Origin

Dan Ketch was born in the Quentin Carnival where his parents, Naomi Kale and Barton Blaze shared top billing with their good friend Craig “Crash” Simpson in their motorcycle stunt act. Dan was the youngest of the Blaze children, which included his brother Johnny, and sister Barbara.

Unknown to Blaze family, Naomi was the descendant of Noble Kale; Noble was cursed by Mephisto in the 18th century to exist in an empty void. Noble would come forth to every first child in each new Kale generation, allowing them to be transformed into the Ghost Rider.

The ancient being known as Caretaker approached Naomi and told her that both her eldest Johnny and her youngest Danny would both become a Ghost Rider. Caretaker offered to help safeguard Naomi’s children,which she agreed to, and faked her own death, going into hiding while she sought out a way to lift the family curse of the Ghost Rider. Naomi allowed the Caretaker to place Dan and Barbara in the care of a widow named Francis Ketch who lived in Cypress Hills.

Birth of the New Ghost Rider

Dan and Barbara were too young to remember that Barton and Naomi were their real parents. Dan had a normal childhood, expressing an interest in motorbikes at an early age. Dan’s best friend and eventual object of his affections, was Stacy Dolan. Danny’s bond with his sister was especially deep -- the two were fairly inseparable well into their late teens.

One night, Danny and Barbara took a shortcut through a graveyard. On their way through, the two saw a man called Deathwatch killing a man and taking his briefcase. Barbara screamed at the sight of the man dead on the floor and the screams attracted the attention of Deathwatch and his men. The two tried to escape but one of Deathwatch’s men managed to shoot Barbara and badly injures her, causing Dan to carry Barbara and hide in a nearby junkyard.

While hiding, Dan noticed an unusual motorcycle. Looking brand new and out of place among the wreckage, the motorcycle seemed to call out to Danny. Danny, his fingertips dripping with Barbara’s blood , reached out and touched the motorcycle. The contact between the bike activated the piece of the medallion of power within Dan and transformed him into the living spirit of vengeance, the Ghost Rider.

Ghost Rider easily defeated Deathwatch and his men, and took Barbara to the hospital. Unfortunately, her injuries were too severe, and she fell into a coma.

Early Days

Ghost Rider's primary target in early days was Deathwatch and his various gangs in the Cypress Hills area. One of Deathwatch’s employees, Blackout, a mutant who believed himself a powerful vampire, would fight Ghost Rider many times; in one of these fights Ghost Rider would badly burn and disfigure Blackout's face.

Later, Blackout would find out Ghost Rider’s secret identity and take revenge on him by killing Barbara in her hospital bed. After Barbara’s death, Dan became more withdrawn from the people who loved him and started to take his mission of vengeance more seriously. Dan started fighting more powerful foes such as Zodiak, Scarecrow and Snowblind.

The Return of Johnny Blaze

All the media attention surrounding the new Ghost Rider caught the attention of Johnny Blaze, the previous Ghost Rider. Blaze tracked down Dan, believing that Zarathos was free again. Johnny shot Dan at point-blank range with a shotgun, but instead of shooting bullets the gun began producing hellfire. This surprised Blaze, who thought he had lost his Ghost Rider powers when Zarathos was captured in the soul crystal.

Dan was badly injured by this and barley survived the encounter. Dan convinced Johnny that he was not Zarathos, and Johnny would stay with Dan in order to watch over him and help teach him about his powers.

The uneasy partnership between Blaze and Ghost Rider intensified when a powerful demon known as Lilith, the mother of demons, appeared looking for Zarathos. Around this time, the Caretaker re-emerged.

Family Ties

Caretaker revealed that he was a member of the ancient group known as The Blood; Caretaker had been put in charge of protecting two special families, in which certain family member had a piece of the medallion of power bound to their souls. This left them open to being bound to their ancestor, Noble Kale. Caretaker revealed that Danny and Johnny were actually brothers and each of them had a piece of the medallion of power bound to their soul.

Caretaker told them about the second family that also had pieces of the medallion bound to their souls. The family was the Badilino’s and recently Michael Badilino, a tough cop from New York, had recently been transformed in to the being known as Vengeance.

A short time after this Lilith reappered and again planned to steal all the pieces of the medallion of power, but this time she was joined by a very powerful being known as Centurious. As a result of these actions there occurred an all out war between the Blood and the Fallen, who were formerly part of the Blood but now supported Zarathos.

Noble Kale

After the war, Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, Doctor Strange, started taking an interest in the spirit that dwelt within Dan. Strange would later say that Ghost Rider’s powers were “God-like”. Strange found that Dan was related to a talented sorceress named Jennifer Kale. Jenifer helped the soul within Dan to discover its true identity and all of its memories.

The soul that was in Dan was called Noble Kale. Noble lived in the 18th century and was the son of an overbearing Pastor. Noble had fallen in love with a black woman called Magdalena. Magdalena gave birth to Noble’s child but their happiness was short-lived, as the Pastor Kale discovered Noble’s illegitimate child and had Magdalena branded as a witch and burned at the stake. As she was dying, she cursed Pastor, damning him to the ancient cult known as the Furies, who seek revenge for harmed women.

Fearing for his life, Pastor summoned Mephisto and traded his son’s soul for protection from the Furies. Mephisto transformed Noble into the first Ghost Rider by activating his piece of the medallion of power within him. Noble was able to defeat the Furies but then turned on his father, who tried to placate Noble with a sacrifice -- Noble’s son.

Grief-stricken, Noble killed himself. When Mephisto appeared to claim Noble's soul, he found himself opposed by an angel called Uriel who also wanted the soul. It was finally decided that neither Heaven nor Hell would posses Noble’s soul, and instead it would dwell in an empty void, to be summoned forth when needed.

King of Hell

Blackheart became more and more obsessed with destroying the Ghost Rider, unleashing his own spirits of vengeance, made up of Wallow, Pao Fu, Doghead and Verminous Rex. When Ghost Rider refused to join them, the other spirits of vengeance battled him and in his weakened state, Pao Fu was able to kill him. Noble, as the Ghost Rider and Dan were sent to hell and separated. Blackheart offered the Ghost Rider a demonic bargain: Noble would have to marry both Pao Fu and a spirit called Black Rose, and in return Noble would regain his mortal form and would be free of the curse of the Medallion of Power.

Dan was contacted by his dead mother, Naomi Kale’s, soul, who led him through Hell. At the end of the journey, Dan discovered the final secret of Noble’s origin: Noble was the angel of death. Dan managed to tell Noble of this, but in the end could not survive the conditions of Hell and died.

Now, fully aware of his true identity and upset at Dan’s death, Noble destroyed Blackheart and his Spirits of Vengeance and became the new ruler of Hell. With his newfound powers, Noble revives Dan and gives him his soul back, and sends him back to New York.

Noble’s rule was interrupted, although the exact circumstances are unknown, which resulted in Noble being cast out of Hell. Left without a human host, Noble wandered around New York with his hellfire raging out of control, confused about his identity. Dan stumbled upon Noble and recognized that Noble’s powers were fluctuating because he lacked a human host. The two merged  once more and rode off to restart their mission of vengeance.

Characteristics

                   6’2 [as Ghost Rider]

Weight:     180lbs [as Dan]

Eye colour: Green [as Dan]

Hair colour:   Brown [as Dan]

Powers

Ghost Rider has superhuman strength, able to lift up to 25 tons.

One of Ghost Rider's primary powers is his complete control over hellfire: he is able to generate it and project in massive amounts. Ghost Rider can also channel it through such items as his chain and motorcycle.

Ghost Rider’s Penance Stare forces his victims to feel all the pain and suffering they have inflicted on other people. This will not work if his victim has no eyes or no soul.

Ghost Rider has a high durability level and is able to withstand most impacts. He is also immune to most physical attacks.

Ghost Rider uses two mystical items: the first is a chain that can grow in length and take the shape of other weapons such as spears or shuriken. The second is his motorcycle that can travel over water and up vertical surfaces. It can also rebuild itself moments after being destroyed.

Dan is a decent hand-to-hand fighter; this combined with Ghost Rider's super strength makes him a formidable opponent