Danny Ketch
Danny Ketch is a male comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.
Contents |
Biography
Origin
Daniel Ketch was a male human born the son of Barton Blaze and Naomi Kale where he had a sister named Barbara Kale. The children were later given away to a widowed woman named Francis Ketch when they were very young. The two grew up only knowing Mrs. Ketch as their mother, but their biological mom Naomi Kale continued to keep tabs on the kids until her death ten years later. (Ghost Rider v3 #-1)
When on a fifth grade field trip to Manhattan, he was interviewed on television after seeing Spider-Man and the Human Torch driving the Spider-Mobile up walls. (Spider-Man Human Torch v1 #3) Working as a paperboy, the 'nice, normal, ordinary' Danny had his photo taken with Phil and Doris Sheldon to mark Phil's decision to retire from photographing superheroes. (Marvels v1 #4)
On Halloween night when they were teenagers, Danny took his sister Barbara to a graveyard to give her the opportunity to take pictures of the grave of Harry Houdini. During this excursion, the siblings stumbled upon a confrontation between two gangs, one led by Deathwatch and the other made up of cronies belonging to the Kingpin. The two gangs began fighting each other, and Barbara cried out, causing Deathwatch to become aware of her presence. Barbara was shot through the chest with an arrow by one of Deathwatch's henchmen, so Danny grabbed his sister's body and ran away to a nearby junkyard. Distressed and covered in his sister's blood, he hid there with his sister's unconscious body from Deathwatch's henchmen until he noticed a pristine motorbike with a glowing gas cap. Inspecting the glowing gas cap, Danny touched it with his blood-stained hand and instantly transformed into Ghost Rider, a Spirit of Vengeance whose mission was to take revenge on those who shed innocent blood. As Ghost Rider, both Daniel's mind and Ghost Rider's mind were in control, resulting in Danny being only somewhat influential in his own actions. Ghost Rider confronted and began to torture the henchmen of Deathwatch, but was interrupted by the arrival of the police. Leaving Barbara's body behind, Ghost Rider escaped the police on his flaming motorbike, which had also been transformed when Danny touched the glowing gas cap. Eventually, Ghost Rider drove into a secluded alleyway where he turned back into Daniel Ketch. (Ghost Rider v3 #1)
Ghost Rider
Blaze hunted down Ghost Rider and tried to kill him multiple times while Ghost Rider kept attempting to escape Blaze and bring Blackout, who was killing multiple people, to justice. Finally, when Blaze watched Ghost Rider save a child in Central Park that Blackout was about to kill, he became less suspicious of Ghost Rider and stopped trying to kill him. He instead decided to observe Daniel to make sure that he was not Zarathos, and he taught Daniel how to fight and protect himself when he was not transformed into Ghost Rider. (Ghost Rider v3 #16)
Having recently deposed his father Mephisto, Blackheart began to attack the Ghost Rider with his own created Spirits of Vengeance. He also mocked Blaze by placing Roxanne's spirit into the Blackrose. Kale was killed by Pao Fu and taken to Blackheart's Hell. While there, Daniel Ketch apparently sacrificed himself to unlock Noble Kale's full power. (Ghost Rider v3 #93) Kale defeated Blackheart and briefly controlled the realm until Mephisto's return. While he ruled Hell, he resurrected Dan Ketch and returned him to Earth. (Ghost Rider Finale v1 #1)
Sometime later when Mephisto reclaimed his realm, Noble Kale returned to Earth and was forced to re-bond to Dan Ketch. Ghost Rider was seen being summoned forth on the streets of New York where his powers were out of control due to lacking a host. He encountered Spider-Man and Ketch, who told him that he was Noble Kale even though Ghost Rider denied this to be the case. In fact, it should have been the case that Kale's soul was trapped in Mephisto's realm. The trio contended with a bomb created by a group of terrorists who wish to incinerate the city. Although Ghost Rider took possession of the bomb, he lacked the strength to contain the impending explosion, and thus Ketch re-joined with him to become Ghost Rider once more, and aided Spider-Man in neutralizing the threat. This Ketch/Kale hybrid version of Ghost Rider eventually became the King of Hell in a brokered arrangement with then-ruler Blackheart. Per the deal, the Ghost Rider could come to Hell and marry two hand-picked demon brides named Pao Fu and the Black Rose with Blackheart agreeing to free the Ketch line from the curse. Noble accepted the terms of the deal where on the night after the dual wedding the Black Rose betrayed Kale and tried to kill him. When she failed, Blackheart revealed that the entire arrangement had been a plan to kill Kale and destroy his soul. Black Rose was revealed to be Roxanne Simpson, the supposedly dead wife of Johnny Blaze. In response, Kale killed Blackheart thus becoming the King of Hell, and learned he was in fact the angel of death. (Spider-Man v1 #93)
Ketch slipped into a coma in the mortal plane and was later revived by his dead mother, Naomi Kale-Blaze, and brother, Johnny Blaze, where he went on to live a seemingly normal life. However, this was not to last as his long-time girlfriend Stacy found out she was pregnant with Danny's child and ran away. (Ghost Rider Finale v1 #1)
Heaven's on Fire
Sometime later, however, Dan had a change of heart and had Noble Kale exercised from his body by the technomancer Mary LeBow, a week after the exorcism Danny attempted to immolate himself in Times Square while begging for the power of the Ghost Rider to 'come back'. (Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch v1 #2) Danny continued to fall into a deep depression, becoming a drunk who fought bar thugs for kicks. He was approached by Mister Eleven, a talking crow that continued to encounter Ketch over and over, giving him 'doses' of the Ghost Rider power he lusted after like an addiction, luring him in with longer and more powerful amounts each time. (Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch v1 #4) Eleven explained to Ketch the true history of the Spirits of Vengeance and how some past Ghost Rider incarnations were unable to cope with such a magnitude of power, going insane and burning out their souls. He also explained that Verminus Rex, from Blackheart's old Spirits of Vengeance, was hunting other Ghost Riders in order to feed his own growing addiction. (Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch v1 #3) After absorbing the spirit from another Ghost Rider that knew of Rex's location, Danny found out where he was hiding and finished him off, absorbing the other spirits Rex had taken in the past. Taking on such an amount of power and finding the Mary's dead body pushed Danny over the edge, causing him to overdose. Zadkiel intervened, offering to take away Danny's pain from the overdose and in return, Danny would gather other Spirits of Vengeance and absorb their essence in order to 'save the host's soul'. Desperate and with no other option, Ketch agreed, becoming a knight in Zadkiel's service. (Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch v1 #5) Danny was next seen in the shadows speaking on the phone with the head nurse hunting Johnny Blaze. He bore the sign of Zadkiel on his hand. Ketch then encountered Lucas Collier, the young boy Blaze was trying to save, and seemingly convinced the boy to kill himself. (Ghost Rider v6 #23)
Daniel Ketch set off on his new mission: To collect the powers of all the Ghost Riders for the angel Zadkiel to prevent the corruption of the powers within their human hosts. However, Zadkiel had other motives that he kept to himself; he needed the power of the Riders to tear down the walls of New Jerusalem and wage war on Heaven. Danny's first task was to destroy any evidence of his own history by attacking Caretaker and destroying his archives. Johnny Blaze and Caretaker's granddaughter, Sister Sara arrived to speak with Caretaker before he died, but were too late to catch Danny. (Ghost Rider v6 #27) In Tibet, with Chinese soldiers harassing a village, a peasant entered on a donkey. After a short exchange of words and an order to kill given by the General, the peasant transformed and killed the General's men while his back was turned. When the General turned back he saw the Ghost Rider and received the penance stare for his actions. After the attack, the Rider went back to his sanctuary where he was visited by Danny Ketch. A short while later, Sara and Johnny Blaze arrived at the sanctuary to find out how to get back at Zadkiel. After entering, they found the peasant and donkey burned to husks from Ketch leeching the Ghost Rider's power. (Ghost Rider v6 #28)
Spirit of Corruption
Whilst tending to a shop, he was met with an astral projection from Johnny Blaze who was now the King of Hell after deposing Mephisto. He asked for Danny to travel to a village in Nicaragua that was home to a former Spirit of Vengeance named Alejandra Jones. She was being targeted by Carnage who wanted to harvest her spine as she had been a former host of a Symbiote. Reluctantly, Ketch agreed and found Alejandra in a battle fight Carnage with Danny intervening to save her. Despite his efforts, he was overpowered and Alejandra was killed with Carnage consuming her spine thus partially inheriting her powers. Ketch was nearly killed until the soul of Alejandra possessed one of the villagers who encouraged the other people of the village to help the Ghost Rider in the fight thus forcing Carnage to flee as he had acquired his goal. Danny then told Alejandra he was sorry for not saving her but she had no regrets as long as the village was saved with her soul going to join the other Spirits of Vengeance. (Absolute Carnage: Symbiote of Vengeance v1 #1)
As Johnny Blaze began capturing demons roaming the Earth, he tried to recruit the help of his brother, but Ketch refused and tried to convince Johnny that his position as the King of Hell was corrupting his soul. (Ghost Rider v9 #1) Hearing this, Blaze stripped Ketch of his Spirit of Vengeance and threw him off the Manhattan Bridge. (Ghost Rider v9 #2) Luckily, he was saved from drowning by Caretaker Sara. Ketch at first refused to help Blaze come to his senses, but after being convinced by the spirit of his mother to go help his brother, he accepted. Ketch journeyed to Limbo, and took Belasco's Necrosis. After the battle between Ketch and the Necrosis, Belasco turned Ketch into his Spirit of Corruption. (Ghost Rider v9 #4) After returning to his dimension, Ketch instantly regretted this decision and tried to walk away. However, Lilith sent Jack O'Lantern to attack Ketch. The supervillain-turned-demon informed Ketch of an upcoming war and caused Ketch to realize that he needed to save Johnny. (Spirits of Ghost Rider: Mother of Demons v1 #1)
Aftermath
Around 3 months ago, Danny was spending a time at a bar when he was approached by a woman named Dr. Diyu. She was aware of his nature as a Ghost Rider and offered to free him from the Spirit of Corruption inhabiting him. Ketch would ultimately come to accept and would take part in experiments at Infernal Labs. (Ghost Rider v10 #13) During this time, he went through many experiments at severing the Spirit from his body. Unknown to Danny, Infernal Labs were actually contracted by the F.B.I. who had funded the project at creating a controllable demonic weapon that could be deployed against supernatural threats. Dr. Diyu would thus in secret deploy Danny Ketch against various supernatural threats such as demons and vampires. Though, ultimately, she was planning to use Danny to achieve her own secretive goals. (Ghost Rider v10 #14) Her actions would later draw the attention of Johnny Blaze whose Spirit of Vengeance sensed what was happening and tracked the dark signal emanating from Ketch. In response, Dr. Diyu enacted her own plans where she forcibly taking the Spirit of Corruption from Danny in order to inhabit a suit of power armor. This left Ketch dead as he could not survive without the Spirit bonded to him. Diyu then had a portal to Hell open up and journeyed there in the armor as she looked to find her brother who had been condemned there following an altercation with a demon. Johnny Blaze and his companion Talia Warroad came to find the dying Ketch with the Ghost Rider resolving to save Danny by following Diyu into Hell. Within Hell, Dr. Diyu came to find her brother but the Spirit inhabiting her armor came to abandon her. She was then seemingly killed by her demonically corrupted brother alongside the other inhabitants of Hell. Meanwhile, the Ghost Rider would recover the freed Spirit of Corruption and return through the portal back to Earth. This allowed the Spirit of Corruption to re-bond back to Ketch thus saving his life. (Ghost Rider v10 #15)
Danny was purged of the Spirit of Corruption which left him to bond to a new Spirit of Vengeance, and was reunited with Johnny. When Earth was encased in Darkforce to allow the vampires all over the world to attack freely, Danny and Johnny were approached by Blade's ex-girlfriend Tulip to ask them for assistance in this event. This prompted the brothers to reform the Midnight Sons with Victoria Montesi and help uncover what was wrong with Blade as he apparently was behind the invasion. (Midnight Sons: Blood Hunt v1 #1)
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, Danny Ketch first emerged as a young man with a lean build, fair skin, and a mop of slightly unkempt, dark brown hair that fell over his forehead. He wore a simple, casual ensemble consisting of a dark green jacket over a light-colored turtleneck and simple trousers, reflecting his unassuming nature as a resident of Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. However, after he touched the mystical glowing sigil on a discarded motorcycle in a junkyard, his physical form underwent a horrific transformation into the Ghost Rider. His flesh vanished instantly, replaced by a gleaming white skull engulfed in a crown of flickering, supernatural hellfire. His attire shifted into a heavy, black leather biker suit reinforced with silver spikes on the shoulders and knuckles, and a thick, grey metal chain was draped diagonally across his chest. This new form was significantly more imposing and muscular than his human self, radiating an aura of cold vengeance as he stood astride a massive, enchanted motorcycle that featured a glowing, shield-like wheel fairing and tires composed of pure mystical energy. (Ghost Rider v3 #1)
Danny was defined by deep familial devotion, a strong sense of personal responsibility, and a profound reluctance toward his supernatural destiny. He exhibited an intense protective instinct, which drove him to risk his own life to sneak into dangerous territory just to accompany his sister and later shield her from violent criminals. He possessed a gentle, non-aggressive demeanor in his civilian life, showing a preference for avoiding conflict until the safety of his loved ones was directly threatened. His reaction to becoming the Ghost Rider was characterized by immediate horror and psychological burden, as he viewed the transformation not as a gift or a source of power, but as a terrifying curse that disrupted his desire for a normal, peaceful existence. Additionally, he showed a deeply rooted moral conscience, as his immediate instinct upon gaining reality-altering powers was not to seek personal gain or petty revenge, but to ensure his injured sister received medical attention. He also exhibited a lingering sense of guilt and grief, internalizing the tragic events surrounding his sister's injury and channeling that emotional pain into a driven, albeit reluctant, commitment to protect other innocent people from suffering a similar fate. (Ghost Rider v3 #1)
Powers and abilities
Danny Ketch was born a human being with no powers at birth and had no formal combat training prior to his transformation, though he was already a skilled motorcyclist in his everyday life. (Ghost Rider v3 #1)
Ketch demonstrated a range of supernatural powers and mechanical mastery that were equivalent to those of a human host bonded with a noble Spirit of Vengeance. He exhibited immense super strength, which he used to flip speeding vehicles, shatter concrete structures, and physically overpower heavily armed street gangs. He possessed a near-invulnerable physiology and an accelerated healing factor, enabling him to withstand high-caliber gunshots, deep slashes, and crushing blows without sustaining permanent injury. His primary offensive power was Pyrokinesis, which allowed him to generate, control, and project intense blasts of mystical hellfire that could incinerate physical matter and sear the human soul. He displayed advanced chain manipulation skills, utilizing a heavy iron chain wrapped across his chest that responded to his mental commands, allowing it to extend in length, alter its shape into distinct weapons, and burn with hellfire. Additionally, he showed proficiency in advanced vehicle transmutation, transforming a standard motorcycle into a high-tech Hell Cycle featuring solid-flame wheels capable of scaling vertical walls and riding across open water. He also exhibited the terrifying Penance Stare, a unique spiritual ability that allowed him to lock eyes with a target and force them to instantly experience all the pain and suffering they had ever inflicted on others throughout their entire lifetime. (Ghost Rider v3 #1)
At one point, he had the ability to use his demonic flames to to create a small army of duplicates of himself that could act in his stead. (Ghost Rider v6 #32)
Uniquely, Danny has been seen to be able to control the degree of trauma his Stare inflicts; such as when he freed Wolverine from mind control by making him relive the pain and sorrow he inflicted during a single day of his time as a soldier during World War I. (Spider-Man/Fantastic Four v1 #3)
Upon being the host of the Spirit of Corruption, the entity provided Ketch a vastly different set of abilities that he struggled to control and contain. Unlike the Spirit of Vengeance, this new spirit was desperate to get out in order to feed on corruption. It manifested a rotting carapace over its host and created a sword for its host to wield in battle. The Spirit of Corruption was able to repair injuries to its host body with any wounds simply healing instantly. In contrast, cuts from the sword were known to burn its enemies. (Ghost Rider v9 #5)
At one point, Ketch was looking to free himself from the Spirit of Corruption. This saw him being manipulated to join Infernal Labs that claimed to be a private research group which devoted itself into the study of biology, geology, chemistry and physics of Hell. (Ghost Rider v10 #13) Originally, he had joined them under the promise that they would separate the Spirit that was bonded to him. However, instead, he was outfitted with devices that made him a controllable weapon that could be used by government organizations in secret covert operations. Thus, Ketch could be forcibly turned into the Ghost Rider and dispatched on missions whilst he was remotely controlled from Infernal Labs. (Ghost Rider v10 #14)
Notes
- The Danny Ketch Ghost Rider was created by Howard Mackie and Javier Saltares where he made his first appearance in Ghost Rider v3 #1 (May, 1990).
Alternate Versions
- In Speed Demon v1 #1 (1996), an alternate version of the character appeared in the Amalgam Comics reality that was designated as Earth-9602 in the Multiverse. This version was a merger between Marvel Comics Danny Ketch and DC Comics Wally West where they became Speed Demon. He was the nephew of Blaze Allen, who contacted Merlin after accidentally discovering his uncle's secret identity. Wanting to help out his uncle, he had Merlin bond him with an unrevealed demon. Becoming the third Speed Demon, or the Kid Demon, Wally West fought alongside his uncle against the Night Spectre to free the souls held by the evil demon. Wally West rides a flaming motorcycle in his first appearance as Speed Demon. When Blaze Allen realized that Wally West was not bonded with Etrigan, he feared what could be the true source of Wally's new powers.
- In Ultimate Comics Ultimates v1 #27 (2013), an alternate version of Danny Ketch resided in the world of Ultimate Marvel set in the reality designated as Earth-1610 in the Multiverse. Danny Ketch was a master spy and one of the many newest recruits of Fury's Howling Commandos in order to battle Reed Richards and his Dark Ultimates, who had violently started remolding the world. The Howling Commandos made their way to the Maker's base, the Aleph-One, where they assisted the Ultimates in the Dark Ultimates' defeat. During Galactus' invasion, the Howling Commandos found themselves fighting the Gah Lak Tus swarm, which was being controlled by M.O.D.O.K., but numerous of its members were merged into it. What was left of the Commandos managed to infiltrate into M.O.D.O.K.'s floating city, which was composed of the swarm, the people infected by it and the rests from Reed Richard's City of Tomorrow. Falcon entered the systems, and discovered a new controller was needed to release the victims of the swarm from it, but the new controller had to be merged with the swarm. Ketch decided to become the controller and free the innocents and his teammates from the swarm. The floating city slowly fell apart, and as its former members fell from the sky, Stature and Falcon caught as many as they could. When M.O.D.O.K. tried to escape along with a rest of the swarm, Danny decided to sacrifice himself and explode the city in order to kill M.O.D.O.K.. Danny's consciousness survived after being transferred into the Gah Lak Tus nanites, and was recovered into a robotic body by the mysterious Agent Coulson, who named him Machine Man. Afterwards, Machine Man joined the Future Foundation.
- In Ghost Racers v1 #1 (2015), an alternate version of the character named Danny Boy appeared in the Battleworld reality designated as Earth-15513 in the Multiverse. Daniel "Danny Boy" Ketch was one of the many Igniter Spirits who were forced by Arcade and Chief Zadkiel to race in the Killiseum's Ghost Races for the entertainment of its audience. Like the other Spirits of Ignition, Ketch raced to get the first place prize, which was temporary freedom from the arena, otherwise, he would be sent to its dungeons to be tortured along with the other losers. The night Arcade planned to kill Robbie Reyes - the most recent Igniter Spirit to enter the Ghost Races and winner of every race in that season - something unexpected happened: Robbie's Spirit of Ignition broke free of Zadkiel's control and managed to escape the arena with his host through a portal. Zadkiel wasn't able to detect Reyes' presence, so, under Arcade's command, he sent Ketch and the other Ghost Racers to hunt him down.
In other media
Television
- In X-Men, the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider made a non-speaking cameo appearance in the setting of the 1990s animated television series in the season one finale "The Final Decision". He was shown within Gambit's memories that was showing various figures from his past.
- In Fantastic Four, the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider made a brief guest appearance in the setting of the 1990s animated television series in the episode "When Calls Galactus" where he was voiced by actor Richard Grieco.
- In The Incredible Hulk, the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider made a brief guest appearance in the setting of the 1990s animated television series in the episode "Innocent Blood" where he was voiced again by actor Richard Grieco
Films
- In Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Danny Ketch appeared in the 2011 live-action film where he was portrayed by actor Fergus Riordan. Danny was shown as a child who was the daughter of Nadya Ketch who made a deal with the Devil where she bartered her soul in exchange for having a son.
Video games
- In Venom/Spider-Man: Separation Anxiety, the Danny Ketch Ghost Rider appeared as a guest support character in the setting of the video game.
- In Marvel: Ultimate Alliance, Danny Ketch appeared as an alternate skin for Ghost Rider in the video game.
Appearances
- Ghost Rider v3: (1990)
- Spider-Man/Fantastic Four v1:
- Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch v1:
- Absolute Carnage: Symbiote of Vengeance v1:
- Ghost Rider v9:
External Links
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