History
The Contract of San Venganza[]
Mephistopheles once made a deal with Carter Slade that turned the latter into the Ghost Rider. He sent Slade to retrieve a contract of a thousand corrupt souls from the town of San Venganza. Because such a large amount of souls would cause Hell on Earth, the Rider refuses to give the contract and escapes Mephistopheles, later to hide the contract and himself from the Devil.[1]
New Rider[]
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Mephisto
Mephisto contacted a young stunt rider, Johnny Blaze, whose father was dying of lung cancer. He made a deal with the boy: his soul in exchange for his father's life. Johnny, skeptical, accepted, and the next day Barton was cured from his illness. But Mephistopheles tricked Johnny and, in the following show, he had Barton falling from his motorcycle, killing him. He later appeared to Johnny, reminding him that his soul belonged to him now, and that he will claim it, sooner or later.
Years later, Mephisto came back to Johnny: his son, Blackheart, is opposing him and is searching for the power hidden in the contract of San Venganza to become more powerful and take overthrow Hell. Mephisto bonded the fallen Angel named Zarathos to Johnny,[3] birthing the new Ghost Rider, and ordered him to bring Blackheart to Hell. Johnny had no choice but accept.[1]
At the end of the fight between Ghost Rider and Blackheart, Mephisto appeared, claiming his son's body and bringing it back to Hell. He offered Johnny freedom from his curse, since his job was done, but Johnny refused, wanting to use the Ghost Rider powers against Mephisto himself. Angered, Mephisto returns to Hell with Blackheart.[1]
The Search for the Anti-Christ[]
Mephistopheles, going by the name Roarke, approached an injured and dying Nadya Ketch in order to make a deal with her. Since she wanted to save herself, she accepted, giving birth to Roarke's son, Daniel.
Nadya then escaped from Roarke, who, many years later, sensed Daniel's power and tried to take the boy's soul by hiring Ray Carrigan and his pack of henchmen. However, the boy and his mother went under the protection of the Holy Order of Moreau and Benedict, which wanted to keep the boy safe and hidden from Roarke.
After Carrigan contacted Roarke in order to have explanations about the Ghost Rider, the Devil put a "firewall" block on Daniel to avoid Blaze finding the boy. Before confronting Ghost Rider, Roarke saw Carrigan on the floor smashed through a wall. He then turned Carrigan into the shadow demon Blackout, giving him one last chance to kidnap Danny. Roarke and Danny were in the ritual to begin the possession, when Blaze, turned into the Rider, interrupted the ceremony. Roarke then took Danny to his car and begun to flee.
After Ghost Rider had killed Blackout, he launched his chain and flipped the car. While attacking Roarke, Ghost Rider roared in his face and launched him with his chain, throwing him back to the underground where Roarke's human body disintegrated through the earth, while his soul returned to Hell.[3]Attributes
Powers
- Possession: Apparently, as shown in the second film, for a full possession to occur, a ritual must be conducted. He can send his essence into another being.
- Super-strength: He possesses high Celestial strength; he was able to toss a concrete slab aside with one hand.
- Enhanced speed: As hinted in the Ghost Rider film, he possesses above human speed. However, the first Ghost Rider was able to outrun him, which it in itself is a great feat.
- Telekinesis: He was able to fling Johnny Blaze with a wave of his hand.
- Resurrection: He can easily rejuvenate the dead. He resurrected Johnny Blaze by slamming his cane on the ground. He also resurrected Ray by touching him.
Notes
- The Devil is played by Peter Fonda in Ghost Rider, and by Ciaran Hinds in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
- He appears as Mephistopheles in Ghost Rider, as Mephisto in the video game sequel and as Roarke in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.
- There are some big differences between this adaptation of Mephisto and the actual comic counterpart:
- In the comics, Mephisto is not the Judeo-Catholic Devil,[5] nor the demon mainly called Satan,[6] but he is a completely different demon who rules his personal Hell-ish Realm, rather than the real Hell, which is divided in several sub-realms ruled by Lucifer, Satan, Thog and Satannish, the so called Hell-Lords.[7] Instead, in the Ghost Rider movie series, Roarke is the only and original Devil and rules the whole Hell dimension.[3]
- In Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance it has been said that Roarke can walk among humans only if he finds a human body as a host, thus weakening his own powers, explaining his different appearances between different movies. In the comics, Mephisto can walk on Earth without a host body and possessing all his powers.
- In the comics, Mephisto has a more demonic appearance, while in the movie series Roarke only appears in his human form. His shadow, anyway, appears to be similar to the comics' form.
Trivia
- There are two deleted scenes featuring Mephistopheles: in the first one, he confronts Blackheart at the very moment he leaves Hell, but his lack of power in the human world prevents him from bringing him back with him. In the second one, he shouts to Johnny Blaze for having killed his son, while he wanted him back alive (the scene was pointless, since, either alive or dead, Blackheart has to come back to Hell).