Marvel: Crisis Protocol – The Many Skulls of Ghost Rider
Ghost Rider is quite an effective character in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. In the comics there’s way more than two of them.
I recently played a game of MCP and had to face off against the Immortal Hulk. He’s quite the beat stick and is really hard to take down due to his ability to regen and heal-up. I was a bit at a loss on how to deal with him. So, after chatting with Ben about it, he suggested I take a closer look at the “one and only” Ghost Rider.
That Penance Stare is a thing. And sure, it might cost 5 energy to use but it’s totally worth it. This attack can bring down a ton of heavy hitters and also has a nasty energy drain as well. It’s perfect for countering the Immortal Hulk’s Green Door ability. So now I was on Ghost Rider kick…and that led me down a strange road.
Cosmic Ghost Rider Also has a pretty gnarly version of the Penance Stare. But his has been enhanced by the Power Cosmic. It’s a massive 12 die attack that has the chance to evaporate the target’s defense dice outright. But really what threw me off was the fact that the Cosmic Ghost Rider is indeed Frank Castle — yeah, that’s the Punisher, folks!
Wait…How Many Ghost Riders Are There?
In Marvel Comics the answer is a lot. There have been quite a few over the years. In reality, my first real interaction with a Ghost Rider comic wasn’t even the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider. It was his long lost brother Danny Ketch.
Now, I’m not going to get into his backstory but this was actually the Ghost Rider I was familiar with. There’s two big things about him that made him different from Johnny Blaze — one was his chain. This is the Ghost Rider that really introduced the semi-sentient chain as a weapon. The other thing was his bike. Danny Ketch’s Ghost Rider had a “futuristic” bike look that had a shield-like ram on the front. That always stood out to me personally. I’m hoping this version of Ghost Rider shows up in MCP at some point, too.
Carter Slade, Ghost Rider (2007)
Another incarnation is Carter Slade. In the comics, he was actually the called Ghost Rider. But for lots of reasons which I’m not going to get into, he was retconned into the newly dubbed Phantom Rider. He was portrayed by Sam Elliot in the 2007 Ghost Rider movie and also really gave us the hint that a Ghost Rider can turn anything he “rides” into a mount of Hellfire. I think it would be interesting to see this version of a Ghost Rider brought to the tabletop. His powers are slightly different from Johnny Blaze depending on your source material.
Robbie Reyes was introduced in 2014 as a new iteration of Ghost Rider. His biggest difference is that instead of a motorcycle, Robbie Reyes drives a 1969 Dodge Charger R/T which he calls the Hell Charger. There’s other differences, too but that’s probably the biggest on. Personally, I’d like to see his version as we could get a character set with him and his car for MCP. I’m not entirely sure how that would work in game, but I’d be willing to give it a test drive!
Technically, Robbie isn’t possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance either. But I’m willing to let that roll as he’s got the name Ghost Rider and the attitude to match.
Even More Ghost Riders?
Without going to every iteration of Ghost Rider, I wanted to name drop at least three more: Alejandra Jones, Michael Badilino, and Kushala. These three Ghost Riders are a little bit out there and not as well known as the Johnny Blaze but they are worth a mention. Heck, there’s even Ghost Rider 1,000,000 B.C. and Ghost Rider 2099! The point is that there have been a lot of characters who have become some form of Ghost Rider. And the threat that connects them all is made of vengeance and hellfire! …but mostly vengeance.
Edit: The rest of the Ghost Riders include Hellhawk, a Sioux Chieftain from the 11th century, and Doctor Strange…on a technicality. There ya go — that’s all the official Ghost Riders direct from Marvel.
So many SKULLS.
