WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History by Paul Scheer & Nick Giovannetti and Todd Nauck.
When Marvel introduced the Cosmic Ghost Rider, his comedic personality made it seem like he would be Peter Parker or Wade Wilson under the flaming skull. Shockingly, it turned out to be Frank Castle, who had the Penance Stare he used to distributing his hilarious sense of justice across the cosmos.
With the recently-completed Cosmic Ghost Rider Destroys Marvel History miniseries, we got even more wacky adventures from this iteration of Frank as he tried to save his family in the past. Now, CBR is taking a look back at how he tried to accomplish those goals and what ultimately happened to him.
WHO IS THE COSMIC GHOST RIDER?
Frank went to hell after his family was killed by the Maggia, pushing to strike a deal with Mephisto. He'd then go from vengeance-seeking Ghost Rider to Galactus' herald, becoming powered up to the point Silver Surfer would become jealous of what he could do.
As we saw in the Thanos , he evolved to become the lackey for King Thanos once the Devourer of Worlds fell. Eventually, when the old Mad Titan died, Frank decided to travel back in time to kill baby Thanos to ensure none of that chaos ever happened and the galaxy would remain Thanos-free. However, he and baby Thanos embarked on a series of fun adventures before Frank decided to return the child to his time and sped off to save his family, hoping to live a happy life.
WHAT EVENTS DID FRANK MESS WITH?
This miniseries builds to a showdown with Uatu the Watcher and Frank because the Cosmic Ghost Rider ends up changing history drastically as he attempts to save his family from the Maggia slaughter. Some incidents occur by accident but others Frank enacts to ensure he can protect his family and also, make the world a slightly better place. We see him joining the Fantastic Four, fighting Skrulls, meeting Ben Grimm in heaven after the Thing died, and lastly, nixing events such as The Clone Saga and One More Day, even preserving Pete's bond to MJ after the Black Suit drove Spider-Man over the edge.
Frank also has dealings with mutants, tweaking Days of Future Past, stopped the Dark Phoenix Saga to the point he hosted the Phoenix Force and investigated the murder of Emma Frost after her affair with Cyclops was discovered. He also altered World War II by fighting with the Howling Commandos against the Nazis. Frank even pretended to be the Red Skull, while taking out Hitler in the process and winning the acknowledgment of Captain America -- something Frank has always wanted to do. However, all of this tinkering with the timestream leads to Uatu holding Frank at gunpoint if he doesn't undo the changes he made.
WHERE DID FRANK END UP?
Simply put, Uatu is ticked off that Frank messed the timeline up, reshuffling history forever. Their showdown reaches tragic heights as the Watcher facilitates the death of his family knowing Frank would suffer. Their deaths break Frank mentally again and he ends up in the Raft instead of Sentry, only for Daredevil to arrive and cause a jailbreak with Carnage on the loose, akin to the "Breakout" arc in New Avengers. This drama freed the Rider and he'd visit Uatu on the moon, killing him out of revenge so Nick Fury could put the Original Sin event into motion.
This also adjusts the 616-canon because Uatu put everything back to how it was when the Maggia killed the Castles. Still, Frank enjoys murdering the cosmic being and leaves Fury to take credit, warning him the heroes will be hunting him, thus allowing Original Sin to still take place. Ironically, the Avengers and Illuminati kept Frank on their radar during all of this. After Uatu resetting the natural order of things, the Cosmic Ghost Rider is spotted at the start of the Thanos Reborn arc recently with time returning to how it was before. This gives readers a chance to see with the Rider meshing with space colleagues and being questioned by Starfox.
As we know from here, it's canon that once Gamora attacked the scene, the Cosmic Rider would end up in a vortex, becoming a member of Star Lord's new Guardians of the Galaxy. With Uatu setting the record straight, history's preserved so that the Rider didn't place ripple effects into the temporal stream at all.