Folklore and religion lack no examples of tales in which a devil (or most often the devil) appears before someone to propose or to be proposed a deal. That deal usually involves said person selling their soul to the entity or swearing fealty to him in exchange for power, money, or the fulfillment of some other wish. We see this in the Bible when Satan tempts Jesus Christ in the desert before being rebuked; in Bearskin, by the Brothers Grimm, where the poor soldier is instructed to wear a bearskin and not cut his hair for seven years as part of a deal with the devil; and also in the famous legend involving Robert Johnson, where he supposedly bargained at a crossroads in exchange for his musicianship.
And, of course, one of the most famous examples of this motif is the German tale of Faust, the scholar who makes a deal with the arch-fiend Mephistopheles—a story story which later made its way into literature thanks to the hands of authors such as Christopher Marlowe and Goethe. It’s no wonder the “faustian bargain” motif evolved through the years and continued to appear in modern media, including, of course, comic books. Possibly the most famous example of a protagonist making a faustian bargain in Marvel Comics was, though not the first one (does anyone remember the Black Widow from the 40s?), the Ghost Rider.
Debuting in Marvel Spotlight #5 (1972), Johnny Blaze was a stunt motorcyclist at a traveling festival with his foster father Craig “Crash” Simpson and the rest of his foster family. Crash had developed cancer and was fated to die. In desperation, Johnny studied the occult and sought to summon Satan in order to make a deal. He asked the devil to spare Crash’s life in exchange for his (Johnny’s) soul, which the demon accepted. However, Crash died three weeks after during one of his stunt shows, making Johnny realize the devil had doubled-crossed him before returning to collect his part of the bargain. Johnny Blaze’s soul now belonged to Satan, who turned him into the Ghost Rider, the Spirit of Vengeance, a motorcycle rider with a flaming skull for a head. Throughout the years, Blaze’s origin story was expanded and retconned as one could expect from most classic comic book origins. Among those changes was the identity of the fiend Johnny had made his faustian bargain with.
The Devil Debuts
Gods, heroes, and other characters from literature and folklore have always populated the world of Marvel Comics, the figure of the devil included. In fact, his first appearance came in the pages of Marvel Mystery Comics #27, in 1941, back when Marvel was still called Timely Comics. That happened in a story starring the Vision (no, not that Vision). He called himself “Lucifer Satan” and owned a modernized business in hell called Hades Inc. (Oh, the ’40s!). From there, other versions of your run-of-the-mill Satan popped up across many old-timey titles such as Strange Tales, Mystic, and Journey Into Mystery, eventually making their way into Marvel Comics proper.
Satan appeared in comics involving Doctor Doom and Captain Britain, until Marvel Spotlight #5, where we get the debut of the hero who likely faced Satan the most: the Ghost Rider. Written by Gary Friedrich and drawn by Mike Ploog, this issue has a reluctant but desperate Johnny Blaze kneel inside a pentagram with an animal’s skull and evoke the red horned figure to bargain for his foster father’s life. In the issues that followed, Satan continued to be a thorn in Johnny’s side as the main antagonist of his stories, even as our supernatural hero gained his own solo title, Ghost Rider.
“…For We Are Many”
While Johnny Blaze clashed with the classic Satan, Marvel had already introduced, years before, yet another devil to torment the lives of the superhero community. His first appearance was in 1968, in Silver Surfer #3, by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott. This devil called himself Mephisto, based on Mephistopheles from the tale of Faust. The fiend, challenged by the purity and goodness in the Surfer, sought to destroy him and persuaded Shalla-Bal, the Surfer’s love interest, into striking a deal that would become her damnation. Mephisto later appeared in the pages of Thor written by Stan Lee, also joining the ranks of the god of thunder’s rogue gallery.
Interestingly enough, while Satan from Marvel Spotlight/Ghost Rider and Mephisto from Silver Surfer/Thor were seemingly two different entities, a potential connection between them was hinted at in Doctor Strange #15-16 (1976). Written by Steve Englehart, our mystic hero Stephen Strange and his beloved Clea faced Satan in the underworld. There, this version of the Old Scratch claimed to have many names such as Lucifer, Old Nick, Beelzebub, Legion, and, of course, Mephistopheles. Something similar happened in Defenders, during the Six-Fingered Hand saga by J.M. DeMatteis and Don Perlin. Although Satan, Mephisto, and other demonic entities such as Satannish and Thog appeared as different entities, they were said to be separate manifestation of the same evil.
Nevertheless, in the same arc, Daimon Hellstorm—known as the Son of Satan—directly refers to that particular Satan as “father”, but Marvel later retconned it, saying Daimon’s father is in fact the demon Marduk Kurios who’d claimed the title of Satan for himself.
Enter… Mephisto!
Now, if we skip to the following year, to 1982, Marvel released issue #68 of Ghost Rider. The cover—by Bob Budiansky and Josef Rubinstein— features a tormented Johnny Blaze with his head aflame. Looming behind him is the towering red-skinned figure of Satan. This issue retells the origin of the Ghost Rider as Blaze walks into a church to confess his sins and his story to a priest. An interesting detail to notice is that both in the aforementioned cover and in the flashback panel where we see Blaze performing the ritual, Satan is drawn in a way that resembles Mephisto, sporting the messy hair that was absent in Satan’s original design.
Mephisto’s name is only mentioned a few issues after as an exclamation, but the first time the retcon is officially established is on issue #76, again written by DeMatteis. That’s when Mephisto and Blaze finally come face to face for the “first” time, and it’s established the demon who Blaze struck his bargain with was, in fact, Mephisto. It doesn’t happen as a plot twist though. Blaze seems to have always known Mephisto as he recognized the demon’s face as the face of “the monster who ruined me…who cursed me!”
From that point on, and for many years to come, Mephisto became the Ghost Rider’s biggest nemesis and the face of Johnny Blaze’s origin story. Every once in a while, though, a generic Satan would be mentioned as a stand-in (in The Road to Damnation arc, for instace).
Son Of The Morning
That changed in 2006 with a new Ghost Rider book by Daniel Way. Johhny Blaze had been imprisoned in Hell. Every day he would race a horde of demons to the gates of so he could return to the world of the living. Every single time his freedom was inches out of reach, the Rider would lose and be devoured, only for the race to be reset again. The architect of his torture was none other than the king of Hell himself, Lucifer. This demon, despite sharing Mephisto’s sassiness, was written as a completely different entity. This time around, he sported longer horns, hooves for feet, and a much more muscular body.
As the Ghost Rider finally escaped from Hell, Lucifer hitchhiked along without the Rider’s knowledge. The transition from one dimension to the oter broke the demon’s physical body apart, scattering him into 666 pieces (yes, really) across the planet. Those fragments of Lucifer’s soul entered deceased bodies who began to awaken and cause havoc. As Johnny faced those possessed undead bodies, one of them led him to the abandoned site of the Quentin Carnival, where Johnny grew up. There, we get another flashback of the events from Marvel Spotlight, but this time around it was Lucifer who empowered Johnny Blaze to become the Ghost Rider.
Better The Devil You Know…
Lucifer’s run as the architect of Ghost Rider’s origin didn’t last long. 2011’s new Ghost Rider title by Rob Williams and Matthew Clark placed Mephisto back in that position; a position which he still seems to occupy to this day. Across many modern comics such as the Damnation event and Jason Aaron’s run of the Avengers, we see Mephisto’s connection to not only Blaze, but also to other Spirits of Vengeance.
It’s no wonder Hollywood went the Mephisto route. The demon, going by the full name of Mephistopheles, was the antagonist in Ghost Rider (2007), where he was played by Peter Fonda and in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance (2011), played by Ciarán Hinds. And while Marvel Studios is yet to unveil more of the recently announced MCU Ghost Rider movie, it’s safe to assume we will see Mephisto once more. After all, he played an important role in Ironheart—played by the charismatic Sacha Cohen—and was name-dropped before that in Agatha All Along.
The truth is Marvel Comics has always been rather vague about the devil as a character. “Satan” is sometimes considered just a title which many hell-lords have claimed for themselves in order to fool humans or just out of sheer ego. It’s been implied (on different occasions) that both Lucifer and Marduk Kurios are the same fallen angel from biblical stories despite being different characters, while Mephisto is said to have tempted Adam and Eve while shape-shifted as a serpent. This lack of consistency born out of retcons and different accounts of events, for better or worse, keeps the figure of the devil enshrouded in mystery—and it’s happened frequently enough for Marvel to play with that idea in-universe. Nevertheless, some things seem to stick long enough to become part of the lore, and Johnny Blaze bargaining with Mephisto before becoming the Ghost Rider seems to be one of them.
Recommended Reading
Ghost Rider Epic Collection vol. 1
Collects Marvel Spotlight (1971) #5-12, Ghost Rider (1973) #1-11, and Marvel Team-Up (1972) #15. That includes Johnny Blaze’s first appearance and Satan as his antagonist.
Essential Ghost Rider vol. 4
Collects Ghost Rider (1973) #66-81, Amazing Spider-Man (1962) #274, and New Defenders (1972) #145-146. Here you get to see the retcon where Mephisto is revealed as the demon who made a deal with Johnny Blaze.
Ghost Rider by Daniel Way: The Complete Collection
Collects issues #1-19 of Ghost Rider (2006), whose first arcs have Lucifer as the main antagonist.
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