Marvel's Avengers Brings Back Johnny Blaze's Ghost Rider

CBR

Avengers Brings Back a Fan-Favorite Supernatural Character

By Ian Cardona

Published Mar 11, 2019

As Earth's Mightiest Heroes deal with the Shadow Colonel's forces, a fan-favorite character makes a dramatic (and unexpected) return.

WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Avengers #16 by Jason Aaron, David Marquez, Erick Arciniega and VC's Clayton Cowles, on sale now.

In Jason Aaron and David Marquez's current storyline, Earth's Mightiest Heroes are stuck in the middle of a vampire civil war.

In Avengers #15, Marvel's foremost super-team went up against new villain the Shadow Colonel and his Legion of the Unliving only to discover that they were dealing with a ferocious and well-prepared foe. Making things worse, thanks to an ancient spell, the Legion was able to turn Robbie Reyes into their newest recruit.

As a rabid Ghost Rider fights the Avengers in issue #16, we learn that Robbie is currently stuck in Hell and unable to regain control of himself. And, while he's there, he comes across a character we haven't seen in a long while: Johnny Blaze, aka the original modern day Ghost Rider.

Last seen at the conclusion of 2018's Doctor Strange-centric event series, Damnation. During that storyline, Blaze united alongside a new version of Marvel's Midnight Sons, a team of supernatural heroes, to fight Mephisto, who had transformed Las Vegas into a literal fiery Hell populated by demons.

In order to defeat Mephisto, Blaze sacrificed himself, traveling down into the underworld in order to steal the devil's throne. For all intents and purposes, Blaze effectively became the new king of Hell.

now, a year later, Avengers #16 brings Johnny Blaze back into the fold. We're not exactly sure what he's been up to, but it appears as though the Ghost Rider is still thriving Hell's ruler; in fact, it seems he may have settled into the role a little too comfortably. Johnny's time as ruler of the underworld appear to have changed him, ans Robbie's narration informs us that this Johnny terrifies him.

Fortunately, thanks to a bit of help from the Avengers (and their newest recruit, Blade), Robbie manages to escape Hell. But before he leaves, Johnny warns him that he will be back down here eventually, and that when they see each other again, they would have "a little ride." Whether this is a threat or invitation remains to be seen, but either way, it looks like we're bound to have a confrontation between Ghost Riders sooner or later.

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