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Ghost Rider Vol 1 6
Ghost Rider Vol 1 66
History
You think this is manipulative? Ha! This is my power at it's absolute weakest!
- — Blackheart
- — Blackheart
Early Years
Born several years even before the Big Bang and subsequent formation of the prime reality in a realm of Hell, Blackheart was the son of the powerful Hell Lord Mephisto. He was said to be more powerful than his father because, unlike his father, he has never fallen, although it was later to be proven wrong. He was very powerful, possessing the power to burn people alive with a single touch. Blackheart was a cruel and ambitious demon, whose aim was to become the ruler of Hell in place of his father. As a demon, he shows no pity or moral values. He's a brutal, sadistic, and violent being who primarily only knows hate, fear and cruelty.
Great Billion Years' War
Approximately twelve billion years in the past (two billion years after the Big Bang), the non-Celestial cosmic entity and primordial archdemon that resides in a pocket nether dimension named Chthon, secretly and tactically wages a great war with his army of darkness and the Allied Empire of Damnation (consisting of the his father Mephisto, the then-current holder of the Satan epithet that was Marduk Kurios, the fallen angel Zadkiel, the mysterious demonic goddess Asteroth, the Cthulhu Mythos, the future Japanese God of Evil Chaos King, a momentarily-possessed Phoenix Force, the future Spirit of Vengeance that was Zarathos, and Blackheart himself after trying to get his father's honor and recognition) against the Conservators of the Cosmos, a democratic council of benevolent, god-like beings who had served as the first guardians and peacekeepers of the young universe, in accordance to the legacy left by a noble sector of Celestials, years before their demises.
The war goes on for the next billion years, which covered most of reality in great darkness due to the slow but progressive forces of Chthon, with the latter seemed like it would last for an eternity. Almost two billion years have passed during the reign of terror inflicted by the Allied Empire of Damnation across the primordial stages of the universe, the conflict was finally won and order was restored by the surging forces of good and ideological supporters of peace. In the fall of the Allied Empire of Damnation, most of its members were completely obliterated from existence and died out, while some others barely survived the ordeal by escaping through other dimensions. In Blackheart's case, he and his commanding forces still tried to continue charging through the enemy territories to try and break through it, killing most of the members of the once-advanced and continuously progressive Ethereal race, although his main objective of breaking the territory was unsuccessful. Nonetheless, he still made it back to safety by the moment he and his decreasing men were beginning to be outnumbered by the warriors of peace, thanks to Mephisto's choice to get him into to Hell in secret, pityingly considering on the fact that Blackheart was still his son.
Blackheart's Banishment
Blackheart's physical, human form on the surface of the Earth since he had been banished on the Terran realm
At one point after the Great Billion Years' War, Blackheart was banished by his father from Hell onto an prison-like dimension below the nether realm where he was trapped in for thousand of centuries, after revealing to his son that he knew of the latter's plans on trying to overthrow his father in his throne in the netherworld. He remained imprisoned in the hellish dimension until he manages to find a way out of it, finding his way escaping into the Earth's dimension at some point during days of the Modern Era, where would he begin inflicting chaos and destruction that he encounters in his every path on the once-benevolent planet.
His first time on Earth was appearing in an area of an old town named Christ's Crown, an abandoned village located in New York City. There he was witnessed by two anthropologists named Peter and Sarah, who saw his rebirth on this very dimension. Before they could try to run away, they were immediately killed by the heartless demon, who killed them with a single touch and stare into their eyes. Later on, Blackheart would eventually encounter several foes throughout his exile on Earth, from the mystical sorcerer Doctor Strange of the Masters of the Mystic Arts, to his would-be-later archnemesis, the legendary Ghost Rider of Johnny Blaze. From that that on forward, Blackheart's cravings and appetite for more souls had increased to an immeasurable extent, motivating him to start a crusade on devouring every souls of every living creature on Earth until it is all his, so he would be able to turn this world into his own version of his father's realm of Hell before he could have the opportunity to claim his own throne once and for all.
The Devil and the Rider
Eventually, Blackheart manages to make his way to New York City, specifically in the streets of Hell's Kitchen. There, Blackheart started manipulating the town's criminals and even a few civilians and the crime rate of the town itself, brainwashing every single individual on the streets into killing one another.
Because of this, it would eventually make him cross paths with the Guardian of Hell's Kitchen, Daredevil, who as the lawyer Matthew Murdock, started to have a growing concern regarding the criminals and innocent civilians who were sentenced in court, with several others begging the judge that they were somehow manipulated by a "man in a black, torn hoodie" who had a strange, eerie, persuasive voice, which according to them, was the one responsible for them doing those following murders.
The Devil
Following a series of extensive investigations throughout Hell's Kitchen, Murdock eventually came across an ongoing crime on the side of the street, forcing himself to suit up as the Daredevil to apprehend the criminals involved and save those civilians from getting killed. After apprehending the criminal, Daredevil found something very unusual about her, since she started crying, telling the hero to make her stop the voices in her head, manipulating her.
The man who was also begged Daredevil not to hurt the woman, who was revealed to be his girlfriend. The hero was confused, asking why would she unexpectedly hurt her boyfriend without any reason, and immediately asked her what or who were the voices in her head. While asking more questions, the same man on the hoodie the couple thought who were responsible for mind-controlling the woman into having a desire to kill the man came behind Daredevil, and immediately touches his shoulder, whispering into his ear, ordering him to kill the couple.
However, thanks to Daredevil's indomitable will and his loyalty as a devoted Catholic and his morals of not killing anyone, he successfully fought off the mind-control of Blackheart's voice. Detecting this, the man in the hood knocks the Devil, throwing him against the wall, leaving him unconscious. The man then finally reveals itself as Blackheart, haunting the Devil as he faces off against a manipulative demon.
Daredevil then shouted at the couple and told them to run off the opposite direction to escape, however, just as they ran, Mephisto immediately teleported in front of the couple, mocking them that there is no escaping unless they freely give him their souls for an exchange. However, the man stepped in front of the woman, resisting his offers and told him to screw himself. Consequently, Blackheart grabs the man by the throat and carries him, finally ready to devour the man's brave and courageous, which he described as "more appetizing than coward and fearful souls."
The Rider
However, just by the second Blackheart came upon devouring the man's soul, a flaming chain from behind unexpectedly grapples the demon's neck and pulls him, thankfully letting go of the man. As the man was freed from getting devoured, he watches in horror and shock as Blackheart was confronting someone else, something else, revealing to be the legendary Ghost Rider himself, who was Blackheart's recent archenemy. The couple then manages to run on the opposite direction and successfully escape the ensuing battle.
As the battle between the demon and the rider, Daredevil eventually wakes up only to see the two smash each other's faces far across the deepest, darkest streets of Hell's Kitchen. As the two entities battle, Ghost Rider starts to finally beat down the demon brutally, creating an opportunity for the Guardian Devil to entering, knocking down the demon with a strong flying kick to his face for a short while. While Blackheart remained unconscious, Daredevil then decides to question his flaming-headed friend without hesitation about what, or specifically who was the demon they've just encountered.
The Rider didn't answer the question, ignoring Daredevil while it chains Blackheart's neck, dragging his knocked out body towards his Hellcycle. However despite his silent response, Daredevil immediately insisted the Rider to tell him what was going on, to the extent where Daredevil eventually called out the man who was possessed by the Spirit of Vengeance, Johnny Blaze. Hearing those words, the Rider was immediately triggered, and grabbed Daredevil by the throat and pushes him against the wall, telling him to stay out of his way, before letting him go.
However, as the two continued arguing about the Rider's actions on killing criminals, their argument took long enough for Blackheart to get out from the shackles of the Hell Chain. Blackheart then pulls the chain, pulling the Rider with it, causing for Blackheart into delivering a strong uppercut towards the thick flaming skull of the Rider, reverting him back into Johnny Blaze once more.
Taking this as an advantage of returning back to Hell, Blackheart then took Johnny with him and went to the last location where Blackheart had found the mysterious portal, bridging between Earth and Mephisto's Hell. Daredevil attempted to stop Blackheart from leaving but Blackheart was too strong, only be knocked out once more after Blackheart delivered a strong smack to his face, leaving him on the streets, only to be later found and was helped by man and his younger brother, who was riding a 1969 Dodge Charger.
The Day Hell Finally Fell
After taking Johnny Blaze with him to deliver the Spirit of Vengeance to his father in Hell as a collected bounty, Blackheart then takes the portal, successfully teleporting him once again back to Hell, a place where he had never been a very long time. As he arrived on the hellish dimension, Blackheart was too unprepared to find out that Hell itself was already abandoned by everyone due to a possible extinction event that have happened due to unknown reasons.
As he explored the ruined dimension pulling Johnny's unconscious body, he eventually found the old kingdom, which was left in ruins. Entering the kingdom, he finally found the throne, where he saw the lifeless, rotten corpse of his father, Mephisto, who was still sitting at the throne before his very death. Unexpected to see the fall of his father's empire, Blackheart eventually felt joy and happiness in his heart for the first time in his life, and even ridiculed to have been disappointed for not witnessing it himself, as the empire fell with his father who died. As a result, Blackheart recklessly threw his father's corpse off the throne, shattering it to pieces as it plummets down below without any guilt whatsoever. Now clearing his father of the throne, Blackheart sat down, signifying a new reign on Hell.
Whoever unbeknownst to him, Johnny Blaze opened his eyes, before suddenly transforming himself as the Ghost Rider once more to finally finish this, and end Blackheart's tyranny as an act of revenge for Mephisto on betraying him, while he was still on Hell. Now as the Ghost Rider, the Rider immediately attacks Blackheart. However, as usual, Blackheart easily trampled the furious rider with all its powers and abilities now that he is on Hell, giving him the sources of his powers. Although despite this, the Rider never gave up even though the feet of Blackheart's foot is already crushing his chest, and realizes that even though Blackheart might be powerful enough on this realm, the Rider could pretty much do the exact same thing. Finally realizing the true potential of the Rider's powers, the Spirit of Vengeance, through the Ghost Rider, releases a mighty, earth-shattering roar which echoed throughout the depths of Hell, which also had breathed fire from his skull aiming at Blackheart. Because of this, Blackheart only manages to let his foot go off of Johnny's chest, then taunted him that his "dragon-breathing technique," didn't work on him.
As a response the Rider told him that he did that for a different reason. Confused of what the Rider had answered, the surface of Hell then starts to crumble into the ground, and as Blackheart watches in shock and horror, the Rider finally breaks out his captivity and finally, they battle it out. The battle eventually ended with Ghost Rider beating Blackheart to pulp, thanks to the Hellfire empowering his entire self. Realizing that Blackheart is indeed truly unkillable not even a penance stare could kill him since he has no soul, he decided to leave him there, weakened and paralyzed as the empire he wished would have lasted, collapses in front of him. After Ghost Rider leaves Hell, the portal then closes, leaving Blackheart to apparently die inside his own realm.
Back with a Vengeance
However, despite what Blackheart had thought, the realm that he and the Rider was in wasn't, but it was instead revealed as a fabric, duplicated construct of Hell secretly created by his father as a trick, where Hell was destroyed and was left in ruins. Because of this unfortunate revelation, Blackheart also survived the fall of the empire, making his way back to the real Hell, where he was confronted by his father, who was revealed to be in fact alive, who also Blackheart have not seen in years.
Though disappointed to see his father being alive, Blackheart was still glad to see his father, which made him curse on him very extremely before being shut up by his father, since he wanted to tell him something, which was a deal to finally bring down the Ghost Riders who were exiled on Earth, and kill the very Zarathos, the Spirit of Vengeance, once and for all. Blackheart then insisted his father on taking his throne once he was surely successful on killing the Riders.
As a response, Mephisto thought of thinking about it, asking his son about agreeing with the deal first. Blackheart unwillingly agreed, and suddenly, Mephisto sent out his generals, the Hidden, to assist his son and watch if he would do something unthinkable that would break the deal between them. After that, Mephisto led them to the portal, leading back to Earth so they can finally finish the deal immediately. After arriving on Earth, Blackheart and the Hidden began their crusade to eliminate all the Ghost Riders on Earth, before proceeding with the plan of ruling the world in the process by expunging it into flames and magma as he turns it into his new realm.
Blackheart's Last Campaign
A Demon's Disobedience
For a few months, Blackheart and the Hidden have traveled throughout the entire world, searching for the remaining Riders, and after each search, they successfully killed each and every one of them, with Blackheart devouring all their souls. That is, until one Rider barely escaped the ensuing slaughter, revealing himself to be the Caretaker, one of Johnny Blaze's most trusted allies since he became the Ghost Rider. The Caretaker also had the possession of an ancient scroll, a scroll formerly owned by Mephisto containing the souls of thousands that belonged to several enhanced individuals (Mutants, Inhumans, etc.) since the ancient civilization existed, a scroll that Blackheart has been wanting for a long time. This scroll was known by many ancient texts as the Contract of San Venganza.
Distraught by the escape of their target, the Hidden were frustrated at Blackheart for being "too slow," and blamed him for his escape as all he ever did was devour all the souls of the Riders they've eliminated instead of just helping them return their souls to Mephisto. One of them then asked what he was doing the whole time while they were all doing his only job.
As a simple response, Blackheart suddenly breathes out fire against the five of them, which was an ability he gained absorbing the Riders' soul, making them get furious even more after Blackheart decided to choose betrayal instead. The Hidden and Blackheart immediately fought off to the death, which resulted with the defeat of the Hidden, no doubt, thanks to Blackheart having the powers of more than a hundred thousand ancient Ghost Riders from different periods on Earth's history, and in fact, all of their powers combined were strong enough to take down one of the most powerful beings on the history of the entire galaxy, the Celestials, or sometimes, it could even take down gods themselves.
Defeated by their master's own son, Blackheart paralyzes the Hidden and ended their lives one by one, absorbing all of their everything, from their powers to their life force, until their bodies rot, dying through an agonizing and painful death. Now on his own, Blackheart ignored his father's warnings and consequences and started his journey to track down and find the Caretaker, which may led into finding his archenemy, Johnny Blaze, once again so he could finally have his vengeance on him.
A Demon's Dominance
After absorbing thousands of souls throughout the Earth, Blackheart becomes "Legion"
While he was on a search for Johnny Blaze through tracking down the Caretaker, he unexpectedly stumbled across several of Johnny's loved ones while he had traveled throughout New York City. From his younger sister, Barbara, to even Johnny's wife and soulmate, Roxanne Simpson, Blackheart knew it would be the best opportunity on having his revenge against Johnny, by taking away everything that he loved. As a result, Blackheart transformed into his own human form, taking the identity of Frank Ryder, a man who was originally the Blaze's neighbors, until Blackheart, killed all of them as he devours their soul without anyone noticing around the neighborhood, since Blackheart had replaced all of the family members with several duplicates of himself.
Johnny, who later figured out who their neighbor's true identity really was, he decided for him and for his family to leave town, away from something coming their way, something dangerous. Unfortunately, before they could even leave the house, it was already too late. After returning back to their residence, Johnny and a few residents was shocked to find out that everyone near around his neighborhood were found dead as their corpse somehow rots, and as Johnny returns to his house, it was then he came upon the realization that Blackheart could have taken both Barbara and Roxanne.
Johnny was proven right, as he had noticed the signs on their kitchen wall, threatening him with letters on the wall written by using fresh blood. The words threatened Johnny to take the Caretaker with him, or else, both of his loved ones will die a death they would suffer from. Johnny had no other choice but to do what he was told by begging for the Caretaker's help. The Caretaker immediately agreed, responding that there's too many deaths going on that day, and decided for them to finally settle the situation without anyone dying on his hands. The Caretaker also told Johnny that his other reason for threatening them was because of the Contract of San Venganza, which the Caretaker had secretly kept since he rebelled Mephisto.
After a long talk on planning how to deal with Blackheart, the two Riders brought the contract and eventually made their way on to Blackheart's base of operations on Earth, an ancient temple filled with tombs that were secretly dedicated to Mephisto, which recently found in the plain deserts of Texas. The three then confronted, giving the contract to the demon and finally, he manages to absorbs all the thousand souls from the contract, making him more powerful and unstoppable than he had ever been. Johnny then insisted on letting Barbara and Roxanne go. Blackheart released Barbara, however he decided to do something else to Roxanne, something worse than killing her. Instead, Blackheart used his unusual powers on Roxanne, painfully wrapping her in some kind of cocoon similar to the ones that forms during the Terrigenesis of an Inhuman, slowly transforming Roxanne's form while she was still inside the cocoon.
Upset and horrified by what Blackheart has been doing to his wife, Johnny never hesitated and transforms into the Ghost Rider along with the Caretaker as they charged towards the demon to attack and end this, once and for all. During the ensuing battle, both Riders manages to pick up a fair fight with the demon, until they were eventually and were single-handedly by the more powerful villain, who now calls himself, Legion. Now having the power of a thousand souls, Blackheart became more powerful than ever. Defeated by the more powerful demon once more, Blackheart repeatedly beats down Johnny to a pulp, the same way he did to him back at hell, until he reverted back into his human form, while Blackheart effortlessly threw the Caretaker at the tombs of the temples, knocking him unconscious, causing for Blackheart to absorb more souls from the deceased. Just as Blackheart could hang both of the Riders at once with their Hellfire Chains, this took Barbara her opportunity to pick up the contract on the ground, in which she immediately shredded it, without any hesitation, finally depowering Blackheart.
Furiously disappointed at the fact that the souls containing several of his powers were now gone and useless, Blackheart roars and screams at Barbara, charging towards her with anger as he transform his hand into a lethal organic blade ready to impale her with it, a blade that is enchanted by a serum capable of to killing even the strongest and toughest being imaginable. However, just as he could aim at her heart, the Caretaker immediately jumps in front of the blade, impaling him with it, instead of Barbara. The Caretaker dies in Johnny and Barbara's hands, the Caretaker told him his finals words, and whispered him on how to finally end Blackheart at that moment, before sadly dying from the poisonous effects of Blackheart's blade, mystical poison not even one's soul could survive or withstand its lethal effects.
A Demon's Downfall
After taunting Johnny one last time of how pathetic he was for dealing with the devil which resulted in the Caretaker's death, Johnny eventually got up from his knees as the Ghost Rider and continues to battle Blackheart in a final, duel to the death. During the battle, Johnny used the advantage of letting Blackheart smash all the remaining in tombstones inside the temple so that the demon could absorb it each time he smashes another one. And after gaining the upper hand on taking down the demon, Johnny knocks and holds down a fallen and a weakened Blackheart.
With all his anger and fury inside of him, the Ghost Rider releases a mighty and another earth-shattering roar on Blackheart's already disfigured face and finally, he performs the Penance Stare on him, burning all the souls that Blackheart had absorbed all his life, giving him a fatal finish in the very end of the battle. Now a powerless, mindless, and a soulless catatonic being, an all-powerful Ghost Rider delivers a deadly blow towards a disfigured and a dying Blackheart using the mighty fist through Zarathos' rage, shattering his entirety into a million pieces, killing the son of Mephisto, once and for all.
However, despite Blackheart having to die at the hands of his most hated enemy, he manages to successfully have his own revenge on Johnny, by slowly poisoning his wife while she was encased inside the cocoon, Roxanne. Just as Johnny and Barbara pulled out Roxanne out of the cocoon, it was already too late. Roxanne didn't make it, due to radioactive poisoning. As she dies in Johnny's arms, she told her beloved and her sister-in-law that she would always love them no matter what, and told them to stay strong even after all of these events.
Legacy
Days after Roxanne's funeral, her death still deeply saddens Johnny and Barbara, making this one of the important events that would forever scar Johnny for the rest of his life, after failing to save his very love from the clutches of his former archenemy, who also died during his final confrontation against the Ghost Rider. Later on, this intriguing and heroic tale would eventually be told throughout the entire universe through several unknown reasons, with most beings having remembered the Ghost Riders as a race who were one of the most heroic but also one of the most extreme beings in the entire universe at the same time.
After Blackheart's death, his father Mephisto would still see him as a major disappointment and a major embarrassment to him for not fulfilling his "simple" request, even though he was already an embarrassment to Mephisto's family since the beginning, though he was still impressed at what Blackheart had done when he managed to scar Johnny by taking his wife's life. In conclusion, Mephisto also had no plans recently or in the future on resurrecting his own son, since there was no way to resurrect him after he died an irreversible demise at the hands of the Rider, or even try to create a duplicate of him, since according to him, the first one was already both a disappointment and an embarrassment to Mephisto's image, what would happen if he created more of those?
And finally, even despite of able to finally kill most of the Ghost Riders on Earth, their reign didn't end there, not even close. Despite what Blackheart said on Johnny Blaze becoming the last remaining Ghost Rider on Earth after Blackheart was "successful" on committing genocide against the Riders of Earth, he was later proven wrong, and the remaining Spirits of Vengeance will never stop protecting this world from mystical and demonic threats. Only a few months after the failure and demise of Blackheart, it was revealed that more and more Ghost Riders have started appearing throughout different parts around the world, and according to Johnny, their just getting started. From the Ghost Rider of Brooklyn and Johnny Blaze's long-lost younger brother, Danny Ketch, to the all-new Ghost Rider of Los Angeles, Robbie Reyes, the rise of the Ghost Riders is only just the beginning, being part of this bright new age, people would often call as, the Heroic Age.
Powers and Abilities
Powers
Demon Physiology: Blackheart's powers are drawn from misdeed. His vast supernatural powers includes the following until Ghost Rider manages to use his Penance Stare on Blackheart, causing him to see all the pain and suffering the thousands of lost souls he had recently absorbed from the Ghost Riders and the victims he had killed, and also the Contract of San Venganza, which served as his final straw tactically used by the Ghost Riders. This caused him to lose all of his powers and killed Blackheart for the last time.
Formerly:
- Unique Physiology
- Angel Physiology
- Ethereal Physiology
- Homo Superior Physiology
- Inhomo Supremis Physiology
- Homo Immortalis Physiology
- Superhuman Strength
- Superhuman Stamina
- Superhuman Durability
- Terrigenesis
- Telekinesis
- Telepathy
- Levitation
- Inter-dimensional Teleportation
- Size Alteration
- Physical Alteration
- Self-Duplication
- Molecular Acceleration/Destabilization
- Weapon Manifestation
- Armor Manifestation
- Intangibility
- Sub-Molecular Healing
- Energy Generation
- Soul Capturing
- Mind Control
- Darkforce Energy Control
- Darkforce Dimension
- Immortality
- Penance Stare Immunity
| Power Grid [1] | |||||
| Intelligence* |
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| Strength* |
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| Speed* |
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| Durability* |
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| Energy Projection* |
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| Fighting Skills |
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| * Blue (starting from strength down to energy projection) indicates his original power grid, while gray indicates his current power grid after being powerless by the Ghost Rider | |||||
Abilities
- Nigh-Omniscience
- Vast Ancient Knowledge
- Vast Arcane Wisdom
- Master Warrior
- Trained Combatant
Strength level
Class 100+
Weaknesses
- Consumer of Souls
- Depowerment of Powers
- Penance Stare Vulnerability
Paraphernalia
Equipment:
- Various manifested armory
- Various manifested tools
Transportation:
- Teleportation
Weapons:
- Various manifested weapons
- Various collected weapons
Notes
- No special notes.
- ↑ Modern Comics: Doctor Strange Vol 1 30
Trivia
- No trivia.
See Also
- Appearances of Blackheart (Earth-61615)
- Character Gallery: Blackheart (Earth-61615)
- Quotations by Blackheart (Earth-61615)
Discover and Discuss
- Search News for: Blackheart · Blackheart (Earth-61615)
Links and References
- None.