult time entering his mind.

Illusions: Can dispel illusions with a touch, or with his hellfire, which broke Snake Dance’s illusory snakes.

Hypnosis: Ghost Rider can resist hypnosis, and was unaffected by Fashima’s dizzying effects.

Fear Manipulation: Ghost Rider resisted a wave of fear by a demon that made people incapable of speech citywide.

Poison: Poisonous drinks have no effect on Ghost Rider.

Shrinking: Resisted Null’s shrinking abilities in the Microverse, growing back to regular size via sheer force of will.

Paralysis: The Rider’s satanic power shielded him from a blast that paralyzes all it strikes

Status Effect Inducement: Was unaffected by Fashima’s dizziness effects. 

Molecular Manipulation: In a weakened state, Danny was able to resist blasts that could revert him to his most basic genetic makeup.

Biological Manipulation/Transmutation: Resisted the Skin-Bender’s abilities, which can shape flesh and mind at will, but it wasn't able to alter Johnny's skin.

Exorcism: Hellstorm exorcism doesn’t work on a Ghost Rider due to Zarathos’ bond with the human host’s soul.

Soul Manipulation: Satan says that he cannot claim the Ghost Rider’s soul, trying to rip Johnny’s soul out will merely reveal the Rider.

Power Nullification: Ghost Rider had a large portion of his power drained in order to be vulnerable to be teleported to the fiery netherworld, to the point where half of his power drained and is pinned down, about to be stabbed down to his very soul. Through sheer will, Rider uses his remaining power to break free and reclaims his stolen power by force. Even when most of his power was removed by Satan, Ghost Rider was able to give himself the ability to create objects from hellfire again.

Spawn

Necroplasm

Spawn is composed of Necroplasm; an ethereal substance that possesses no skeletal structure, blood or veins within his form. Necroplasm was originally ‘by-products’ of creation energy during the beginning of everything - able to mix the host's life energy with its own [dark] energy. It is the very corporeal substance of Hell; drawing strength from its own being, with its flesh imbued with the seven deadly sins of humanity - embodying primal forces such as wrath, greed, envy, and desire. Hell is formed from Necroplasm. Hell being a conceptual manifestation of the Human race's ecstasy of ‘pain’ - through their need of an “eternal damnation”; made of separate spheres with specific levels of specific [conceptual] sin. True to their designation as incarnations of madness, the creatures of Hell exist in a paradoxical state - both nowhere and everywhere - warring for dominance. Hell & Heaven were never intended for human comprehension. Hell itself is a realm of excruciating torment, unspeakable terror, and suffering far beyond mortal conception. These abominations subsist on Necroplasm, a primordial essence deposited in the abyssal depths of Hell countless eternities ago. Were it not for the presence of necroplasm, these creatures would have long ceased to exist; it is their vital essence, their ambrosia, their sustenance - the very nectar from which all of Hell’s infernal offspring draw life. Heaven’s forces even use this specific energy as well to combat the ‘Hellspawns’ - further supporting both armies being “the same”. Darkness is also drawn to the sustenance of Hell - Necroplasm, a vile essence steeped in malice, wrath, and all the other corrosive vices that plague humanity’s soul. With its secrets being impossible to grasp. Sustained by Al's suit, which absorbs the corrupt black energy [evil] exchanged between it and the abominations - this mirrors the truth that evil is essential for Spawn's existence - this evil strengthens him. Evil is a construct and concept borne from men; with necroplasm being shaped not only by the ideas of evil, but by something far less limiting.

Necroplasm can be utilized & weaponized for a variety of different purposes: It can take any form imaginable. Blasts of green energy. Conjure the “Necro Flames”; a fire that consumes its victims from within & is unlike any ordinary fire - the more a Hellspawn channels negative emotions [fury; hate] the more powerful the Necroflames get - even if the Hellspawn is untrained (or a novice), the attack will still be devastating - these flames are potent enough to reduce Vampires to smoldering husks, who can only be obliterated through absolute atomization. Distort the fabric of reality with the mere weight of his presence. Attach his Necroplasm within one's body - dismantling it from the inside out. Disable and manipulate technology. Interact with ghosts. Poison bodies. Absorb information. And much more [Check his other abilities].

Spawn, originally, had a limited reservoir of energy; shown to the reader in the form of a counter that began at 9:9:9:9. However, upon assuming the mantle of the King of Hell, his energy & supplies have become infinite. And since his rebirth and regaining of his soul, it's been revealed the power is inherently his, not K7-Leetha's.

Teleportation

One of Spawn’s early abilities he learned was teleportation. While this power is useful, the process is very painful as it has Spawn molecules being ripped apart and brought back together to his desired location. Other uses of these powers include Spawn being able to teleport into a person’s body so he could rip them apart from the inside which he did to a random thug and Satan so he could get some free hits. Spawn can also teleport others as well via opening portals which includes areas such as Limbo which is likely in another dimension and acts as a prison for whoever Spawn doesn’t like. 

Illusions/Hallucinations

Spawn has the ability to induce hallucinations on whoever he pleases. With these illusions Spawn can mess with one's mind and it makes things feel real for the person being affected. These illusions can stem from a weird therapy session which made a person change their life a year later or showing the victim what Hell is actually like. These illusions are potent enough to lead to the deaths of several people afflicted through various means.

Mental Manipulation

There are quite a few ways in which Spawn can mess with one’s mind. The first and most obvious one is Al’s ability to take control of one’s mind which can be used to give him all the info he needs. Another notable thing Spawn can do with this ability is jump into one’s mind. We see this done by both Al himself with Batman showing his memories (Shown above) and by Medieval Spawn when he’s able to see into a girl's mind and know her life’s story. Lastly, Spawn can also mess with one’s memories. This is through Necroplasm as he was able to take a part of his mind and send it to his wife’s mind making her remember a good memory. 

Soul Manipulation

One of the abilities that Hell has given Spawn is that of soul manipulation. Leetha herself is fueled off of souls, and grows stronger whenever she kills. Spawn can devour souls, absorb hundreds of them into his body, exorcise and banish ghosts, and remove demons from the bodies of humans. Devouring souls and having soul links to other Hellspawn also provides a major buff, as the more souls you have, the stronger you are.

It has also been shown that weaker Hellspawn can possess other hosts if their current one dies while a Dead Zone is closed, transferring their spirit and all of their powers to the unwilling victim.

Time Manipulation

See one day Spawn had a reasonable issue of getting tired of trying to do the right thing only for others to get punished. So he decided he would monolog so hard he would stop time because why not. That’s not the only thing Spawn has done with time as he was able to break the very concept of time! Through detonating his costume, Spawn created a “Time Rip” that pulled in Hellspawn and angels from across all of time to Earth, weakening them but causing a brand new war in the process. He has been able to detect evil in the future and his costume can teleport him to this time period and back. This time rip also launched Violator across time, with him requiring a vast amount of absorbed necroplasm to properly return. 

Accelerated Development

One of the most dangerous aspects of Spawn is his ability to grow and change over time. It’s stated that he evolves with every fight, and the more he’s pushed to his limits, the more connected he and his costume become. Every attack only makes him stronger. It is stated that Leetha is ever-evolving, and capable of developing new abilities over time.  Spawn is stated to accelerate at a pace faster than any Spawn has achieved.  He and Leetha grow stronger by inflicting pain on their opponents. Leetha grows and morphs against the threats that it combatted over time.

Summoning

Spawn has access to a wide variety of creatures that he can summon at will. These include…

Insects: Spawn’s ability to control insects is one of the most horrific aspects of his kit. As they are creatures of darkness, he can cause them to flood out of any crack or location around him, even inside of weapons and inside of the victims themselves. They vary in almost every species and have supernatural qualities, the ones made of darkness and sin having soul draining properties. The limits to this summoning also have almost no limit, as Leetha was able to summon enough to threaten almost all of New York.

Wildlife: Creatures of the night are drawn to Hellspawn, and these Hellspawn are able to control and influence these wild animals. 

Souls with animalistic spirits are also able to be used by Hellspawn, as Gunslinger was able to control the children’s souls that Clown was using due to only their animal instinct remaining. 

Ghosts: Spawn is capable of summoning the ghosts and souls of people’s past victims to attack them. 

Bats: Spawn can summon a swarm of bats to attack his opponents, capable of blotting out the sky.

Demons: Spawn is able to summon demons from Hell to consume the soul of any unfortunate victim who really pisses him off.

Hellspawn: Spawn is linked to other Hellspawn due to a soul link provided by his ever evolving symbiote. This allows him to gain access to every Hellspawn that has ever existed, in past, present, and future. Heaven itself feared this ability, stating that the only reason Al hadn't won was that he didn’t know how to summon this army. However, he has shown the capability to do this via King of Hell before gaining this ability naturally (See below)

Water Manipulation

Spawn is able to create gigantic tidal waves that he can manipulate and use to disorient enemies. The wave that he used against The Kingdom was strong enough to drag them to the bottom of the ocean.

Transformation

Besides the cool Hellspawn suit we know and love, Al can transform his body into a few different things. He can turn into simple things such as say a Bat for a quick escape but that is far from the only thing he can turn into. If he chooses to, he can turn into other beings like Violator and Batman. He can also become a giant flaming skull. Rad.

Reality Warping

Spawn is able to warp reality, breaking and shifting it through his energy, as well as being able to completely reconfigure reality, such as when he was displaced by a dimensional lance, and needed to find his way back. Additionally, magic is stated to be about perception and the will’s ability to alter that perception. Spawn can use energies gathered from beyond the main reality to alter reality, as a being creature of magic, especially considering his symbiotic connection. 

Lifeforce Draining

Spawn can feed off the lifeforce of demons thanks to the vampiric nature of Leetha. This allows him to draw off of their power in order to heal himself. In his fight against Raptor, both were able to simultaneously drain each other’s lifeforce.

Manifestation

During his teachings with Hoduine, Spawn was able to learn one of his most useful abilities: Manifestation. Similar to a Green Lantern, Spawn can make and turn other items into anything he wants. So long as he knows its essence such as its weight, material, color, etc Spawn can make it. This can stem from little things such as making water into wine, making an invisible car visible via changing its particles, making a key that works for said car, and making a racist turn into a black man. 

Portal Creation

Spawn is able to open and seal portals to hell. The portals he opens are strong enough to suck in demons and ghosts like a vacuum, while Spawn remains unaffected. He’s able to control these portals to the point where he can open one on you and send you to Hell with just a touch.

Empowering/Depowering

Spawn has shown the ability to empower and depower Demons. He was able to steal and return powers to Ab and Zab, and remove the ability to shift from one of Satan’s favorite minions. He has been able to give small parts of his power to other humans, such as Jessica Priest. Characters like Malebogia have been able to freely rob creatures made of Necroplasm of their abilities, such as locking Violator into his Clown form. Medieval Spawn has shown the ability to undo transformations.

Sin Manipulation

One of Spawn’s more unique abilities is the power to manipulate the sins of others. He can absorb the sins of every New Yorker at once, transfer sins onto others, and use them to power Leetha. This removal leaves individuals pure, and also marks those who these sins are transferred into as targets for those who are looking to destroy it, such as causing members of the kingdom to attack one another despite their bond.

Spawn is able to absorb Sin and Evil in order to heal himself and strengthen himself, whether from mankind or animals.

His most dangerous usage is that of turning your own sins against you. He can manifest one’s sin into physical form, turning them into insects that will attempt to rejoin the person they were removed from. This includes worms, who are capable of absorbing the sins and evil from souls. Even those that feed off of sin and guilt aren’t spared, as Spawn was capable of removing all the sin from Sin Eaters. He can make somebody’s negative Karma eat them alive, make them feel the pain of all the people they’ve hurt in their past lives, or rip the evil out of people, undoing possession. This is potent enough to tear an almost fully powered Malebogia out of the Freak, when he was only missing a single piece of his power. 

Greenworld Abilities 

Upon gaining the abilities of the Greenworld, Spawn was given a deeper connection to humanity. It is what gives him the power to feel the sins and emotions of the world. It also gives him control over nature, such as letting him create a wall of trees, restrain the Dark God Urizen with roots from Heaven, Hell and Earth, and open the ground itself up to swallow Urizen, sealing him. He can also see through the eyes of animals, primarily insects. 

The Black

Spawn has direct access to the Black/the Void. Able to access it directly through shadows, it serves the purpose of transportation for Hellspawn. Spawn is capable of dragging others into this plane, either stranding them within or using it to teleport to any shadow around the globe. This transportation is spammable, as Violator repeatedly teleported around the earth with Jim Downing to escape Malebolgia. He can also use this ability to strand you in another location, such as a deserted island.

The black operates on a separate timeframe from the earthly plane, with entire conversations within being mere seconds on the outside. This includes giving Spawn the ability to teleport to the past and future. 

Once inside this domain, your safety is not confirmed. Monsters lay inside the black, which has also been referred to as limbo. Spawn has been able to expand the black around him and literally scare people to death inside, or simply trap somebody inside until he decides they leave, such as when he did this to Soul Crusher. Monsters and servants lay inside the black, able to surround strong characters like Violator and Jim Downing. 

Spawn has shown the ability to manifest The Black, creating a void that allows no light. Fires, electric lights, and the sun were snuffed out for an entire county for several days. He can also direct attacks through the black, allowing him to attack foes purely through shadow.

King of the Dead

King of the Dead is a latent ability that has been passed down for centuries, Al Simmons is one of the first Hellspawn to unlock this power. He is given the ability to control the dead. This control is connected to the original Spawn’s ability to control damned souls. With this ability, Spawn is able to raise the bodies of the dead. These bodies will serve him, no matter their previous alignment before death. Spawn is able to kill the dead with just a touch. When his power was limited, it had a maximum radius of 200 ft. He can draw the resurrected to him via the black, allowing specific undead to appear anywhere around the opponent. His army has been shown to number in the hundreds.

He also has been able to use this ability to impose his will over other undead, such as when he negated the spells of Nyx’s undead avatar, forced her to kneel, and then killed her by separating her from Queen of Hell Nyx.

Immortality & Regeneration

Spawn is a reanimated corpse; effectively immortal. Al endures, even when his heart is plucked from his chest, his extremities are violently dismembered by Kurse, a gaping hole is blown through his chest, talons pierce through his skull and brain, and et cetera; with the Mother of Existence proclaiming that Al cannot die until he has redeemed himself - an uncanny gift only matched by his renowned regenerative abilities.

Spawn can mend fractured bones, regenerate limbs & restore organs. Swiftly reconstruct his entire body from a skeleton after being torn in half. Rebirth his physical-form from a torn bodily-fluid - a mere handful of Necroplasm droplets suffice to produce the same outcome. Yet, this restoration goes far beyond the realm of the physical - Al can disassemble his molecules into their atomic building blocks, only to reforge them anew. Daniel Llanso has accomplished a similar feat when teleporting Matt, though Al, as a more powerful Hellspawn, surpasses him in every regard. It ensures that even Spawn is incapable of taking his own life - when struck down within the Dead Zone - he was cast into a limbo that exists between Heaven & Hell [oblivion] - his soul torn asunder; scattered across another dimension. Only for K7-Leetha to resurrect him from nothingness. A remarkable instance; as the soul within Spawn is often described as the very essence of his being. Bound to him no matter the form he may inhabit. It is the core that transcends one's present condition; to obliterate it is to erase a person entirely, vanishing not only from existence but from the very fabric of history. To annihilate the soul entirely is key - merely cleaving it or fragmenting it won't suffice, for as long as any trace of the essence remains intact, the soul will only be erased from the immediate reality, not from all of existence.

Only a select few strategies are capable of vanquishing a Hellspawn: full-absorption of their Necroplasm, or decapitation - voiding the creature & it's shell from this level of existence; scattering the fragments to different realms. Alas regrettably, for Angels & Hunters alike, these tactics have been unable to permanently eradicate Al Simmons. On one occasion, Spawn was pulled into the Dead Zone - a realm where his abilities are nullified - and had his head violently severed - However, as soon as Sam and Twitch extracted him from the Dead Zone, Spawn reassembled his head - losing sections of his head is nothing but an inconvenience, and he can easily regrow an entirely new one - his own suicide attempt failed because of this. Even if every fragment of Al's Necroplasm is drained & absorbed, the Greenworld can restore him; rekindling his strength and vitality. Nevertheless, Heaven bestows upon its Angels a weapon unlike any other - an instrument so singular that, in its absence, the pursuit of Hellspawns is not merely foolish, but pointless, and ultimately suicidal - the Dimensional Lance. Once activated, it sets up a dimensional resonance that will “lance” the Hellspawn from this level of existence like a pus from a boil - destroying the Hellspawn, erasing every trace & record of its existence as though it had never been. But, Al is no ordinary Hellspawn. He swiftly regenerated and reconstructed his form. Even when wiped from existence, devoid of any trace of his Necroplasm, Al was able to reconfigure & adjust reality to return to his level of existence. Just a reminder, vanquishing a Hellspawn will consign them back to Hell. The Medieval Spawn - who was obliterated - did not reenter the 8th circle of hell, nor did even his soul return, which should have been a certainty under any circumstances. Angela, an angel, once even materialized from nonexistence & Manga Spawn [debatably] survived getting crushed out of existence by Scourge. Angels and Hellspawns are analogous entities; simply representing opposing realms [Heaven and Hell] with Hellspawns being often depicted as the superior soldiers.

Dead Zones

Created by God and Satan, Dead Zones play a critical part in the war between heaven and hell. They function as drop off points and links between these realms and the earthly plane. To make matters fair for both sides, these zones were made with the purpose to negate the soul and powers of all beings from Heaven and Hell that stepped foot inside. This rule applies to all sides, as a weakened Malebogia was unable to use his powers inside while possessing The Freak. Those in control are also able to alter the rules, such as when Malebogia was tricked into stepping into one. Dead zones are black holes, and are capable of even opening portals to other Netherworlds.

These negation effects are limited only to those from Heaven or Hell, as Haunt was able to freely use his powers with no ill effects.

When within a Dead Zone, anybody possessing a human body will be locked into their form and be vulnerable to regular methods of death, such as Billy Kincaid being trapped within the body of an officer he possessed and being taken down by a single bullet. This negation effect is powerful enough to even shut off the regeneration of Spawn himself, who has resisted power negation from the likes of Satan and Malebogia. Dying inside of a Dead Zone does not send you to either Heaven or Hell, as shown by when Spawn killed himself and dropped his body inside of the zone. You are sent to oblivion, a space in between these realms. It seems that demonic and angelic powers are also shut down here, as a group of angels that were traveling through when the zones were closed were made powerless and driven insane by the isolation, slaughtering one another. Dead Zones also remove the resistances provided from Heaven and Hell, as Eddie Frank’s vampirism reactivated shortly after the heavenly abilities keeping him from turning vanished.

Spawn has shown the ability to open and close these Dead Zones, using items like the Sword of the Spirit and his own necroplasm to control them. While these zones are in select destinations of Earth, Nyx managed to expand them to the point where they covered the entirety of Earth, robbing all Angels and Demons of their power. 

Resistances 

Holy Magic: While at first one of Al’s weaknesses was Holy Magic and weapons, he has soon grown a strong resistance to them shown with him holding an angelic weapon which would normally kill any Hellspawn instantly and Al getting shot by Holy Bullets while ripped in half and just got back up. Spawn was also able to snap the holy ribbons of Godsend during their clash. These holy ribbons are created by heaven and given to their best angels. They are made out of Heaven’s own light and life-giving power, and can drain the powers from Hellspawn upon contact. Even being directly blasted by heavenly weapons and having holes blown into his body don’t do anything to weaken him or hinder his regeneration.

Mind Manipulation: It has been stated that normal telepathic abilities won’t be enough to break into Al’s mind which is added on by the fact his mind has layers to it. He withstood having to relive all the memories of everyone on Earth at once. He has also resisted the effects of Cyan’s mental attacks, which turns one's own negative thoughts and the suffering of their victims onto them, leading to a compulsion to commit suicide.

Soul Manipulation: Spawn fought the Dark God Urizen. Urizen is known as a soul-shuddering vacuum. His mere shadow causes earth to grow fallow and drive men mad. His presence consumes the souls and draws in victims, absorbing them into the soulless world that lays within him. He is stated to completely negate souls and devour spiritual energy. Not only was Spawn able to directly contend with Urizen, but twice he was forced to gaze into the endless and soulless world of despair containing Urizen’s victims and was unaffected both times.

The weapons of angels such as Redeemer have been shown to be capable of completely extinguishing souls. Not only has Spawn been able to constantly deal with heavenly light and Redeemer/Anti-Spawn, but he has directly tanked and healed from attacks with similar flame effects that would have the same impact on both body and soul. The more souls you have, the more powerful you are. Characters with a lot of souls connected to them like Billy Kincaid were unable to have their souls removed.

Power Negation: Spawn has shown the ability to resist the power negating abilities of Malebogia and Satan. Malebogia is capable of removing powers from demons he owns and was capable of controlling Leetha in a weakened form when it was on Jim Downing, yet could not do the same to Al.  and Satan should have greater control over all that is made in his domain. Despite Satan claiming that he has the abilities to take Spawn’s suit and powers, he was unable to do so. Satan has control over everything created in his domain, upscaling Malebogia in terms of strength and potency. 

Toxic Gasses: Spawn can walk off any effective gasses since his lungs don't work the same way humans do.

Lava: Is unaffected walking through lava in hell.

Hellfire: Spawn is perfectly fine walking up stairs where every step is more and more brimming with hellfire.

Forms

Form images by Hippo.

Ghost Rider

Unrestricted Zarathos

The demon Johnny’s soul was bonded to in his deal to the devil, he is a being of immense power. Once a demon of unquenchable might, who stole the medallion of power, he battled spirits of vengeance and corrupted their overseers. He amassed so much power that he was able to challenge Mephisto in his own realm. However the trickster he is, Mephisto through the aid of a soulless being was able to outwit Zarathos and quench him. Keeping his essence for himself, he’d bind him to mortal souls, in a mockery of the spirits of vengeance. While Johnny and he have had their differences in the past, their bond is now stronger than ever. Meaning if Johnny ever needs, he can let the demon inside him take full control, becoming an unparalleled force. Though he retains most of the Ghost Riders powers such as hellfire, he also comes with new powers that can be accessed when Zarathos comes to ball, such as:

Enhanced Senses: Zarathos senses hundreds of people from far away. 

Soul Consumption: Zarathos primarily grows stronger by consuming souls, and can even destroy them. 

Teleportation: Zarathos teleported Danny to England. 

Power Absorption and Life Stealing: Zarathos was able to absorb the powers and steal the life of Ghost Rider (Danny Ketch). 

Elemental Control: Zarathos can not only control hellfire, but can engulf his enemies in rock as well. It’s said that the air, the earth, and the dimensional walls themselves quake before the rage of Zarathos but he is knocked out afterwards, could also cause a storm. 

Energy Projection: Can shoot mystical beams from his hands. If he is well fed with souls, Zarathos can project energy fields.

Size Manipulation: He can grow up to 30 feet tall, and grew bigger than Thor during his fight with the Avengers.

Spiritual Augmentation: Zarathos can increase his powers by drawing upon the strength from the faith of his worshippers.

Negative Energy Absorption: Zarathos feeds off of mankind’s negative energy in order to make himself stronger, and has even fed on Johnny Blaze’s own fear and anger.

Technology Manipulation: Can possess technological beings if they possess wrath, vengeance, etc

Possibly Nigh-Omniscience: Claimed to be “everywhere and nowhere” to be “everyone and no one”, that he exists wherever there is anger, danger, fear, or unrest. Though this could be interpreted as non-literal, that he was just referring to his metaphorical role as a spirit of vengeance. 

Corruption: When Rogue absorbed Zarathos out of Blaze, Rogue could not handle the power, begging him to take back Zarathos

Possession: Possessed Utgrad Loki, the Frost Giant sorcerer

Resistance to Corruption: Attempting to corrupt a Spirit of Vengeance will merely reveal their true form.

King of Hell

After Johnny’s defeat at the hands of Mephisto, he and Zarathos worked together to take the throne of Hell since Mephisto was in the prime universe and the throne was vacant, and the two of them effortlessly became the new King of Hell. This new status granted Johnny with unfathomable power and influence of the denizens of Hell, coming into conflict with other Ghost Riders such as Robbie Reyes, and defeating Mephisto in their rematch. However, his time as the king was cut short, and his hand was forced to give the throne back to Mephisto in order to stop Lilith. His powers as the King of Hell included:

Matter Reconstitution: When his Hellcycle was destroyed, Blaze was able to reconstruct it into a makeshift hammer in order to fight the Avengers.

Spirit of Vengeance Absorption: Blaze was able to strip Danny Ketch of his Spirit of Vengeance, turning him back into human. 

Necromancy: Being the King of Hell means he has power over its members, the dead in all its variations. He was able to summon the Callus of Void, a deceased Celestial, and the spirit of Eli Morrow, who was possessing said Celestial.  

The Damnation Stare: A new type of stare, one that sends the wicked straight to the bottom of Hell. This ability judges whether or not the individual (very effective on demons primarily!) should be sent back into the fiery pit of Hell, for their prior judgement in both their life and death, obliterating the target’s body and sending their souls into a state of pure and everlasting agony…if they are found guilty of course. 

Spawn

Divine Spawn

During Armageddon, the forces of God and Satan were running rampant, destroying mankind in their war. The Mother of Miracles decided that it was time to step in. She decided to show Spawn the path to the Tree of Life, existing within Eden. Eden is a parallel world to the Earth’s physical dimension. Spawn has access to Eden through the Dead Zones, and can teleport there using them. Once in Eden, Spawn had to fight through twelve disciples with rapidly draining Necroplasm. Upon defeating them all and letting Judas win, he was granted access to the forbidden fruit. Upon being given it by the Mother of Miracles, Spawn became imbued with the power of a God, becoming Divine Spawn. Freeing the souls of the legion inside of him, Spawn rose to an even higher level of power.

The powers that Spawn obtains from Divine Spawn are:

Power of God: Spawn is stated to become a god thanks to the forbidden fruit. This should give him access to many of the abilities that God himself has showcased. This includes the ability to create weapons capable of wiping people out of existence, weapons capable of completely extinguishing the soul, and the ability to control the souls of half the humans on Earth via the rapture. God and Satan are both stated to be immortal, and capable of fighting for eternity. 

Banishment: Divine Spawn was able to banish every single Hellspawn made by Malebogia to Hell in an instant.

Holy Weapon Immunity: Divine Spawn was directly cleaved in half by Zera’s blade. Zera is one of God’s strongest soldiers. Spawn healed from the attack almost instantly and kept fighting.

Vaporization/Molecular Destruction: In one blast, Divine Spawn was able to wipe out every single living being on Earth, down to the last blade of grass. This completely destroyed all angels and demons on the earth. Angels are stated to be made out of pure light and can only be truly killed via absorbing this light.

However, after wiping out all life, Spawn had already won. Looking at God and Satan, he accepted his fate, the two enemies working together and obliterating him. Meeting with the Mother of Miracles, he watched as God and Satan began an endless battle. Wondering how all this damage could be undone, he was given a choice by the Mother of Miracles to bring it all back. Accepting her into him, Spawn became God Spawn, fusing with the Mother and being given the power of creation itself, recreating the universe. Closing the portals to heaven and hell, he gave up these powers, wishing to return to a normal life.

King Spawn 

After slaying Malebolgia, Spawn inherited his abilities. Hell was bequeathed to him. Denying the throne at first, Spawn would soon find himself directly engulfed in a war for the throne. It was during this battle that he began to release that hell was his. Accepting his place as King, Spawn began to change. His power began to skyrocket, and King Spawn was born. He held this ability for a limited amount of time, before being tricked out of it by Cogliostro using an illusion of his wife to make him give it up. His powers as King of Hell include: 

Size Manipulation: Spawn while King Of Hell can alter his size, becoming so big that he can level buildings. This also for whatever reason includes his chains

Existence Erasure: While King of Hell in a different world, Spawn was shown to have the ability of erasing a person with their soul. 

Summoning: King of Hell was able to summon his Hellspawn army to his side, it has been stated that there is 10,000 generations worth of Hellspawn

Power Growth: After becoming king, Hell became one with Spawn and realized that he grows stronger the more the fight went on to the point even heartbeats help Spawn make him stronger

With these powers, Spawn should also be able to use abilities that other Kings of Hell have showcased, such as:

Malebogia: As a King of Hell, Malebogia was given control of all souls and Necroplasm that existed on the 8th plane of Hell. He could gaze into other dimensions, exist anywhere in time, and terrorize billions of dimensions,

Omega Spawn: As King of Hell, Omega Spawn obtained Infinite Necroplasm. 

Nyx: Shortly after taking the throne of Hell and becoming the queen, Nyx was able to easily kill Sinn with one shot. Sinn was stated to be so powerful that very few in the universe could take him down. He was fueled by an extremely large stockpile of Necroplasm that had previously allowed him to resist the effects of a gun made to kill Hellspawn. Nyx was also capable of expanding the dead zones throughout the entire earth, closing all gateways and robbing all angels and demons of their powers. Alongside this, she could open them to revive a dead mortal Al and return the abilities of both sides at will. 

Feats

Ghost Rider

Overall

• Battled the occult on many occasions, such as saving his girlfriend Roxanne from the Satanist known as the Witch Woman

• Joined the Midnight Sons, Champions of Los Angeles, and the Thunderbolts

• Has escaped from Hell many times

• Thwarted Zadkiel’s plan in taking the throne of Heaven and destroying creation

• Defeated Blackheart, Danny Ketch, the Avengers, Vengeance, Dr. Strange, and the Sin-Eater, also Lobo tbh.

• Returned the Fragments of Lucifer to Hell and saved Earth

• For a time, bought the Quentin Carnival and settled down with Roxanne

• Became the new King of Hell 

• Posed for a full frontal nude for an official Marvel swimsuit special

• Was ballin’ in Fortnite

Power

Restricted

• Drags a train out of a subway tunnel

• Creates an explosion that destroys part of a Mountain

• Holds up a solid oak and marble object weighing a ton and carrying holy items

• Was able to restrain Dr Strange with his hellfire chains

• Dr. Strange says Ghost Rider is more powerful then he remembers

• Destroyed the Apache’s sacred grounds with hellfire

• Casually bulldozes multiple ninjas of the Hand with the Hellcycle

• Took down Morbius, Man-Thing, and the Werewolf all in short succession 

• An officer describes Ghost Rider entering a prison like an earthquake and typhoon at once, reeking of sulphur, and his fire melted the prison cages

• Punches and headbutts Hellverine

• Destroys a group of pseudo-Sentinels

• Easily overwhelms Iron Man

• Servicer says the Ghost Rider will end the world

• While holding back was taking down a Bagra-Ghul possessed Wolverine

Unrestricted

• Sliced apart an airplane and destroyed one of Lucifer’s bodies

• Creates a huge explosion of hellfire that hurts World War Hulk

• Doctor Strange called Zarathos’ power godlike and boundless, and was terrified when he sensed that Johnny was no longer in control of the Ghost Rider, and that an unrestricted Ghost Rider was capable of defeating World War Hulk

• Stated by Doctor Strange to be a threat to all Mortal and Immortal realms

• Fought Mephisto in a legendary battle, though was defeated

Hellcycle

• Can go straight through train cars,

• Shreds a tank in half

Chains

• Can shred through hordes of demons with ease

• Brings down an entire skyscraper

• Spinning the chains can tunnel through solid rock

• Held onto the bottom of a helicopter

• Traps a demon with his chains and bike

Speed

Restricted

• The transformation into Ghost Rider happens in a heartbeat

• Caught a bullet with his mouth 

• Reacts to a large demon charging at him with a punch

• Can dodge a magically enhanced sniper bullet

• In his human form, could dodge attacks from Zarathos, 

• Dodged blasts from the Human Torch 

• Blitzes a group of mercenaries armed with ammunition that can hurt him

• Easily reacts to all of Gladiator’s (no not that one) attacks

Unrestricted

• Traveled across Earth, possessing person after person to find a worthy host

• While not bound by a host Zarathos could fly to outer space and Asgard  

• Traveled to the brood ship which was “a few hundred thousand miles from Earth”

Hellcycle

• The Hellcycle can travel at speeds up to 250 mph 

• Outraces Mjolnir

• Raced across the world against Danny Ketch (shown above)

• Dodges Linda’s energy blasts

• Outpaces Angel on a brand new Hellcycle

• Jumps all the way to another world

Durability

Restricted

• Endures the pain of his flesh being engulfed in hellfire every time he transforms into Ghost Rider

• Frequently shown to be bulletproof, or bullets pass right through him

• Survives hits from World War Hulk, later survived being cannonballed by Hulk, where his body was still there but Johnny was knocked out

• Survives magical attacks from Dr Strange

• Gets up from a large mystic energy blast from Doctor Voodoo

• Survives an explosion that blows up a mountain

• Johnny Blaze takes a beating from the Hand ninjas, though he gets knocked out

• Gets kicked by Shadowlands Daredevil

• Johnny Blaze gets punched by Alejandra Jones

• Spider-Man kicking him does nothing

• Survived hellfire being imbued into his body by Danny Ketch and can drive into it unscathed

• Unaffected by Miracle Man’s fire

• Survives the Flames of the Faltine from Dr. Strange

Hellcycle

• Withstands the impact of Johnny being hurled out of a city and into a ridge

Spawn

Overall

• Protected the allies for most of his time saving the homeless

• Fought many entities such as God, Satan, Urizon and Malboga which set him free of his control

• Became the king of hell in two different realities

• Made the Scorched which he help lead from time to time 

• Beat Kratos (totally real), Alucard (totally real), Venom (totally real), and Doom Slayer (totally real)

• Met Savage Dragon, Gertrude, Invincible, Batman, Sonic The Hedgehog, and the Mars Attacks Martians

• King of Fighting Game Crossovers

• Merged with The Mother of Existence and became a God

Power

Base

• Has enough weapons that he can level a building as well as throw a building

• Can cause little explosions with Necroplasm 

• Could create air as heavy as the heart of a star  

• His war cry could shake the very timbers of creation 

• Created a explosion that killed himself which leveled several buildings

• Stated that his body flows with limitless power

• While powerless can easily crush skulls

• Held back Urizen’s giant foot  (as seen above)

• Matched a Gaia-enhanced She-Spawn in power and forced her to use all of her energy. 

• Spawn’s words broke through a time barrier

• He and Urizen shook the world with brute force. 

• His fight against Violator and his army shook all of perdition

• Detonating Leetha was capable of killing the ever-immortal Satan that god was unable to kill, and damaging dimensional barriers created by the Mother of Miracles. 

• Dragged the corpse of a fifty ton field lord across the 3rd circle of Hell. 

• Created an explosion that destroyed everything in a quarter mile radius.

Divine

• Casually bested Zera

• Wiped out all of mankind with one blast

• Defeated the entire eighth sphere of hell

• Stated he could fight God and Satan for all eternity

• Recreated the universe while merged with the Mother of Miracles

Speed

Base

• Blocks bullets with his chains

• Caught a bullet that was right next to Wanda’s face

• Can teleport at the speed of light 

• Reacts in a split-second

• Could block a bio-laser

• Reacted to a beam from Angela

• Stated to be faster than bullets

• Obliterated the concept of time (as seen above)

• Dodges a point blank blast from Satan

Divine

• Blitzed Zera

• Blasted away the entire eighth sphere of hell before they could reach him

• Could operate entirely across Hell, for he is Hell

Durability

Base

• Normal bullets normally don’t do any damage to him

• Can stop a car going 67 MPH just by standing in front of it

• Got back up after getting his heart ripped out by Violator 

• Survived having a blast make a giant hole in his body

• Survived an impact with a force of a comet

• Survived getting blown up

• Survived blasts from Redeemer, which have been described as being hit by hot glass and acid

• Took a hit from Satan himself 

• Took a blast powered by the energy of the cosmos, which includes the depths of time and space. 

• Tanked a holy blast strong enough to level 2 city blocks with no damage

• Survived having his heart blasted out by a holy weapon

• Got back up after being stabbed with several holy weapons, being relentlessly beaten and impaled by Violator, and had his skin and costume ripped off with barely any necroplasm remaining.  

• With no Necroplasm remaining, survived the detonation of Leetha with barely any damage to his physical form.  This explosion was large enough to destabilize dead zones, open a rip in space and time, and cause Earthquakes around the globe.

Divine

• Could survive getting cut in half

• Walked off a blast from God

• Withstood the combined might of both God and Satan

Scaling

Images by French and Aggravating_Floor

Ghost Rider

Other Ghost Riders

The Spirit of Vengeance and similar forces have had multiple hosts over the years. From Danny Ketch to Alejandra Jones to Robbie Reyes and many more across the multiverse, Johnny has been the mentor to quite a few of them and has shown to be on par. Naturally, being one of the most prominent and one of the most powerful of the Riders, he should scale to a lot of what his fellow Riders are capable of.

• Danny Ketch, who absorbed all the powers of the Riders, launched it all back to heaven which was felt from Hell and Asgard

• Danny himself stating that he knocked down the walls of heaven

• Takes down Devil Dinosaur

• Choked out Carnage

• Alejandra Jones releases an explosion that destroys an entire space station

• Alejandra Jones, when amped with endless amounts of souls, battles and rips out the heart of Mephisto while in his home dimension 

• Blackheart stated if a demon from Hell bonded with a Spirit of Vengeance, it would destroy four parallel universes

• Robbie Reyes fights a drunk Odin

Mephisto

The ruler of all Hell and the bane of many who come across him, Mephisto is the one who forced Zarathos under his control many years ago and struck a deal with Johnny that brought them together. Since the cycle began of Zarathos taking human hosts to seek vengeance upon the living, Mephisto has been defeated by the spirit of vengeance in his own realm. As the primary host of Zarathos, Johnny should be able to match his ultimate foe’s full potential.

• The fight between Mephisto and Satannish was threatening numerous realms, including Mephisto’s own

• Claims to be the equal to Odin in power 

• A fight between Mephisto and Hela would make Ragnarok pale in comparison and cause omniversal armageddon.

• Defeated the other Hell-Lords such as Satannish, Marduk Kurios, and Bamphomet

• Easily defeated Silver Surfer in combat

• Came out as the victor in a 4-way war between himself, Dormmamu, Nightmare, and Shuma-Gorath

• This random image of him was in like several Spawn books. So Spawn scaling tbh.

Other Hell-Lords

Unrestricted Zarathos is comparable to Mephisto, and thus should be comparable to various other Hell/Death-Lords, due to blatant comparability in numerous fights, such as Mephisto and Hela’s fight, among many others. 

Dormammu: 

• Threatens to destroy the dark dimension, which is multiple realities merged into one, with his rage

• Disintegrates the substance of Eternity and threatens to destroy them both with his attacks 

• One-shots Umar and Mordo

• Stomps Magik

• Prevents the likes of Slorith, the trinity of ashes from conquering his realm

Hela: 

• Clashes with and knocks down Thor

• Clashes with Thor again

• Gives Enchantress a beating

• Dodges a hammer swing from an angry Thor

• Uninjured after getting hit by a combination attack from Moondragon and Beta Ray Bill

Blackheart (who invited bro):

• Fought and injured Red Hulk and Venom

• Unfazed by Wolverine and Punisher

• Destroyed a building that had been tossed on him

• Defeated The Avengers

• Murdered Mephisto

Angela (equal stats fr):

• Fought and overpowered the entirety of the Guardians of The Galaxy

• Defeated an injured Thor, stating she is only slightly weaker but much faster than he is

• Clashed evenly with the Mighty Thor, Jane Foster

• Defeated Hela alongside Sera and Leah, becoming Queen of Hel

Marvels Heroes (and adjacent)

As an inhabitant of the Marvel universe, Rider has encountered many of his fellow heroes from the streets to the cosmos. Sometimes relations between them aren’t the best however and he must face them in combat. Let’s go over some notable heroes he should be comparable to.

• Holy forces often come into conflict, Ghost Rider’s relationship with Thor is no different. Not only has Ghost Rider fought the god of thunder, Thor, but he has also kept up with him and out-paced Mjolnir, meaning he can scale to him…

• Survives an explosion stated to rival the Big Bang

• Shattering a root of Yggdrasil

• Shaking the 9 realms as a baby (each realm being a universe)

• "Ripped the fabric of the universe." banishing Ymir and Surtur to another dimension

• Lifted a book of infinite pages as a child

• Mjolnir moved far faster than the mortal mind can conceive, with it progressing in speed until it transcended the boundaries between time and space, opening a dimensional rift (Immeasurable)

• Ghost Rider has stood toe to toe with the Incredible Hulk on multiple occasions, most infamously when he stood up against the World War Hulk, meaning he can reasonably scale to his capabilities such as…

• Shattered an asteroid twice the size of Earth

• Destroyed Nightcrawler’s universe with a Thunderclap

• Sends tremors across The Crossroads, a realm of infinite interlinked realities

• Doing *ahem* with Umar could warp time and space and threaten the entirety of the multiverse.

• While Johnny hasn’t fought Silver Surfer directly, being the textbook herald, he’s in a similar ballpark to and has rubbed elbows with many of the opponents the Rider has tangled with, meaning he should be on par with him and his power to…

• Casually created a weapon with enough power to destroy the universe

• Has the power to contain two universes

• Surfer’s power, combined with Khatylis and Kismet, created an “infinite wormhole” that would have destroyed the entire dimensional plane. 

• All three of them proceed to combine into one entity in order to prevent said destruction. 

• Matches the power of the Infinity Gems

• Combined his Power Cosmic with a singularity to bridge the infinite universes together

• As well as other heroes such as…

• Hercules briefly bore Atlas’ celestial burden, holding up the weight of the universe, and has claimed to have enough power to shake the universe

• Sentry is stated to have the power of a million exploding suns

• Scarlet Witch has affected the entire multiverse including all timelines and her interacting with a probability drone could end up destroying the universe 

Marvel Villains

Keeping the universe in balance are many villains seeking to destroy the heroes and the world for their own goals, possibly even further beyond. The Ghost Rider has fought back against many of these foes for a very long time and brought vengeance to many. Like with the heroes, we shall go over the most notable examples of baddies Johnny should be comparable to.

• As Johnny can scale to many heavy-hitter heroes, he can more than reasonably scale to the mad-titan, Thanos, and his feats of…

• Thanos takes attacks from a weapon implied to have completely torn apart Celestials.

• Thanos has momentarily fought Odin and took many attacks from him, 

• As Johnny has done to scale to Thor, he equally should be on par with his devious stepbrother, the god of mischief, Loki, and his feats of…

• Sending Ulik from Asgard to Earth in the time it takes the reader to finish reading a sentence

• Claiming he has the power of the universe

• Threatening to destroy reality in his fight with Sise-Neg

• As well as other villains such as…

• Juggernaut collides with the weakened aspect of Cyttorak and destroys it, obliterating him and unleashing an explosion of mystic energy which begins tearing apart the dimension of the ruby

• Zadkiel states to be a threat to existence and will destroy on a scale undreamt by mad men

Galactus (when hungy)

When at his peak, Ghost Rider can battle Mephisto as stated before. But not only is that impressive by itself, it’s even greater when Mephisto waged war against the devourer of worlds… when he was hungry. But don’t let that dismiss how truly insane Galactus can be even while unsatiated. 

• Brawled with the In-Betweener whose M-Body represents the concept of concepts

• While plagued with a conceptual hunger, Galactus threatened to consume the 8th iteration of the omniverse down to the First Firmament

• Has been deemed a rival to Odin in power. Odin can:

• Fight Jane Foster so fast, they cover 400,000,000 miles in two punches

• Tear the Multiverse apart in his battle with Seth, sending shockwaves across every plane of reality, with Seth threatening to destroy the World Tree in their fight

• Sent Thor from Asgard to Earth in a fraction of a microsecond

• Time and space are nothing to the caliber of Odin’s power

• Defeats Surtur, whose Eternal Flame can burn the World Tree

• The Ultimate Nullifier, which is a part of Galactus, can destroy the totality of Eternity

• Not the first time Eternity was erased by the Nullifier.

Spawn

Other Spawns

While we all know and love Al, he’s not the only Spawn, far from it. It is said that there are over two centuries worth of Spawn’s made and Al has shown time and time again he’s the top dog. In almost every fight Spawn has shown he can hold his own against them, even when outnumbered. There’s also the fact that every other Spawn holds Al to a higher level. So really it’s no reason to deny he can scale to other Spawns.

• Thomas Coram Spawn tanks being in the middle of a plane explosion

• She-Spawn can tear through concrete 

• Gunslinger Spawn can bend shotguns, dodge bullets and endure dynamite to the face

• Raenius beats up a beast that was said to be a Destroyer of Worlds

• Omega Spawn has murdered whole planets

• Omega Spawn was stated to rival Malebogia in power after separating from Al Simmons.

• Omega Spawn harvested Necroplasm from Millions of souls.

• Omega Spawn was able to kill almost every Spawn in the universe.  

• Monolith and Omega Spawn were hit with a gun that split the nuclei of the surrounding atmosphere, disbursing their molecules and separating time and space. They kept fighting while under the effects of this. 

• James Downing creates a massive explosion

• James Downing is a being touched by god, being said that he can be God's Downfall

• said that whoever controls James, controls the universe, threatening to destroy everyone

Heroes & Villains

The Hellspawn are far from the only inhabitants of this vast multiverse. All sorts of angelic, demonic and scientific characters have battled with Al Simmons and many have not come out victorious against him. There are also those who work much better together with him and should be comparable to his might. Let’s take a look at what these good guys and bad guys are capable of.

• Lilith creates fire many times hotter than the surface of the hottest star

• Mammon has remade the universe in his own image  

• Preston’s powers were stated to grow beyond worlds and measure.

• Angela threatened to throw Deurges soul towards the nearest star

• Angela’s lance has pierced the gravimetric shell of a wormhole breach in the universe

• Angela killing the Argus caused half of the known dimensions to get shaken up 

• Angela has also reached Elysium, which is on a higher level of spatial existence and beyond greater aspects of time 

• Urizen was powerful enough to where the entire armies of heaven and hell were needed to restrain him previously.

• The Kron can destroy stars and eradicate solar systems 

• Sinn was capable of directly tanking a weapon meant to one-shot Hellspawn, developed by Heaven and used on hundreds of Hellspawn previously. He was completely unaffected due to having an army’s worth of Hellspawn Necroplasm inside of him. 

• It is stated that very few things in the universe would be able to stop Sinn after he absorbed enough Necroplasm

• Soul Crusher punches Cy-Gor into Orbit

• Terminus is the Leader of the Planet Eaters and wields the powers of the cosmos, time, and space. The planet eaters are capable of devouring the souls and lifeforce of entire planets. Terminus was able to overpower Urizen and was about to eat his soul.

• She-Spawn with the power of Gaia easily killed Terminus.

Malebolgia

The arrogant and vile ruler of the eighth circle of Hell, Malebolgia is the one who resurrected Al Simmons and gave him his powers, starting a long quest for revenge against his trickery. Having overthrown his former master, and ultimately beating him in combat, he should be more than capable of replicating his feats. 

• Has brought agony to billions of worlds and dimensions

• Stated himself to think within a nanosecond

• Holds the earth in his hand

• The King of Hell has the power to create worlds

• Stated himself as omnipotent 

• Capable of destroying the world

• Exists everywhere at once in all shapes, insects, beasts and in the hearts of man 

God & Satan

Exact opposites in existence, God and Satan are the sons of the Mother Of Existence who reign over Heaven and Hell. Spawn has fought these two on a few occasions, notably while in his Divine form that would have battled them for an eternity, but even now he can battle them off and keep up with their feats of…

• God created the universe’s form

• Satan created Hell which has innumerable levels and is an idea that transcends all categories of thought

• Satan’s Hell can create trans-dimensional hellstorms

• God was able to rapture half of the earth’s population and transform them into his army.

• Both were stated to be able to fight Divine Spawn for an eternity 

• Both are stated to be immortal, unable to kill the other. 

The Mother of Existence / Man of Miracles 

While they are known by many names, they are the creator of everything and the mother of all existence including God and Satan. While Spawn can only scale to their power while in his Divine state, he should be on par with her capabilities of…

• The Mother has created more children than language can muster

• Stated that there is no power greater than herself   

• Exists beyond the plane of existence that God & Satan are

• Stated as the creator of the universe and destroyer of worlds

• Banished and depowered God & Satan

• While merged with Spawn, created a new universe and removed God & Satan from it, sending them ‘as near and far away as moments pass’ on another plane of existence 

Weaknesses

Ghost Rider

Despite his power, the Ghost Rider is far from Invincible (title card). Hellfire is potent but only affects those with souls, being unable to hurt those without. Rider himself can also be weakened by holy weapons and beams that disrupt molecules can affect him to the point his regeneration takes time. In some cases, Ghost Rider can be bound by magic, such as when Kingpin used the Hand magic to summon Ghost Rider, which allowed Kingpin to command Ghost Rider, and Ghost Rider had to go to Japan to stop the Hand cult and stop the magic in order to break the binding. Certain other magics have been able to separate the Spirit of Vengeance from its host, such as when Hawkeye shot Alejandra Jones with a magic amulet wrapped around an arrow, apparently having ancient paralyzing magic imbued in it. 

It’s stated the spirit of vengeance is much weaker when not united with a host, before Noble Kane and Danny unite once more to become the Ghost Rider. The Hellcycle can also dissipate if Johnny loses focus, though regaining focus can let him make an entire legion of them. In terms of the drawbacks of the Penance Stare, similarly to Joker vs Giorno, we will defer you to the Before the Verdicts where we talk about the ability in-depth.

Spawn

Even though Al has shown time and time again that he is the best Hellspawn out there, he is far from being Invincible (Another Title Card). One of the main things that is shown is most of Al’s weaponry such as his basic guns are not useful with stronger opponents. Also while in base form he can still run out of Necroplasm and needs to be smart with how he can use it, which his opponents such as the Sin Devours can take advantage of. There's also the fact that sometimes Al isn't right in the head and can make some rash decisions. Lastly, as shown with Archie Sonic, his transformation abilities can backfire on him if they make Spawn believe in a certain perception which made him a lawnmower…crossovers, you gotta love them sometimes.

Cosmology

Marvel

Yes hi hello it's Bang here, this tackle of the Marvel Cosmology will be much briefer in order to better explain how Ghost Rider scales to these relevant parts of the cosmology, rather then just describing everything all the way up to Oblivion, so please do not scroll past this :(

Part 1: Universes & Multiverses

Starting off with individual universes/realities, the Marvel universe has frequent and consistent statements from the likes of the Living Tribunal that it is indeed infinite. Infinite in size, continuously expanding in an endless sea of stars, so much so that the Earth-616 universe alone was described by the Beyonder as a multiverse containing endless dimensions, as do other individual universes, creating vast and expansive numbers of timelines and possibilities in every quantum moment. All of these universes and multiverses are possible because of the prime Earth-616 universe, the beginning of the multiversal reality and its end. Within the great omniverse, there are an infinite number of dimensions, as there are an infinite amount of multiverses and megaverses, which make up, as we know it, the greater Marvel Omniverse.

Part 2: Time & Timelines

Apart of this greater omniverse is time, which in Marvel is not the single straight line many believe it to be, but rather, that line has a multitude of branches extending from the central trunk, an infinite river or ocean, stretching in all directions with the past, present, and future being coordinates that break against the waves of probability. After all, time was the first dimension that came about, and without it, no other dimension would’ve risen. These timelines that are created can come from the simplest of decisions, spawning thousands of millions of alternate possible futures, and for each decision, there is a new future, ad infinitum. These decisions are moment by moment, and through time manipulators such as Kang the Conqueror, we see that branch off universes and timestreams are made by traveling through these space-time universes. Thus, time in Marvel is infinite in nature, and part of its ever growing omniverse. 

Part 3: Hell

In Marvel, Hell can take on many meanings. A place of demons, a place where punishment abounds, or where the Devil himself sits. It is a barren wasteland with an infinite supply of fuel, constantly changing and adjusting to accommodate for its arrival of souls, and demons employ their abilities to make Personal Hells for people, using psyche to make it feel closer to their own real world. Other layers of Hell exist such as the Cubicle Hells, which are days that start and never end. As pointed out by Wong, time moves differently in Hell, and entire centuries could have gone by compared to time intervals on Earth. Others such as Wolverine have said there is no way to measure time in Hell, and words such as days or years have no meaning in such a place. 

But just how far is this terrible fate? Well, Johnny going from Hell back to the prime reality feels like being hurled through an uncountable time and space. Hell is a place that is within the realms of Hell dominated by Hell-Lords, they are supreme beings, and are reflections of their true power; pan-dimensional creatures that rule pan-dimensional worlds, ruled by the likes of Mephisto, Satannish, and Pluto, that infinitely transcend the normal universe; but no matter what its many forms are, for anyone who dares go, it is a shadow of the Oneness of Heaven, beyond form and individuality. A place where desire, primal instinct, passion, obsession, and madness are the dinner guests. 

Part 4: The Asgardian Mythos

Connected to the mortal realms such as “Midgard”, Asgard was created and shaped by the beliefs of those on Earth, raising up pantheons of gods worshipped by their ancient inhabitants. Though it was physical in nature, Asgard is a people, not a place, thus needing to leave behind the confines of their reality in order to escape the terrible monsters that brought threat to their peace, and Odin had to take Asgard out of all dimensional levels of time in order to escape the Mangog and prevent the Odin Sword from being drawn, which would have wiped out all of existence. As such, Asgard exists in a state that transcends time and space, beyond the mortal plane entirely.

But Asgard is but one branch connected to the greater Asgardian World Tree, known as Yggdrasil. Asgard and the Nine Realms are stated to be a part of Yggdrasil as the tip of an infinite-iceberg, or as Eric Solvang put it, “What you know as worlds…are universes. Complex, discrete, fully-formed.” Odin himself says it is the “tree that is everything. That has its roots and branches in all that is. There are ten realms in this reality--ten spheres, ten universes, and the tree winds through them all. Through every star and planet. Every hero and villain. Every story.” As pointed out by Dr. Solvang, Yggdrasil contains infinite universes, and Yggdrasil exists on every plane of reality, of which there are an infinite amount of. One of Yggdrasil’s branches is the Anti-Tree, a shadow of Yggdrasil that contains the Far Shore, one of the furthest edges of creation itself in the Marvel franchise.

How does Ghost Rider scale to all of this?

Unrestricted Ghost Rider has fought and defeated Mephisto->Mephisto’s fight with Satannish threatened numerous realms of Hell including his own->Hell-Lords are higher dimensional beings within their netherworlds, which infinitely transcend the normal universe.

Or…

Unrestricted Ghost Rider has fought Mephisto -> Mephisto is an equal to Odin -> Odin matched amped Seth and Surtur -> Both are threats to the World Tree -> World Tree/Asgard transcend space and time and contain infinite universes that exist on every plane of reality.

Overall, a peak Ghost Rider is in the same ballpark as cosmic deities such as Mephisto and Odin, who act as rulers and threats to their own transcendent domains, realms that transcend the main Marvel reality and its many lower and higher infinite dimensions, putting him at skyfather tier, or as many would say, Outerversal Level. 

Spawn

It all began with the Mother of Miracles; a being intricately entwined with the very fabric of existence, embodying all that has ever been and all that is yet to be. From her, birthed an unfathomable amount of children - far beyond the reach of our language's ability to calculate. Among the most remarkable were God and Satan; “In the beginning was the word. And the word was God. And the Earth was without form and void; and darkness was over the surface of the deep. In the beginning, God created. God gave the universe form. And in creating it; determined exactly what would happen and how it would end”. Heaven and Hell are described as godly particles that detonated and erupted into existence, their essence more potent than the vast majority of forces within the universe. All used to once coexisted within a singular realm - the Garden of Eden.

God’s “shadow” is the Black Abyss, more commonly known as Hell - It is not a place, nor an idea; transcending all categories of thought [Chaos; Logic]. Serving as a [conceptual] manifestation of the Human race's ecstasy of ‘pain’ - through their need of an “eternal damnation”; made of separate spheres with specific levels of specific [conceptual] sin. One forged from Humanity’s vices, as construed by the [ideas] of ‘Evil’; a mental condition, concealed beneath the abyssal depths of an unfathomable void of hopelessness, one that defies any ascent. Made from Necroplasm, which can manifest into anything conceivable. Hell is layered with 12 total spheres of existence; an infinite horizon. Encompassing a multitude of iterations of the same essence, with some versions as confined as the dualities of good and evil, suggesting that the ‘authentic’ manifestation of hell transcends these confines. Hell can still exhibit tangible properties, and it is the Tower of Hell that connects all these spheres of Hell. Yet, Hell can metamorphose itself - creating an unique ever-shifting visage to each soul. It was never meant for human comprehension - akin to the unfathomable nature of Necroplasm. Within the depths of Hell, there may exist vast voids between its many strata - these voids being infinite in size. Hell is composed of an uncountable number of levels, each a nested construct, echoing the intricate layering of the Eighth Sphere, where each layer might harbor these infinite voids between them, reinforcing the idea of these realms as helldimensions. Hell is even beset by transdimensional hellstorms - a realm that defies conventional notions of spatial-understanding.

Heaven's celestial strata are as multitudinous as those in the infernal depths of Hell - Heaven fragments itself across various temporal dimensions, existing as distinct manifestations within multiple continuums of time. Heaven harbors the Aether; a scintilla of time-space vibrating a mere heartbeat from the threshold of a “normal” reality. It is a difficult place-time to explain in human terms; being a demi-place. Elysium then stands as the very core of Heaven - sacred ground where the Divine Throne resides, and the celestial metropolis that serves as the eternal abode of the Angels. Time is non-linear, and the Elysium touches upon all parts of its ever shifting tides and currents; residing in a limbo-like realm beyond the grasp of conventional existence from which Angels traverse both backward and forward across countless continuums and dimensions -  “The touching of all parts of Time in no way necessitates simultaneousness. Time is ever shifting. It ebbs and flows as events alter and sway within its currents. Each temporal flow is different and unique from the last. It has not only surface, but also depth. Things move within it. Shift its focus. Time is in no way immutable. We consider it spatial, solid. But it's like trying to grab a fistful of water. Time crashes against the shoals of "events" and can be changed. Shatter into an infinite number of continuums. Even if time were a straight line, between any two points on that line are an infinite number of points. Each of those points being the head-on cross-section of an intersecting line. Now consider the spatial rotation of the point on that line and how many points are actually cutting its surface. We're back to infinity again. Your question is valid and quite insightful. But you must consider that Elysium stands before us one moment and can cease to have ever existed in the next. The Forces at higher levels of existence, consciousness, what have you, and levels still higher than those, maintain an ever agitated and torrential struggle between Order and Chaos-Entropy and Regeneration. Time is one of the greatest mysteries of the mind. We are driftwood on its currents. But Elysium and its Heavenly Hosts are part of greater "Aspects" of Time. And even they can't know its secrets. Infinity is its own master. In simplest terms, consider Elysium a particle in the ocean. That particle touches other particles, that touch still others. In that regard, the first particle is in direct contact with the last-even though neither has any true knowledge of the other”. 

The Overlap; a reality which intersects & weaves between all planes of existence [Hell; as well], and the very cradle of Magic. Here, reality is malleable, unfettered by the constraints of physical or spiritual laws. Entities inhabiting this domain originate from countless worlds - millions upon millions - bringing with them flora, fauna, and landscapes from those distant realms, all chaotically dispersed across an infinite, ever-shifting canvas. It is extra-dimensional in nature; timeless and infinite. Harboring entities such as the Prime, the most ancient being within the Overlap, intrinsically linked to the very fabric of the Living Realm. It absorbs knowledge from a multitude of a billion different universes.

Beyond the grasp of Heaven and Hell, lies an infinite chasm - a void. Here, Time itself seems to dissolve, slipping away in a languid, amorphous haze. Passing beyond the veils of life and death; “moving towards the dawning light, leaving the fading shadows of the past behind”. It is here, in this enigmatic realm, that the gateway to the Greenworld awaits. The Greenworld is the wellspring of all life force - a domain steered by the ancient law of threes: “Any pain you cause will be returned threefold, but so will any joy, we reap what we sow”. Hell has no power here, and Spawn is intrinsically connected to the dark-side of the Greenworld.

At last, we arrive at Oblivion [the nothingness] where Heaven and Hell converge, where every soul for a heartbeat passes through. This is the dark that God separated from the light. Existence ceases within its rolling clouds. All Dead Zones originate from here. It is Limbo - “The tangible world spirals toward a denuded anti-matter singularity: a pinpoint that draws away all light, all matter, all things natural and non. A cyclone pit of death puppeteered by a technology created by force unknown.”

How does Spawn scale to all of this?

Spawn can scale to this via matchings and defeating characters such as Satan and God both of which have feats such as creating Hell and the universe. Spawn was able to take on God and even made an explosion with Leetha which killed Satan. Spawn also has his divine form which allows him to help and match the power of the Mother of Creation who made the whole verse in the first place. 

Before the Verdict(s)

What is the Penance Stare?

The Penance Stare is the most notable and notorious ability of the Ghost Rider, and is a very difficult topic to tackle. With so many writers and different visions, figuring out the most consistent parts of the stare can be challenging, so this section is going to take the time to talk about the most in-depth aspects of the ability, including its applications, methods of infliction, drawbacks/weaknesses, and any inconsistencies with any of these, in order to do our best to narrow it down to the best possible explanation for what does and what doesn’t work for this ability, drawing upon its usage across multiple Ghost Riders. We’ll break it down into multiple segments:

What is considered Sin? 

It’s pretty plainly stated that the Spirit of Vengeance considers all life a sin. Now this is a somewhat broad and vague statement, but to break it down more, the Penance Stare can affect virtually anyone since no one is truly without sin, which is usually defined as something immortal, or a transgression that goes against an act, law, or a rule, even if the mistakes seem somewhat minor. Obviously though, if the Penance Stare is used on you for taking a cookie from the cookie jar at age 7, you probably won’t experience a whole lot of pain. Most, if not all of the time it is used, it is used on murderers, or people who have caused insurmountable pain to others even without killing. That being said, Zarathos is very particular with what he deems worthy of the stare. Sometimes even the thought of doing something bad can get his attention, or reckless gunplay that almost injures innocents, and sometimes the actions of others, such as a robot that killed a child, can be held to those responsible for said actions. 

Is the Penance Stare based on Regret? 

A huge common misconception about the Penance Stare is that it is based around the regrets of said actions, but this is far from the truth, and the answer as to why is if you look back at the core mechanics of the Penance Stare; at its core, its design is to reveal, and inflict the pain, suffering, and torment inflicted on others by the inflictor, back onto them, making them relive and feel the pain to those they have afflicted, making them feel guilt. If anything, the point of the Penance Stare is to completely bypass those who regret nothing, which is consistently backed up by numerous statements, basically saying the point of the stare is for them to experience what it was like to be the victim of such suffering. 

There have been many instances where people proclaim no regret for the pain and suffering they have caused, yet still succumb to the hellfire of the Penance Stare. Ghost Rider once entered a prison full of madmen with no pity or regret, full of serial killers, and used the Penance flame to burn them all. And if the targets believe the cause of murder to be right, it will still work on them, as evidenced with the anarchist Flag Smasher, and fellow Ghost Rider Danny Ketch, who murdered many other Ghost Riders. Even nihilists who think nothing matters in what they do like Madcap have been affected by the Penance Stare, noting this is the first time in a long time he has felt pain. But this is perhaps the most inconsistent aspect of the Penance Stare, as we’ll soon find out, multiple people have shown resistance due to regretting nothing. Or have they? 

The Punisher Resisting the Penance Stare

A fairly common panel shown in response to the notion of the Penance Stare bypassing no regret is Punisher resisting the Penance Stare and saying “I regret nothing.”  While this may seem like an inconsistency at first, the additional context from previous Thunderbolt comics shows us that Frank had interacted with the feather of an angel, which brought him from the brink of death, healing him up entirely. Deadpool says it's as if the feather went out of its way to help the Punisher, and later we see Zadkiel give Frank a sword meant to separate the Ghost Rider from its host. These two instances show that through the comics, Frank had divine intervention, which is why he was able to resist the stare. Hell, in the story where the Punisher is on the hunt to kill Nick Fury Sr., we see the Penance Stare work on him, further proving this was countered via divine intervention, proving that Frank can be affected by it for the people he has killed.

Thanos Resisting the Penance Stare

In the dystopian future where King Thanos reigns supreme and all heroes have fallen, Cosmic Ghost Rider acts as the servant to both Young and King Thanos. Despite the Penance Stare being stated to work no matter how large or small the sin, bringing absolute despair onto the user, delivering back the pain and weight of the sins dealt to the innocents, making its victims want to claw their own eyes out, and the stare is sometimes the last thing people see before they die, it doesn’t affect Thanos, due to him considering his most vile and genocidal memories as his most fond ones. But is this really a case of no regret trumping the stares effects? Not likely.

In the following panel, King Thanos tells Young Thanos that this is a routine he does every morning, as he finds it exhilarating, and the nature of the memories shown seems to suggest that Thanos is being shown his memories and only his memories, and the actual effects of hellfire and affliction are absent both narratively and visually. That begs the question, if used with the intent to kill in mind, would it slay Thanos? Well, Cosmic Ghost Rider unleashes a surge of “Penance” while insisting it isn’t the Penance Stare, which completely incinerates Thanos’ entire body, leaving nothing but a skull. Visually, this could be a mix of hellfire and the power cosmic energies, and in the prior panels Cosmic Ghost Rider says he has to hold back a lot just to not destroy worlds as he walk, meaning he merely said “Penance” as a line drop before simply releasing a surge of power on him, especially since we see a lack of speech about “feeling the torment of the sins inflicted upon others”, which is usually what opens up the Penance Stare. It's hard to say if it would or would have worked on Thanos though, as we’ve never really seen it properly used on him.

Inconsistencies

There are two other instances of the Penance Stare failing on those who don’t regret their actions. The first is on the Preacher, who doesn’t feel bothered by what he has done, Ghost Rider says that sin deserves to be punished, and the second was it failing to affect a demon part of the Lillin cult, causing actual backlash to Ghost Rider and making him feel the weight of the sins of the afflicted. Ultimately, it's a hard impasse, and this truly treads into the territory of writers not really knowing how to keep the ability consistent in any way. But these are two showings compared to (not counting Frank and Thanos) one WoG statement, and four other direct statements. Now, a 6-2 difference isn’t a whole lot, but it's very clear from early visions that regret hardly matters with the Penance Stare, and this is especially consistent with the idea that Zarathos considers all life a sin. 

What applications/statements are consistent? 

Application #1: Ghost Rider can control the potency of the Penance Stare. 

When using it on Deadpool, Blaze said the Spirit of Vengeance likely wanted Wade to see something and if it truly wanted it, he would be dead. Other Ghost Riders such as Danny Ketch have used the penance stare on a man to cause pain, but not necessarily kill him, and Noble uses the penance stare on Snare, who is still alive but feeling the pain of the woman he killed. Usually, Ghost Rider does this to keep a victim alive and constantly feeling the pain of all the suffering they have caused on others. A casual Penance Stare makes Tulip pass out by making her experience all the pain she has inflicted on others

Application #2: The Penance Stare singes hellfire into the mind, body, and soul.

This is a very consistent ability, as shown by the many times a persons’ head or entire body is covered in fire and the person is screaming in agony. More specific examples show Danny using the Penance Stare on Man Spider and works and it says its brain is on fire. The Penance Stare was burning away every fiber of Blade’s being as he absorbed it from Danny. If you click on virtually any link of the Penance Stares use, it tells and shows you what it does, attacking the individual in mind, body, and soul. 

Application #3: The Penance Stare reveals the memories and history of its targets.

This one is also fairly consistent. The stare is able to reveal the history and memories of those affected by the stare, such as when Danny uses the penance stare to find out some info about Morbius so if he’s innocent or guilty and if he’s a lilin or human. It should be noted he can do this without explicitly harming the person. Ghost Rider says that the Penance Stare reveals all of a person’s past sins to themselves, seeing through the eyes of those you have wronged, uses this on Deadpool, making him recount memories of him trying to kill himself, him being in a coma for 21 days, missed his birthday and funeral, is 19 years old, when he got his powers, and being tortured/experimented on.

Misc. Applications

Information Absorption: Danny Ketch was able to use the Penance Stare to extract information out of someone. 

AoE: Unrestricted Zarathos used the Penance Stare to affect an entire city, even burning the Man Thing due to his fear absorption working against him

Transformation Negation: The Penance Stare de-transforms a demon back into a human, and also transforms Mr. Hyde back into Dr. Jekyll.

Mind Control: The Penance Stare is used by Ghost Rider to make a man kill himself, the Hood used this to an even greater degree forcing an entire group to off each other. Can be used to command someone to speak. Broke Wolverine out of mind control.

What weaknesses are consistent? 

 

Weakness #1: The target must have a soul for the Penance Stare to work

This is a fairly consistent weakness. People such as Steel Wind, who have sold their souls, are unaffected by the stare. It can’t work on machinery as well, since it…doesn’t have a soul obviously. It is worth noting that Ghost Rider says that if there is at least a fragment of a soul within the Deathspawn then the penance stare will sear it and make it feel the pain of its victims. 

Weakness #2: The target must have eyes or proper eyesight for the Penance Stare to work

The villain Snow Blind first showed us this when the Penance Stare went off, but he wasn’t affected due to lack of eyesight, and later in continuity, Blaze himself confirms that a demon that was blind cannot be affected by the Penance Stare. Though it is worth noting that eyesight covering such as a visor cannot block the Penance Stare. If a target has more than two eyes, he has to lock onto one set for it to work, though this can make it less effective. 

Weakness #3: Symbiotes

In three separate instances, the symbiotes have resisted the effects of the Penance Stare. In the first instance, though it seems to affect Venom somewhat, it still causes Blaze immense pain, and causes a large flaming explosion. The second time, even when it shows Venom’s memories being revealed, it seems to backfire on Ghost Rider instead. In the third instance, it fails to work on Carnage due to only being more excited when he experiences the pain he's inflicted on others. Unfortunately, it's never really elaborated on as to why this is an issue, but as pointed out early on, hellfire can at the very least be harmful to them. 

Weakness #4: Feeding on pain/suffering or being empowered by the Penance Stare

The Penance Stare cannot work on those who are directly powered by these negative emotions via killing or causing pain. Beings such as Nightmare, who gets more powerful from the fears of those who have terrible dreams, cannot be hurt by the stare, and the more notable example is Blackheart, a demon who becomes more powerful via misdeeds.

Two other times has the Penance Stare failed without much elaboration. The first time was when Blade deflects the Penance Stare beams with…a blade. Another time, Ghost Rider uses the stare on Conan the Barbarian but it backfired. Is this aura???

Who has it worked on?

Random people:

• Uses the stare on a police officer, who does not survive

• Causes someone to have a mental breakdown

• Gave this clown unimaginable pain

• Can be used on five people at once

• Even just the threat of it can scare away people

• Affects a person on psychosis inducing drugs

Named people:

• The decapitated head of Zarathos uses the penance stare on The Leader

• Uses the Penance Stare on Ghost Rider possessed by Eli Morrow

• Ghost Rider uses the Penance Stare on Doctor Voodoo, who is the Sorcerer Supreme at the moment, causing Voodoo to reel back in pain, being bombarded by his sins

• Danny Ketch incapacitates Daredevil with the Penance Stare

• Causes Deathlok to start shutting down

• Works on a Ghost Rider, who doesn’t even remember the sin he committed

• Nearly kills Dr. Strange, who Ghost Rider himself admitted was an innocent man

Non-humans:

• Can work on undead creatures

• Penance Stare works on other Ghost Riders

• Noble uses the penance stare on an old woman possessed by a demon, causing her to feel immense pain

• Incapacitates a skrull

• Caused an angel from Heaven to explode

Conclusion

Overall, the Penance Stare is not an easy ability to interpret, but when examining many instances closely, we hopefully see a more clear answer. An attack that requires a lock onto eyes, forcing the victim to experience all the pain and suffering they have caused be dealt back at them, causing their mind, body, and spirit to burn, and can either live eternally with their regret, or be so driven with madness they die, no matter how much they do not regret so. Many people will probably come out of this wondering if powerful characters like Superman or Joker (Persona) can resist the stare, and ultimately it’ll come down to resistances or workarounds to the Penance Stare’s effects more than anything. We hope this gives you a more clear analysis of the Penance Stare, and we’ll have to see how it is used for the verdict of this fight!

Can only the One Above All kill a Ghost Rider?

During the events of Ghost Rider: Heaven’s on Fire, the fallen angel Zadkiel usurps the Throne of Heaven, said to be omnipotent with power, to the point where he threatens all of existence, and will unmake it on a scale undreamt of by despots and madmen. He sought out the Antichrist to stop him and prevent the prophecies of his demise from coming true, but a legion of Ghost Riders stormed the gates of Heaven, thwarting Zadkiel’s plan and saving everyone. In the final confrontation, Johnny Blaze says that only God can make and destroy a Ghost Rider, and that despite his ability to control and leech the Ghost Riders, he could never truly kill one. 

As a result, many have thought that this means that Ghost Riders can regenerate from anything if it’s not the will of god. Some have even gone as far as claiming this means that only Marvel’s supreme being, The One Above All is the only who is capable of actually putting down a spirit of vengeance for good. Is this truly the case? No, not really. This argument however has several holes in it. 

First of all, it’s just been outright disproven that nobody else is able to kill a Ghost Rider permanently, most notably the Cosmic Ghost Rider has been straight up killed. In the far distant future where King Thanos took down all of Earth’s mightiest heroes and villains, the Silver Surfer (known as the Fallen One) is worthy of Mjolnir, and uses it to one-shot Cosmic Ghost Rider, who himself confirms the attack killed him, ending up in Valhalla with Odin. This also doubles with the fact that holy weapons are explicitly stated to be something that can take down a Ghost Rider to the point of banishing them to Hell or outright killing them, so we do know there are methods, and Mjolnir should certainly count as a weapon of divine origin, even if not from Heaven outright as early comics have treated it as a holy weapon able to banish undead and demonic forces. 

It is also worth noting that this is coming from Johnny Blaze, who while skilled in the occult, is not all-knowing or omniscient, since he does say “only God can make a Ghost Rider”, which is a bit of a contradiction, at least in Johnny’s case. Spirits of Vengeance are usually of Heavenly origin due to being divine wrath, but sometimes, such as Zarathos, they come from the demon Mephisto, and as we know, Johnny’s entire origin of becoming Ghost Rider is making a deal with the devil in order to save those he loves. 

Oh and while this is a bit of a silly argument, if you go to Zadkiel’s Marvel Database page and go to where it talks about how only “God” can kill a Ghost Rider, it doesn’t even send you to the One Above All’s page. It just sends you to the Biblical God, or “Yahweh” if you will, who…is not in fact, the One Above All. But the point is, there are too many holes you can poke in this idea that Ghost Rider’s can only be killed by TOAA, and it is contradicted in more than one way. 

But wait! Doesn’t this mean Ghost Rider can resist Existence Erasure?

The power Zadkiel gains during this small arc is no joke. On top of being a threat to all of creation, Zadkiel threatens Johnny and Danny with his godlike power, saying that he was able to erase 37 people off the face of the Earth with ease, never to be seen again. This is pretty blatant existence erasure, and we do see him fighting off a whole legion of Ghost Riders and nothing working, so this means Ghost Riders can regenerate from existence erasure right? Let’s look at the arguments for and against this:

Argument For: The argument for Ghost Riders being able to resist existence erasure is that two times the threat of the Ghost Riders being erased comes up in this story. One from Zadkiel as pointed out when he erased 37 people, and the other time is when one of his minions says that Zadkiel will erase Johnny and Danny, unmaking them down to their family tree. Even when Zadkiel has easily beaten the Ghost Riders, and that glimmer of power is shining, Danny points out that deep down, Zadkiel knows that he can’t kill the Ghost Riders, to which Zadkiel replies that he can kill them any time he wants, which is obviously proven to be untrue when Johnny says that Zadkiel was never able to kill a Ghost Rider, even with his power. Zadkiel erased 37 people after Johnny and Blaze get up, flexing his power and showing that even if he can’t kill them, they can’t stop him, as by this point, Zadkiel usurped the throne of Heaven and was an all-powerful god, one that could unmake reality on a scale undreamt of. Zadkiel’s pride and arrogance of not being able to kill the Ghost Riders is thwarted when the rest arrive, and if we clearly see him trying to kill them, why would he not have tried to kill Johnny and Danny? With such power, we know he had the capacity to try, but he was proven wrong due to the nature of the Ghost Riders, so you can make the argument that a Ghost Rider can resist existence erasure. 

Argument Against: While Zadkiel is confirmed to have existence erasure, there is no indication that this is really tried on the Ghost Riders at all, and narratively speaking, Zadkiel is an arrogant madman playing god without any real control despite the godlike power he has. It would be extrapolating from this one statement to say that Zadkiel tried to erase the Ghost Riders at any point in the fight without properly seeing it, relying on brute force to attack the legion of Ghost Riders rather than just trying to erase them. Zadkiel was extremely arrogant, and his cocky bragging made him blind to him being jumped by the Ghost Riders, and even beforehand, he didn’t really feel threatened at all even when Johnny and Danny got up.

What forms are standard to Spawn?

Another critical issue in this debate is the case of what Spawn should get when it comes to his forms. He has three specific occasions of receiving a substantial power and ability boost from the story. This being King Of Hell, Divine Spawn, and God Spawn. Now, the argument in this case is if Spawn should be allowed access to these forms due to their circumstances in the story and the factors needed to achieve them.

First is King Of Hell. The story behind this form comes from after Spawn slays Malebogia. After killing his former master, Spawn obtained his powers. Leaving the throne vacant, he struggled with the idea of becoming King. However, the pressure of protecting mankind from Hell began to wear Spawn down, and with the convincing of his mentor Cogliostro, decided to finally accept this position. Spawn fought Redeemer, and was killed. His body and soul were absorbed by the earth and sent to Hell. Once there, he bore witness to the Great War between demons, with Violator finding him and torturing Spawn. However, Spawn began to fight back. And as he fought, something inside of him changed. Spawn began to realize that hell was his, the fabric of the world existing to serve him. His power rapidly grew, digging deep into the core of hell as he became King, ending the war mere moments later. Accepting the throne, he was given the crown, created his castle, and began preparing for a new age of Hell. However, Cogliostro had other plans. Playing on Spawn’s humanity, he presented him with Eden, one of the reasons they went to hell to begin with. Upon being shown Eden, he was met with the main source of his humanity, Wanda. Spawn gave up the crown, renouncing his throne as he finally obtained life with the one he loved. However, it was a trick, an illusion from Cog. Taking the crown, he accepted his place as the one who “overthrew” Spawn, becoming the new king. 

Now the question is if this power should be included for Spawn in terms of his standard abilities.

The arguments for and against using this form are: 

This is not an ability that Spawn would need to take the throne for. He was bequeathed to hell when he killed Malebogia. Using Spawn at his full power, he would far upscale the other kings of hell, meaning that by nature he would be the strongest being there. Considering that he awakened his King of Hell powers simply by being there and opening his third eye, the same process would likely be repeatable. Overall, this is a role that does not require outside help and would count as peak power. Thematically, it also works with Ghost Rider’s own King of Hell abilities. It also is a major part of Spawn’s story, signifying his new path after slaying his Master.

As for why it should not be used, it’s limited presence in the story and the nature of the title mean that Spawn would not have the ability to take this title at any point. The numerous Kings and Queens that have followed him have held the throne longer than he has, and the story presence of this role simply requires too many hoops to make it standard. 

Next is Divine Spawn. During Armageddon, the world was falling apart due to the war between God and Satan reaching irreversible levels of catastrophe. The Mother of Miracles stepped in, showing Spawn the path to Eden and the Tree of Life. There he was met with a gauntlet of twelve disciples that he had to overcome. Spawn succeeded, the final test being that he had to die. Letting Judas kill him, Spawn was given the forbidden fruit by the Mother of Miracles, resurrecting him and granting him the powers of a god. Using these powers, he obliterated all life on earth and the armies of both sides, ending the war and leaving only Him, God, and Satan left. Enraged that a mere Hellspawn had ended their conflict, they were empowered to their true forms and fought Spawn. However, Spawn had no desire to fight after destroying  all life, letting God and Satan kill him instead of fighting them for eternity. 

The arguments for and against using this form are: 

Spawn could have ways to access this form. His matter manipulation could potentially allow him to summon himself a Forbidden Fruit, and he could access Eden through the Dead Zones. Most of the powers that he has from this form are now ones he can access normally, so adding it mostly gives Spawn the added powers of God without altering the debate in a critical way.  

However, the manipulation in question has never occurred when it comes to creating items as powerful as the Forbidden Fruit, and in order to obtain one through Eden, Spawn would have to fight twelve disciples. Even if he could easily defeat them with a power boost, Judas is a factor that throws the entire argument up in the air, as Spawn had to lose and get assistance from the Mother of Miracles. So while this could be obtainable, there are numerous issues that make obtaining this form range from either difficult to outright impossible. 

And all of this leads up to God Spawn. After his death, Spawn met with the Mother of Miracles once more. There he was met with the truth that their conflict would never end, and that every life on earth was truly gone. There was only one true way to fix all of this damage. To give the world rebirth. He opened himself up to the Mother of Miracles, and she gave him her power. With her abilities, Spawn brought the Earth back, locking God and Satan away in “another moment” and reviving every human. He closed the portals to hell, ensuring that humanity would never face these demons again. 

However, the last thing that Spawn thought the world needed was yet another God. He knew that mankind would have to find their own way. In the end, he simply wanted his normal life back. And the Mother of Miracles listened, removing her powers from him and seemingly making him human. But it wasn’t the happy ending he wanted. He was unable to see himself as Al Simmons, and his Spawn powers returned. His penance was to live until he had redeemed himself. And so the mother of miracles returned him home, and Spawn’s story continued. 

The arguments for and against using this form are:

This form is the end of the original Spawn universe as we know it. It is the narrative conclusion of Spawn’s fight with Heaven and Hell and how their conflict has hurt humanity. It’s a moment that shows Spawn at his very best, making the ultimate choice. It’s the peak of Al’s largest character arc, and a moment that is well known among fans. 

The argument against this form is that it requires an outside source in order to work in the first place. Spawn would have to be given this power by the Mother of Miracles, and that is a decision that is made by an outside party. The fact that spawn willingly renounced this power means that it would not work with his overall character. 

Overall, all three of these forms are up in the air, and rely on interpretation on what to use. King of Hell seems the most likely to use out of these three options, while Divine and God will depend on what Death Battle decides. 

Art

(By Mediocre Productions)

(Garf)

(By Monkeyboi9005)

(SixTheTundra)

(Mau)

(Carbonated-Jem)

(Adam天)

(Mighty_MegaScream) 

Verdicts

Ghost Rider

Stats

Between Heaven and Hell, the power of these two seekers of vengeance is terrifying, and when they show up, it becomes scorched earth. But just how powerful are Ghost Rider and Spawn? Their quests for justice have led them down blazing paths with some of the most magical, angelic, and demonic beings in all of humanity. First, we’ll start with the Ghost Rider. 

Ghost Rider can somewhat vary, and it depends on how much Johnny is in control of Zarathos. When in control though, they’re no slouch. Enough hellfire from his system can decimate entire mountains, and many eldritch beings such as the Servicer fear the Ghost Rider for good reason, stated to be a threat that can end the world if left unchecked. But what happens when Ghost Rider is left too unchecked? The demon Zarathos is one of the most terrifying beings across the lands of Hell, stated by Dr. Strange that if let loose, everyone he knows will be in danger, being a threat to all mortal and immortal realms. Ghost Rider himself has battled Dr. Strange on many occasions, even subduing him with the Penance Stare, and Zarathos has faced beings of similar raw power such as the World War Hulk, igniting him with a huge burst of hellfire. This version of Hulk is dangerous, and Strange himself admitted Zarathos would be capable of defeating Hulk, who was able to battle the Sentry, a being with the power of a million exploding suns and the ability to destroy the universe. But the rulers of the underworld are wary of the demon as well, such as Mephisto, one of Hell’s most notorious and dangerous rulers, who has been bested by Zarathos’ quest for souls to consume many times. 

With this scaling, Zarathos reaches some pretty high levels of power. Mephisto is considered an equal to the All Father, Odin, who has torn apart space, time, and the multiverse in his many battles with the likes of Seth and Zeus. He has also fought greater foes whose power can affect a large scope of the Marvel cosmology such as the mighty demon Surtur, whose Eternal Flame can burn the World Tree Yggdrasil, which contains infinite universes, higher dimensions, and exists on every plane of reality. Mephisto himself resides in power over Hell to some degree, a place that infinitely transcends the mortal realm, containing multiple pan-dimensional netherworlds, all under the threat of the skirmishes of Hell-Lords fighting, of whom the renegade Zarathos has fought with similarly. This should put an unrestricted Ghost Rider at Outerversal levels of power, as one of Hell’s many grave threats. 

Moving over to Spawn, he has several relatively impressive direct feats that don’t do much for him here, such as destroying buildings, causing impressive explosions, and creating massive tidal waves. In order to examine Spawn’s best ends here however, we need to take a look at his most impressive and most cosmic showings. Spawn was able to shake the entirety of creation itself, as in, his war cry alone is able to significantly affect all circles of hell and all levels of reality. This level of power is supported for Spawn as well, considering the fact that he took on Malebolgia, and overthrew him. Malebolgia, as the malevolent ruler of the eighth circle of Hell, is able to perform many impressive feats, such as having the power to manifest universes and worlds into existence, holding complete control over his realm of Hell itself (which is infinite in size), and was able to bring agony to billions of different worlds and dimensions. Spawn also scales to the likes of Angela, who through killing the Argus was able to shake half of the known dimensions within the cosmology. Generally, Spawn scaling to a significant portion of his cosmology is fairly consistent, and if went further along to scale Spawn to entities such as God and Satan, he would scale to a level of power that created Hell itself, which has innumerable levels and transcends thought itself. Overall, Spawn is solidly at Multiversal/Multiversal+ levels of power, which generally means that Ghost Rider will be significantly stronger here, in fact, he would be stronger through a gap of infinite transcendence.

And it shouldn’t come to too much of a surprise here really, while Spawn and his mythos have commonly integrated Multiverse-threatening stakes through the innumerable levels of Hell or the infinite dimensions that characters frequently threaten, Ghost Rider deals with characters who operate on a much higher caliber. Between battling the sorcerer supreme Dr. Strange, or being a match for the World War Hulk, or matching the very level of power found within the Hell Lords such as Mephisto, and the threat he poses to the wider Marvel Omniverse, it makes sense that he would have such a tremendous advantage in strength and durability. But what about speed? Well, that’s where things start to even out a bit more in this fight:

Speed for both of these characters is interesting, as they both have their fair share of impressive speed showings, while also scaling to very impressive characters from their respective verses. Ghost Rider is no slouch in this regard. The Hell Cycle famously outraced Mjolnir, and we all know how fast that mystical hammer can be. Mjolnir is capable of moving at speeds far faster than any mortal mind could conceive, to the point where it transcends the boundaries between time and space itself, causing an entire dimensional rift to form based on its acceleration alone. Not only that, but it has also returned to Thor after returning from a distance beyond the farthest point in existence, traveling through an endless abyss beyond the eyes of even the most ancient, abstract, and primordial Gods.

Surprisingly, Spawn actually has a good amount of speed showings as well. His split-second reaction speed and lightspeed teleportation are already super dangerous, but just how fast can Spawn truly be? Fast enough to obliterate the very concept of time! That’s quite the feat, and it's supported by his showings against Heaven and Hell. Spawn should be comparable to the Angels, who can easily traverse through non-linear time, to the point where they slip through the very threads of temporal existence. Spawn is a consistent match to the Violator, who frequently roams and travels the infinitely-sized Hell with ease, even reaching the treacherous Tower of Hell. This would put Spawn at immeasurable speeds as well, due to his ability to break time with his speeds, and his showings against foes who have also broken time and traversed Hell. 

Overall, Ghost Rider should be infinitely stronger than Spawn by a large margin, while speed is a lot more equal, given their feats and scaling presented. 

Arsenal & Abilities

Base Ghost Rider vs Base Spawn

W/Zarathos and King Spawn discussion 

The road to hell is paved with fire and dread, but for these two, the road is paved with badass motorcycle tracks and holy bullets. These two angels of hell have more than awesome abilities and metal tracks, they have some interesting weapons used for judgement and Killin. The Spirit of Vengeance isn't gonna drag you to hell without his Mythical Chains. These chains are able to restrain victims with magical properties like The Sorcerer Supreme and even the venom Symbiote. They can extend as far as needed, be turned into offensive weaponry, and Ghost Rider can never run out of them. He can even use these chains to banish demons and mystical beings to hell when no other weapons are able to do so. And if he must, a Ghost Rider could imbue their mystical chains with Hellfire to burn their victims. Of course we can't ignore the Hellcycle, Ghost Rider’s badass motorcycle that's powered by Hellfire, he can summon it whenever he wishes, and can even summon surrounding chains. Johnny has access to hellfire weaponry that allows him to pull a Doomslayer on Hellspawn. His Hellfire Shotgun could shoot beams or blasts of Hellfire, and could use it without even becoming the Ghost Rider. Finally Johnny Blaze has access to a medallion that could generate a barrier that blocks out Hellfire. 

Spawn is also very impressive when it comes to arsenal and weaponry. K7-Leetha is basically Spawn's venom symbiote, it could separate from Al and fight on its own, can suck out your life force, can feed off sins and feed off darkness, can be fused with its hosts weapons, can take over the hosts body of they're incapacitated, can adapt and change overtime, and then can merge with outside forces. One more interesting thing about Leetha is that as long as a part of it remains, then Al could return to the earthly plane as it is bound to his soul. Plus removing Leetha would be harder than you think considering the fact not even Satan was able to separate them even after he states he could, and Spawn would still access his abilities even if Leetha was removed. Spawn also has a plethora of guns that can kill Hellspawn and could be enhanced with Necroplasm, has a living (incredibly badass) cape that could protect or teleport him away, and also has his own powerful chains that he could send down to hell for power or channel necroplasm into opponents. These chains could change in size, add spiked edges to rip and tear, and could harm intangible beings. Finally Spawn has the Sword of the Spirit, this weapon could rip out and absorb the swords of those it strikes, can send souls to a judgement point between heaven and hell, and was used to seal Hell away from Earth. 

Now the Sword of the Spirit in terms of how it could affect Ghost Rider will be talked about later, but this aspect of the debate is pretty close. They both have very versatile chains that could channel their main source of energy and extend themselves in many ways. The Difference however is that the Mystical Chains are vastly unending and have been used to physically banish demons to hell, and imbuing them with hellfire to burn Spawn and hold him down would prove to be harmful. Although, even if Johnny sent Spawn to hell, Al’s cape would help against that since it could teleport him out of hell and into another domain. Both have guns that could kill demons, but only Johnny's is imbued with the soul searing Hellfire and could use it to create large blasts of it. Even if Johnny loses his Ghost Rider form, he could use his Hellfire Shotgun to potentially take care of Leetha who is the key to Al returning to earth or not. Speaking of Leetha, it's still extremely helpful in this fight and getting rid of it normally would be extremely hard, and its adaptation and sin absorption would be helpful against the Spirit of Vengeance. Not to mention getting rid of it wouldn't get rid of Spawn’s powers. Nobody really wins this category, since Hellfire is the main thing in the category and that's its own thing in the debate. But speaking of those  abilities, they're both EXTREMELY versatile and vast in their hellish power. 

Among the Rider’s vast collection of hellish abilities, the most prominent is easily his hellfire manipulation and for good reason. It’s versatility is not to be underestimated as it can be blasted out of anything from his eyes and eyes to his mouth and… urethra, turned into a large-scale aoe attack, infused into all of his weapons or the bodies of demons, constructed into many useful tools such as barriers or clones, and attack his foes on levels beyond the physical. To expand upon that last point, it’s been able to directly burn away at the mind and layers of the soul, as well as severely harm some of the various cosmic beings at marvel such as the conceptual Mephisto and the embodiment of the void and anti-life Null. This is incredibly useful here as while Spawn’s regeneration is no joke to any stretch of the imagination, he’s never come back from or even interacted with something that could harm and burn away at his very concept, nor does he have much proper showings against the kind of power hellfire here has. While his very being comes from Hell, Ghost Rider has torched demons of the highest order despite also coming from Hell, meaning it very likely is a direct firepower option to meaningfully hurt or even kill Spawn.

A big counter to Ghost Rider is Spawn’s ability to stop time. In the past, Ghost Rider has had many encounters with demonic beings. One such encounter was with the demon D’Kay. In the realm with Danny Rand’s Iron Fist, both were at their lowest, about to die. But as they were, Daniel remembered that D’Kay said this was a timeless dimension. Due to this, both were able to get back up, heal, and fight on.

Why is this important you may ask? Well, the answer is somewhat simple. Moving in timeless dimensions/voids can prevent time manipulation from working on someone. How? With how timeless dimensions work, they would obviously mess with beings who operate on a traditional linear chronological scale. This would naturally make timeless voids nonlinear as well. However, if a being is not only able to control themselves in said timeless space, but also adjust their body to function on a more linear level in time, they should be able to adjust their body at any other disruption in time. Ghost Rider and Iron Fist were both able to adjust to it in the end, granting them not only the ability to adjust themselves to the dimension, but also to other oddities in time as well, preventing time manipulation from affecting them. Another point to bring up is the hellfire that passively surrounds Johnny would mean getting in close wouldn’t be easy even if time stopped. 

Perhaps the biggest and most obvious question is how does Spawn do against the Penance Stare? With what we know about it now, there’s a lot that could happen if Spawn interacts with it. It should be possible to pull off, both physically and if Zarathos uses it in an AoE blast, but the more important matter is can Spawn resist or endure its crippling effects. Just to review, the Penance Stare forces the target to experience all the pain and affliction they have dealt onto others in their whole lifetime, which can cause numerous things to happen such as hellfire to burn them, their memories get revealed, their minds go mad, or get outright controlled. At first, it would seem that Spawn’s resistances could stack up against this, given the minds of Spawn’s franchise are layered and Spawn himself has resisted Cyan’s mental attacks, which use negative emotions against him, and faced down against Urizen, who has a gaze of soulless despair. 

To get around this, Ghost Rider has a few arguments to go off of. First off, hellfire can similarly peel back layers of the mind and soul, adding onto the fact that its affected beings like Dr. Strange, who has very powerful soul resistances in his own right. However, given Cyan’s attack turns the victims’ suffering onto Spawn to make him suffer and he endured it, he should more than likely be able to stave off any mind altering abilities that would make him go mad or even want to kill himself, given he’s dealt with such power before. Ghost Rider could still benefit from it in terms of absorbing information out of Spawn if need be to see what sort of demon he is dealing with, but overall, at best the Penance Stare can hurt Spawn, but not really kill him permanently in any meaningful way. 

But none of this matters if you can’t answer the question of how does Ghost Rider put Spawn down permanently? Spawn’s wincons though are no joke, having abilities that can nullify or separate the Ghost Rider from its host. The Sword of Spirit is a very powerful holy weapon, and while it is considered a weakness that can separate Zarathos from Johnny, does that really mean its it? Not necessarily. When used against him, Zarathos was still able to fully function, and Johnny at the time wasn’t on the best terms with Zarathos, but in a fight like this, they have to work together, and Zarathos has shown plenty of times that attacking Johnny can result in Zarathos either taking control, or Zarathos can simply go back to Johnny if separated. But Johnny being that vulnerable means his soul can be consumed, which would be game over, if not for the fact that Ghost Rider makes up both Zarathos and Johnny. They still have to worry about an unrestricted Ghost Rider just as capable of consuming souls with ease, and being so infinitely powerful that Spawn would get overwhelmed by most direct attacks, be it brute force or hellfire. The souls within the Leetha would also be fuel for someone like Zarathos, making him even stronger then he already is, along with his ability to also absorb negative energies and even stronger souls like actual Spirits of Vengeance. Spawn can regenerate from having his soul destroyed, but having it absorbed/consumed to fuel Zarathos is something else entirely. 

But what about King Spawn? Well this form would be given to him after becoming the King of Hell and deciding to claim it. Although this is normally non standard since he lost it and he can mostly access this if he's in hell and claims the domain, there's certain scenarios where this could happen so it's important to talk about the outcome if they did happen. Becoming King of Hell gave Spawn extraordinary power, he could change his size and become a spawn Kaiju, erase the spirits of beings, can summon 10,000 generations worth of Hellspawn, and could grow in power as the fight goes on. Other beings with this power could control all souls in hell, gaze into other dimensions and exist anywhere in time, obtain infinite Necroplasm, and could rob Demons and Angels of their power or return them. So how does Zarathos/Ghost Rider stand up to this? While Spawn could erase spirits, other Spirits of Vengeance could regenerate from hellfire being shot through them, and if you recall Hellfire could burn souls as well. Spawn could summon Generations worth of Spawns, but Ghost Rider can summon entire armies of Ghost Rider's. King Spawn could grow in power, but Zarathos could augmentate his spirit to grow in power as well. King Spawn could rob people of their powers, but Ghost Rider has potential counters to this and he could gain his powers back with enough concentration, and King Spawn wouldn't get the chance to do that if Zarathos consumed his soul. Both are practically Omniscient in nature, but only Zarathos has more experience using the greater lengths of his power, unlike Spawn who didn't use the full potential and had it for such a short amount of time. Even if King Spawn tried to absorb Zarathos, the corruptive nature would make Spawn potentially give up the power. (This and many other factors of the debate is effective because of how powerful Zarathos is, the stat gap allows for a good amount of the physical haxes to affect Spawn more than most)

There is also the matter of the Dead Zones. In the Spawn universe, these areas exist between Heaven and Hell as neutral ground, nullifying the powers of both sides. While Ghost Rider has resisted power nullification before, many beings who have been neutralized in the Dead Zones have similar resistances, meaning his ability to resist alone isn’t a strong counterargument. However, the key detail is that the Dead Zones specifically affect powers tied to Spawn’s versions of Heaven and Hell. Ghost Rider, coming from an entirely different cosmology with its own distinct Hell, may not be affected in the same way. Since their respective afterlife systems are fundamentally different and not directly comparable under verse equalization, the Dead Zones may not work on Ghost Rider as they do on Spawn’s entities. Even if they share details, rules, and functions, they are not the same hell, so it’s questionable to apply at all. Additionally, Spawn’s own abilities are nullified in this space, meaning neither would have a significant advantage. It’s also uncertain whether Spawn can reliably teleport into the Dead Zones at will.

On the flipside, what about vice versa? Can Spawn permanently kill Ghost Rider? As pointed out before, it is already very difficult to rely on holy weapons as a means of permanently ending the fight, given Ghost Rider’s regeneration from other holy and magic weapons and Zarathos tight link to Johnny, trying to separate them will already be hard. If we are to believe that Ghost Rider can resist existence erasure, there isn’t much slowing down the Ghost Rider from coming back to the fight in a variety of ways, especially with his absurd regeneration and resurrection abilities. No matter what is done to Ghost Rider, Zarathos will either protect Johnny or take control, making this fight much harder on Spawn to end meaningfully as pointed out before. 

Lastly, when comparing other general abilities, Ghost Rider can resist a few more of these. Spawn’s molecular manipulation could be powered through as Johnny’s brother and fellow Ghost Rider Danny Ketch was able to do just that after getting hit with several blasts that were stated to reduce him to his most basic genetic makeup, and this was after he noted the fact that he didn’t feel as strong as he once did. There’s also Ghost Rider’s showings of him de-transforming demonic beings, sometimes in order to use the Penance Stare, and his own magic abilities such as binding spells could be a heavy combination that strips away Spawn’s defenses, making it easier for something like hellfire to attack his body and soul. Power absorption would likely fail though, as Spawn has resisted power negation from the beings that created him in a similar manner. 

King of Hell vs Divine Spawn 

Holy Non-Standard forms Batman! This isn't a real important factor of the debate considering they're not normally usable, but it's fun to debate the possibility of these two fighting at these points in time. Anything could happen in the fight, and it's awesome to encapsulate the full potential of their power, even if it's not important to the main verdict..

Firstly, King of Hell Ghost Rider. Johnny would literally become the King of Hell after Mephisto’s defeat, and this title would give the Ghost Rider the power over hell itself and even defeat Mephisto himself. Although he would give this power back to Mephisto to defeat Lilith, we can discuss all of the imaginable power he had. The King of Hell could reconstitute weapons for a new purpose, could strip other ghost riders of their powers and turn them back into humans, can raise armies of the dead including Celestials possessed by spirits he summoned, and he has access to the Damnation Stare. This stare would send the worst of beings straight to the bottom of hell, it would be the instantaneous version of the penance stare. It would destroy the body of the sinner, and send their very soul to the depths of hell in everlasting agony and torment. Let's hope you aren't guilty and haven't sinned too much, or fiery hell on your spirit is all you'll see..

But what about the Divine Spawn? After accessing Eden and being given the power of the forbidden fruit, Spawn was given the power of God and heaven itself. And although he gave up these powers to return to a normal life, we can still discuss all the heavenly abilities he was granted. Divine Spawn had the same powers of God, so he could create any weapon he imagines including ones that would erase your soul, control all human souls, can banish beings to hell, is completely immune to holy weapons, and could destroy all life on earth down to last blade of grass; which included angels and demons alike. Finally, being fused with Mother of Miracles allowed him access to the power of creation itself and reset the universe itself. 

So this is the ultimate battle between heaven and hell, basically God vs Satan but they're metal. The King of Hell vs the God of Heaven and Creation, which Non-Standard form is more powerful! Well we already know erasing Johnny's soul wouldn't work, his soul can't be controlled by Spawn, banishing him to hell would be useless since…he's the king of hell, and Vaporization wouldn't be that effective. On the other hand, nothing is stopping King of Hell from completely stripping Spawn from his god status, and the Damnation Stare could potentially send his spirit to the deepest pit of marvel hell. What about Mother of Miracles and just resetting everything? Well Mother of Miracles is even more non standard than Divine itself and would most likely be a last ditch effort, which wouldn't stop Divine itself being stripped anyways. Doubled by the fact he's still far more powerful and can summon a celestial…Y'know this was actually less complicated than I thought, but they weren't really standard for that long anyways…

Tertiary Factors

When it comes to experience and skill, neither have the most distinct advantage over the other, to an extent. The Leetha has centuries upon centuries of experience, but so does Zarathos, and both of them have faced virtually everything Heaven and Hell has thrown at them, ranging from hordes of demons, godlike reality warpers, and the very devils that gave them their power, Mephisto and Malebolgia. The real difference comes down to Johnny and Al themselves, and in pure hand-to-hand combat skill, Al absolutely smokes Johnny. Sure, Johnny is no slouch to combat even when depowered and is a very good marksman, Al is in an entire different league. His time in the United States Marine Corps has refined his skills in fighting, learning many different styles from taekwondo to kung-fu, or even muay thai. While this scenario would very unlikely come up, if it came down to a skill showing, Blaze is going to lose pretty hard, only carried by his limited arsenal such as hellfire shotguns that can maybe make it harder for a fight like that to occur. Overall, both Ghost Rider and Spawn have eons of experience with the monsters they are bonded with, but Al Simmons has a bit of an edge in combat against the Ghost Rider if it came down to it.

Conclusion

"Hell is calling, Albert."

Advantages:

• Infinitely stronger and more durable

• Relative in speed

• Could potentially survive existence erasure 

• Can resist the effects of a Dead Zone

• Resists Spawn’s soul manipulation 

• Hellfire being layered, harming conceptual beings, and being passive can heavily weaken Spawn and his soul

• Zarathos can consume the soul of Spawn, especially with hellfire weakening him

• Has ways of de-transforming Spawn

• Can reconnect with Zarathos if separated 

• The Penance Stare can let Ghost Rider absorb information from Spawn

• Regeneration ensures physical damage isn’t much of an option

• Summoning Ghost Riders can help fight against 10,000 years of Hell-Spawns

• Adjusting his body in the timeless dimension could prevent things like Spawn’s time stop and other time manipulation 

• Can recover from molecular manipulation 

• Nicolas Cage

• Hellpiss 

Disadvantages:

• Holy weapons can still harm him

• The Penance Stare can’t really kill Spawn at all

• Way less skilled in pure hand-to-hand combat

• Everyone thinks this kickass scene in the F4 cartoon where Ghost Rider defeated Galactus is Johnny but its not, it’s Danny Ketch lol

This is by no means an easy debate to figure out. With so many hellish abilities, and lots of questions about how both of their powers work, it truly feels like neither can properly kill the other, but we feel like Ghost Rider’s methods are a little more sound for many reasons. On average and at his peak, Ghost Rider is immensely more powerful than Spawn, and has multiple methods to overpower him to a point of no return. His hellfire has harmed far more powerful beings with far more powerful soul protection, Zarathos’ soul consumption means that Al Simmons and Leetha is simply free food for him, and his plethora of abilities that can de-transform Spawn, bind his body, and make himself more powerful are more than enough to beat Spawn before the fight drags on further. And on the flipside, Ghost Rider’s own defense against existence erasure, power nullification, and messing up his molecules means that trying to meaningfully put down Ghost Rider will be no easy task either. His showings against holy weapons indicate that he wouldn’t be in too grave of danger, at worse separating Zarathos and Johnny, which can easily be fixed as easy as returning to Johnny. Spawn put up a hell of a fight, but Ghost Rider’s superior power and more meaningful abilities meant Spawn merely had a ghost of a chance. The winner is the Ghost Rider.

Spawn

Stats

Heaven & Hell shudder in their wake. Johnny Blaze and Al Simmons were once shackled by the very chains of their souls, now they’ve ascended to rule as the Kings Of Hell. But amidst the seething chaos of their reign, a singular, unrelenting question echoes through the abyss: who, in the end, will prove to be the true and eternal sovereign, unchallenged and supreme in the hellish throne they now own?

Let’s start up with strength and durability. The Ghost Rider's flames have been repeatedly described as capable of “ending” or “burning” the entire world. His actual displays are even more awe-inspiring; as Johnny Blaze's energy can decimate four entire universes. This terrifying power is not confined only to potential; Johnny has been able to confront and overpower some of Marvel's heaviest-hitters, such as Doctor Strange, and the Avengers. Solidly setting him around those Herald - Skyfather ranges. However, Johnny Blaze is never truly alone. Beneath his mortal guise stirs the malevolent spirit of Zarathos - a godlike and boundless entity, whose insatiable wrath threatens all Mortal and Immortal realms. Zarathos is no ordinary Hell-Lord; his malevolence transcends the limits of his kind, being so formidable that even the once-untouchable Mephisto has been vanquished before him. Impressive, as this ancient demon harbors the strength to unleash an Omniversal Armageddon - beyond the entire scope of Ragnarok.

All Hell-Lords mirror the very fabric of their domains in existence - pan-dimensional realms that defy conventional understanding, transcending the boundaries of any single universe. These dimensions exist beyond linear time and space, unfolding in infinite layers that stretch across the multiverse in a state of perpetual flux. The All-Father [Odin] even found himself utterly unable to challenge Mephisto's “Omniversal Armageddon”; with the two titans clashing in battle over countless ages. Odin's cataclysmic confrontation against Seth did more than shake the heavens - it unleashed a torrent of devastation so profound that it fractured the very fabric of the multiverse, sending tremors of destruction that reverberated through the core of every realm and dimension. The Fire-Giant Surtur [Odin's equal in power & wrath] could also scorch the very roots of existence - the World Tree, Yggdrasil - into nothing more than charred remnants. Yet, even this apocalyptic inferno is but a mere flicker next to the infernal fury of Zarathos’s vengeance. Implying that Johnny & Zarathos ought to occupy a much more elevated position within the vast, multifaceted expanse of Marvel Comics' intricate cosmological structure.

Speed follows a similar narrative. The Hellcycle can effortlessly outrace Thor’s mighty hammer - Mjolnir - which is capable of traversing infinite & immeasurable distances. Additionally, Johnny Blaze has numerous recorded instances where he has kept pace with some of Marvel's swiftest and rapid characters in combat [As Detailed Above].

So it seems the Spirit of Vengeance wields both infernal strength and blazing speeds, but how does the King of the Dead measure up in contrast? Consider this: even in the nascent stages of his Hellspawn existence, Al Simmons faced the celestial warrior Angela - who could pierce the very fabric of Anti-Matter, Anti-Life, and Anti-Soul; all woven together within a singular tear that endangered the very fabric of the universe. Within the simple action of taking Argus' life, she sent ripples that reverberated through half of all known dimensions. Yet, she could hardly fathom Al's strength, ultimately fleeing in desperation. Together, they would face the indomitable Malebolgia - an ancient demon whose very presence was a harbinger of suffering, capable of inflicting untold agony upon "billions of worlds and dimensions". Holding absolute dominion over realms of infinite scope. But Malebolgia’s arrogance would prove to be his undoing. In a moment of ruthless cruelty, the demon struck down Angela, severing the tenuous bond Al had forged with Angela - an action that irrevocably altered the course of Al's life. Enraged by the loss of his ally and friend, Al - now fully realizing the depths of his own power - struck with unmatched fury, obliterating Malebolgia in an instant. And from the depths of his fury, Al’s war cry erupted - a primal roar that shook the very foundations of creation, its resonance reverberating through every realm and dimension. 

Astounding! But just how remarkable, you may wonder? Creation encompasses Elysium; a realm that transcends ordinary existence - an elevated plane far beyond the conventional dimensions & “aspects” of time. Time itself, in its essence, unlocks an uncountably infinite amount of timelines and higher-levels of existence. Layering the Overlap atop this, in conjunction with other structures, reveals a cosmology as rich with transcendent, multi-dimensional realms of existence. [Check the Cosmology section].

Now, does this truly rival the vast, complex cosmology of Marvel? Perhaps…

Hell exists as an eternally recursive, infinitely nested construct, with its physical forms being merely one of its manifestations. Hell is neither a mere location nor an abstract concept; it transcends all logic and defies the limitations of perception [a conceptual domain]. Hell, being infinite, is constructed of infinitely recursive layers, each possessing an immeasurable scale that can only be encompassed by something vastly more unfathomably greater & uncountably larger. These recursive layers form a quantitative hierarchy, marked by an ascension within a continuous increase of size. This explains how Hell can materialize, but it is not a reflection of its true, essential nature. Since it is this very "perception" that gives rise to Hell's recursive layers, its fundamental essence lies beyond any quantitative hierarchy; utterly transdimensional. Aligning effortlessly into any Tiering System. But, this is merely the beginning: All of this would subsequently extend to Heaven - with the might of Greenworld embodying a force that eclipses both Heaven and Hell. Then, with each pulse of Hell King Spawn’s heartbeat, his power magnifies a hundredfold. Hell is also naught but the “shadow” of God; a realm of utter insignificance to him. This holds significance as Divine Spawn ascended to the very zenith of God. His ascent transcending all notions of binary opposites, surpassing the very concept of duality in the expression of his power. Important; as Spawn, in his base state, later waged an apocalyptic battle against Satan [God's Equal], whilst holding his own. The implications are staggering: current Spawn does not merely surpass his cosmology - he eclipses it by unfathomable, transcendental orders of magnitude.

Now that we have that side covered, let’s move onto speed. Here, Spawn unfailingly astounds. He has utterly obliterated the very concept of all time. His prowess eclipses that of Violator, who roams & traverses the infinite-in size realms of Hell; ascending the treacherous Tower of Hell with ease. And Al is comparable to Angels - who can move through non-linear time; moving with such velocity that they effortlessly slip through the very threads of temporal existence.

After all is considered, who truly possesses the superior strength, speed, and durability? Under typical circumstances, Zarathos would effortlessly outshine the low-end & mid-end versions of Spawn’s cosmology. However, in a higher-interpretation, the Hellspawn actually matches and may even surpass the Midnight Son; propelled by Growth & Upscaling. Realistically, though, Spawn is likely the weaker of the two. That said, both remain on par when it comes to speed. Team Spawn shall grant that Ghost Rider should hold the statistical advantage, but we assert that these attributes are ultimately irrelevant in determining the victor of this battle.

Arsenal & Abilities

When it comes to the loadouts and abilities of both vengeful revenants, the debate really begins to take a turn as both Johnny Blaze’s and Al Simmons’ fiendish powers are numerous, incredibly potent, and make both characters devilishly hard to kill! So much so that even if you buy one totally outclassing the other in the stats department, the other could still clutch out a victory by virtue of their opponent having no options to put them down while being able to abuse one specific weakness to their favor.

Firstly, let’s go over what both characters have in common. Most obvious is Johnny’s Hellfire manipulation and Spawn’s Necroplasm. While fundamentally different in substance, application-wise both Ghost Rider and Spawn use them quite similarly. It is frequently used as a projectile attack or to be infused with their own armed and unarmed melee strikes. Both hellfire and necroplasm also attack beyond the physical, damaging the soul and even conceptual aspects of being. Johnny and Al also have various different means of getting around… well practically everywhere. Johnny and Al both have the means to reach across and travel to each of their respective universes, from plain sheer speed to portal creation and teleportation. Barring specific locations, neither character is likely to escape each other in this bout for very long. And as Kings of Hell, Johnny and Al have the ability to turn this fight into an army battle by calling on even more Spirits of Vengeance and Hellspawn, as well as other forces like angelic hosts for Johnny and the undead and demonic forces for Al.

But here’s where the interesting discussion really begins, as honestly there’s not a lot of abilities Johnny Blaze has that Al Simmons doesn’t. Soul manipulation? Check. Power absorption? Check. Interacting with the sins of others? Check. Insane regeneration and immortality? Check again. If we’re looking at a pure quantity standpoint, Spawn outdoes Ghost Rider as on top of practically every ability Johnny has, Spawn still has potent abilities Johnny doesn’t such as time stop, reality warping, accelerated development, BFR into a power null realm, and generally better environmental control via Greenworld abilities. Even weapons and gear clearly go to Spawn simply due to sheer numbers and the variety of different melee weapons and guns he can conjure, as well as their chains and ability to conjure inter-dimensional traveling vehicles. But of course this fight is more than just a contest of who could pull the most rabbits out of a hat, so to speak. If quantity of abilities is all that mattered, then Johnny Blaze could never have defeated or stood up to many of Marvel’s heaviest hitters like Thor or Mephisto.

So conversely, there’s not a lot in Spawn’s arsenal that a Ghost Rider hasn’t dealt with before. Matter manipulation, transmutation, and soul manipulation are abilities a rider has dealt with when taking on the likes of Mephisto, a Hell-Lord who, even being generous to the whole Spawn-verse, is much stronger than everyone Spawn has ever had to face. Mental, spiritual, and even conceptual attacks as well have a tough time getting through any Spirit of Vengeance as attacks from other Riders (with one exception we’ll get to later) don’t affect each other, including the infamous Penance Stare. And speaking to quality over quantity, any other Spirits of Vengeance summoned by Johnny as well as the angelic forces he can summon are mostly going to be stronger than any Hellspawn and member of the undead Al calls on, on top of sharing practically all resistances mentioned for Johnny.

The discussion of time-stop and whether or not Johnny resists it is another question. While normally immeasurable speeds would make time-stop pointless to bring up, Spawn’s time-stop ability was introduced long after he’d performed his immeasurable speed feats and, oddly enough, Ghost Rider hasn’t demonstrated an outright resistance to outright time-stop as far as we could find. However Johnny does have something similar and it’s that he’s been shown capable of moving around in timeless voids. As timeless voids have zero time in them and time-stop halts the flow of time, does that correlate to Johnny resisting Spawn’s time manipulation powers as a whole? Well that’s debatable. For D’Kay’s realm specifically, Ghost Rider and Iron Fist seemed to take advantage of that realm’s lack of time to instantly heal and recover their injuries. That’s essentially the full extent of their resistance to a timeless void, being able to move within it but still subject to and making use of its properties to their benefit. That’s not necessarily enough however to argue a total resistance to timeless voids as both characters were clearly subject to the inherent rules and nature of one. Not to mention the example shown seems like a realm that’s more wonky with time rather than an outright void empty of time. So Al should be capable of time-stopping and freezing Johnny, which could be one of the major deciding factors for this battle. But this is very much up to interpretation and your own standards for how different forms of time manip and resistance to such interact with one another.

Next is the Dead Zone (insert Garlic Jr. joke here), which nullifies both heavenly and hellish abilities to which Al could send Johnny into. While Ghost Rider has demonstrated a resistance to power nullification, it’s treated more as something he powers through. It’s not something he resists outright and can be affected by it for a time before he channels enough willpower to gain use of his powers back. The other argument against Dead Zones working on Johnny is the simple fact that he comes from an entirely different cosmology functioning under somewhat different rules. However… Marvel Comics also operates under that logic. Many different forms of the afterlife and various mythologies also exist in Marvel, yet magic is treated as working uniformly and a Spirit of Vengeance isn’t simply immune to say what Norse magic is capable of performing. Something we’ll expand upon in a bit but important to bring up now is how Mjolnir (or Odin, not really clear which) not only outright killed the Cosmic Ghost Rider, but separated Frank Castle from all his Rider abilities. Granted, it’s friggin’ Mjolnir (or 616 Odin), but given how scarce examples of the hammer having traditional holy properties are and how other specific magical and holy items have nullified or at least dampened a Spirit of Vengeance’s abilities in the past, Dead Zones should be no different. The setting where Spawn lives also contains numerous Hells where every layer is seemingly unique and controlled by its respective ruler like Malebogia, so why would existing in a different setting necessarily prevent Ghost Rider from being de-powered?

This leads us into our next segment, immortality. Both are just ridiculously difficult to put down that a sheer power advantage isn’t quite enough to give one the win over the other. Starting with Johnny, we’ve seen various Ghost Riders not only survive esoteric abilities but also insane amounts of bodily damage, even being decapitated and cut into pieces, or surviving countless millennia into the future without being any worse for wear. Zadkiel’s statement is also a major factor as it could support that even existence erasure isn’t enough to put down a Spirit of Vengeance! However it could equally be interpreted as a general display of power rather than a specific EE hax so take that with a grain of salt, but regardless it is something to consider. And of course Zarathos and Johnny’s connection to him could prove to come in clutch in defending Johnny. Spawn meanwhile is just as, if not even more pesky to kill. Physically, he can recover from almost any injury, surviving practically all forms of mutilation and can even rebuild himself from an atomic level. His soul meanwhile can regenerate and recuperate from being obliterated from immediate reality. Quite literally, all of his soul and the Necroplasm that forms him would need to be obliterated at once to prevent Spawn from eventually returning. And even if such a thing were to occur, Mother Earth and the powers of the Greenworld would revive Spawn and restore his power and vitality on top of that. He also has more explicit showings of resisting existence erasure and even coming back from it! Spawn has been erased from reality by the Dimensional Lance and, in response, reconfigured all reality to come back from an attack that should’ve made it as though he never existed at all, and this is on top of Spawn surviving his existence being crushed by Scourge or scaling to Angela returning from a realm of non-existence.

Suffice to say, neither character’s traditional attacks are going to take the other down. Reminder that both Ghost Rider’s Hellfire and Spawn’s Necroplasm attack the physical, spiritual, and conceptual via direct feats and showings of such or in attacking entities (i.e. demons) whose existences are inherently conceptual to a degree, namely Mephisto, who is stated to be a conceptual being, and Satan, whose existence is tied to the very concept of Deception. Souls are highly complex to that degree in both Marvel & Spawn’s universe so just hacking at each other isn’t gonna cut it. And even if they could destroy each other’s souls, there are arguments to be made that both Johnny and Al can come back anyway. So is there even a way for either to put down their fiendish opponent?

Well let’s start with the fiery elephant in the room: The Penance Stare. As Ghost Rider’s side has already covered, it’s an attack that isn’t necessarily new to Spawn. Both Urizen and Cyan have nearly identical abilities in causing negative emotion and the suffering they’ve inflicted onto others to mentally and spiritually torture and harm their targets. And in a very odd turn of events, the idea that symbiotes are for the most part outright immune to Penance Stares gives Al an additional wall against Zarathos’ hellish judgement as K7-Leetha surrounds him at all times (Thank Todd McFarlane for creating both symbiotes I guess). Even just its usage as a means to extract information is countered by Spawn’s Necroplasm having the same properties of absorbing information, ergo if Johnny is close enough to ever pull it off then K7-Leetha could each information off of the Spirit of Vengeance as well and gain knowledge on his weaknesses as well.

However the Spirit of Vengeance does have something up his sleeve that could put Spawn out of the count for good, straight consumption by Zarathos. It’s one thing to argue Spawn surviving such an attack, but another entirely to argue whether or not he wouldn’t be incapacitated from such a thing. As astounding as Spawn’s pool of energy and regeneration is, the sheer power gap between Ghost Rider, much less Zarathos himself, and Spawn can ensure the latter can’t recover fast enough to escape being swallowed whole and constantly hurt and tormented by Zarathos. That said Spawn could always teleport away so this isn’t necessarily the most fool proof of options.

Spawn’s means of putting down Ghost Rider meanwhile hinge on either killing him in a Dead Zone or making use of holy weapons like the Sword of the Spirit to wear down and eventually kill Ghost Rider. The former again is dependent on how nullified the Spirit of Vengeance would actually be weakened and if he can eventually power through such a thing. And while this isn’t the stats section, keep in mind that as skilled as Al Simmons is, Johnny Blaze without most of his powers was more than ready to square up to Zarathos armed with nothing but a hellfire shotgun and was portrayed as keeping up with his Ghost Rider companions. So at best, a depowered Al risks potentially being killed by Johnny in melee combat and potentially being ganged up on by Zarathos as well. Of course he could hop in with an insane amount of guns and armor, and a de-powered K7-Leetha can still restrain blows from Savage Dragon and take hits from Ant's villains like King Spider, both of whom are casual building busters so it’s a tossup if you think Johnny’s combat speed could give him the upper hand against Spawn’s natural superhuman strength and durability or not.

But regardless, now we’re left with holy weapons. Now there’s not really a question on whether or not a holy weapon or artifact can affect a Ghost Rider. After all, Ghost Rider's chains have some holy enchantment on them meant to banish other Ghost Riders, and Cosmic Ghost Rider is a prime example of it not even being required that the holy power be specifically antithetical to Mephisto’s hell as Mjolnir and Odin could kill and separate the bond between host and Spirit of Vengeance. The question is more so how effective would the Sword of the Spirit truly be? Well we know that, relatively speaking, it doesn’t take much to abuse the holy weakness of a Ghost Rider. It took a single drop of Zadkiel's essence to greatly weaken the Spirit of Vengeance and the blessing of an angel's feather to help Frank later resist the Penance Stare. In terms of outright weaponry, holy weapons like Mephisto's blade are able to separate Rider and host and a Ghost Rider’s own chains can be used against them to separate themselves from the Spirit of Vengeance. While not killing either outright, it can decapitate and immobilize the spirit to just a skull that can be carried around to inflict the Penance Stare, while the host is left defenseless and up to the mercy of their attacker unless Mephisto wills them back together (which obviously won’t be happening in a Death Battle type scenario with no interference). Meanwhile lesser blessed weapons like shivs from Elsa Bloodstone and (supposedly) Carter Slade’s revolvers deal some amount of damage that a Ghost Rider like Johnny seem to shrug off quite easily. So where does the Sword of the Spirit stand in comparison? Well again it certainly wouldn’t be as powerful as Mephisto’s sword and likely even Johnny’s own chains as they simply scale higher, but given the potency of single slivers of divinity and random holy weapons’ ability to deal damage even in the hands of mortal men like the Punisher, it should be fair to say that eventually Spawn could hack down Ghost Rider if given enough chances to land major blows.

So where does that leave us? Well more or less, both have a means to put each other down but both options require an extended, drawn out scenario to occur first. And if that’s really the case, then Spawn takes a definitive edge in this category. Simply put, he’s more maneuverable with his ability to teleport across both space AND time, the latter of which he could manipulate with time slows and time stops to land the hits he needs for the Sword of the Spirit to wear down the Spirit of Vengeance until it separates Johnny and Zarathos from one another, and in states that Al can easily handle at the same time. Meanwhile Zarathos’ wincon revolves around a strategy Al can more than likely escape. And worst comes to worst? Spawn can literally time travel and recuperate himself. Reminder that even if K7-Leetha is separated from Al Simmons, he still possesses all his Spawn powers as they come from him, not his suit. So if Johnny ever uses his chains to separate Al and Leetha, Al is still more than capable of keeping up the fight which is a luxury Johnny and Zarathos don’t have if the same is done to them.

Now to very briefly cover King of Hell Johnny vs Divine Spawn, the real major addition here is the Damnation Stare, which could potentially send Spawn straight into Hell (specifically Mephisto’s/Johnny’s) if he is judged guilty. Now there is a deeper narrative conversation on whether Al’s sins should immediately send him to hell or whether Al’s destined role as humanity’s savior as a force literally chosen by the Earth to defend against Heaven and Hell would render him just fine, but regardless Al could teleport himself out of there or make his way through a Dead Zone back into his Hell so that by itself isn’t a winning move. Johnny does however easily separate Robbie from his own Ghost Rider powers, which potentially means he could do the same to Al & Leetha, but again all of Spawn's powers come from within, and his divine abilities being gained from eating the Forbidden Fruit likely means they’re his own internal powers. After all, it’s not as if his predecessor, Mephisto could separate the Silver Surfer from the Power Cosmic or Galactus during the number of times he’s visited Hell. In any case Al would still be left with his natural base power, which he could use to escape Hell.

All-in-all, Spawn takes a very decisive edge in abilities. While it’s certainly no easy decision, Spawn has the resilience to take all of Ghost Rider’s punishment and then some and just the right set of abilities to give him openings to wear down the Spirit of Vengeance eventually, even in their higher kingly and divine forms. This point goes to the Hellspawn!

Tertiary Factors

Here in terms of factors in skill and experiences Spawn takes this advantage with relative ease. While Johnny himself isn’t unskilled and has years of experience fighting Mephisto and the other Avengers over the years, he’s not exactly the most skilled fighter, usually relying on his supernatural abilities or his experience to win fights. However, Spawn has also fought and overcome characters like Malebolgia, Angela, and Satan. However, the biggest point tilting this category in Spawn’s favor is that even without the powers, he was a top assassin who knows a lot of martial arts,including the likes of Judo, Jujitsu, Karate, Kung-Fu, Jeet Kune Do, Aikido, Taekwondo, Boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Hapkido, Muay Thai, Ninjutsu and many more. He’s also experienced as a war veteran and generally relies on his wits more to win fights - in contrast, Johnny before he became Ghost Rider was just a motorcyclist and doesn’t have this level of experience in the fight, nor the showings of raw skill and combat intelligence Spawn has had over the years. As a result, Spawn should take all tertiary factors.

Conclusion

"Today’s the day, skull fucker."

Advantages:

• With high ends, can match and surpass Ghost Rider in raw power…

• Relative speeds

• Time stop would allow him all the time in the world he needs to figure out a plan of attack

• More skilled and experienced

• Superior combat intelligence

• Superior overall arsenal

• More varied abilities

• Resists the Penance Stare

• Separation from Leetha won’t remove abilities and can reconnect if separated

• Regeneration ensures even hellfire couldn’t reliably put him down for good

• Severe numbers advantage with his summons… 

• Existence erasure could put Ghost Rider down for good

• The Sword of the Spirit should be capable of injuring and wearing Ghost Rider down

• Necroplasm can disrupt Ghost Rider’s regeneration

• Power nullification could threaten Rider for a time

• Dead Zones would nullify both’s abilities, allowing Spawn to win a fist fight or gunfight…

• Keith David

• McFarlane’s art

Disadvantages:

• …but, with more reasonable ends, is infinitely weaker and less durable

• …all of which would be pretty easily negated by Rider

• …but Johnny without his powers/with them diminished can still potentially come out on top

• Most if not all his guns are deadweight 

• McFarlane's writing

• Reboot movie is never coming out

• No sundi- gunshot noises

Make no mistake, this was an incredibly complex matchup with many factors going for both. Ghost Rider’s immense edge in raw power and durability certainly gave him some impressive tricks, but Spawn in the end had everything he needed to win this battle.

His bevy of resistances and insane regeneration meant Ghost Rider only has very specific ways to put him down, tactics he may not resort to immediately - and Spawn’s ability to stop time, something Ghost Rider likely had no way of resisting, gave him another edge. In addition to tricks like his illusions, which could also aid in buying him more time to pull off a finishing move first, with higher forms like Divine Spawn and King of Hell only allowing him more options to put Johnny down for good, something Johnny did not have in return.

Spawn’s edge in tertiary factors also gave him another edge, as his greater skill, experience, and combat intelligence meant he could capitalize on his edges in a way Rider couldn’t quite keep up with, faltering in those regards.

While the vengeful rider certainly gave the Hellspawn the hardest fight of his life, Spawn had the speed, abilities, and intellect to make sure that Ghost Rider would have hell to pay if he dared to challenge the king. 

The winner is Spawn.

Final Tally

Ghost Rider (6) - Aggravating_Floor, Bang, Brobuscus, FMT, Frenchhoaxwide, Garf

Spawn (9) - door-kun, Guruguru_wa, Hi Hi, Hippo, Roughwaves, Spidey, Spirit, TheCardinalKing, Mediocre Productions

Undecided (2) - MomoUra, Yerm

Before We Go…

Those of you who are only reading for our “mainline” Death Battle predictions don’t need to bother paying any attention to this part, but for anybody who might have been following our bonus blog lineup, we will be opening one of our upcoming bonus blogs starting immediately. The plan is to have this bonus blog completed and released by the time episode 3 comes out (of course, we will still be making a blog for episode 3, as usual). What will the blog be? Good question! Have a trailer.