History YMMV / Ghostrider

* ObviousJudas: Anton Satan. Come on, he's the Anti-Christ, of course he's going to betray you!

** Ketch or Blaze. Ketch fans consider the original Blaze comics to be absurdly dated and hackneyed while the Ketch run slightly more evergreen, at least, in its first 30 or so issues. Blaze fans meanwhile hate Ketch's run for being too 90s extreme, Danny himself being a bland DecoyProtagonist with little to no agency besides serving as host body of the second GR (the actual protagonist), plots that largely consist of mystery hooks surrounding the identity of Ketch's Spirit of Vengeance (most of which led to nowhere), and Howard Mackie's poor writing in general. There's also a third group who view the first two eras as both flawed and badly outdated in their own ways, and that a truly "timeless" GR series is yet to be produced.

* ReplacementScrappy: Alejandra Jones from the ''very'' short lived 2011 series became widely reviled almost immediately after her debut issue, thanks in no small part to her obnoxious and thoroughly unlikable personality, on top of being an IdiotHero who brought more trouble than help. Readers turned away in droves, and her comic never even made it to the double digits before getting unceremoniously cancelled after nine issues, with Alejandra herself fading into obscurity as a result.

** Ketch or Blaze. Ketch fans consider the Blaze era to be absurdly dated and hackneyed while the Ketch run slightly more evergreen, at least, in its first 30 or so issues. Blaze fans meanwhile hate Ketch's run for being too 90s extreme, Danny himself being a bland DecoyProtagonist with little to no agency besides serving as host body of the second GR (the actual protagonist), plots that largely consist of mystery hooks surrounding the identity of Ketch's Spirit of Vengeance (most of which led to nowhere), and Howard Mackie's poor writing in general. There's also a third group who view the first two eras as both flawed and badly outdated in their own ways, and that a truly "timeless" GR series is yet to be produced.

** Ketch or Blaze. Ketch fans consider the Blaze era to be absurdly dated and hackneyed while the Ketch run slightly more evergreen, at least, in its first 30 or so issues. Blaze fans meanwhile hate Ketch's run for being too 90s extreme, Danny himself being a bland DecoyProtagonist with little to no agency besides serving as the second GR's host body, plots that largely consist of mystery hooks surrounding the identity of Ketch's Spirit of Vengeance (most of which led to nowhere), and Howard Mackie's poor writing in general. There's also a third group who view the first two eras as both flawed and badly outdated in their own ways, and that a truly "timeless" GR series is yet to be produced.

** Ketch or Blaze. Ketch fans consider the Blaze era to be absurdly dated and hackneyed while the Ketch run slightly more evergreen, at least, in its first 30 or so issues. Blaze fans meanwhile hate Ketch's run for being too 90s extreme, Danny himself being a bland DecoyProtagonist with little to no agency besides serving as the new GR's host body, plots that largely consist of mystery hooks surrounding the identity of Ketch's Spirit of Vengeance (most of which led to nowhere), and Howard Mackie's poor writing in general. There's also a third group who view the first two eras as both flawed and badly outdated in their own ways, and that a truly "timeless" GR series is yet to be produced.

** Ketch or Blaze. Ketch fans consider the Blaze era to be absurdly dated and hackneyed while the Ketch run slightly more evergreen, at least, in its first 30 or so issues. Blaze fans meanwhile hate Ketch's run for being too 90s extreme (along with the taint of Howard Mackie as the creator of Ketch). There's also a third group who view the two solo eras as both flawed and badly outdated in their own ways, and that a truly "timeless" GR series is yet to be produced.

* FriendlyFandoms: Ghost Rider fans were always on good terms with fans of more horror-oriented Marvel characters, like Comicbook/{{Blade}} or Comicbook/ManThing and, to a lesser extent, ComicBook/DoctorStrange. Robbie meanwhile was embraced by teen Marvel fandom, with fans of ''[[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Ms. Marvel]]'', ''ComicBook/YoungAvengers'' and ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' seeming to be especially fond of him.

* LauncherOfAThousandShips: Robbie - people started pairing him with [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Kamala Khan]], [[ComicBook/{{Runaways}} Nico Minoru]] and the ''ComicBook/NewWarriors'' new DarkActionGirl, Water Snake, before the first issue of his series was even published. And once it was, it only strengthened these ideas. Later ships with [[ComicBook/{{Venom}} Agent Venom's]] sidekick Mania, ComicBook/{{X23}} and The ComicBook/IncredibleHulk's daughter Lyra, showed up.

* {{Squick}}: More recent series are filled with it. As was the miniseries ''Trail of Tears''. It featured a pair of outlaws that the Ghost Rider killed by ''smashing them together so hard they fused together.'' They came back as minions of Hell, ''still fused together.''

!!Video Game
* AuthorsSavingThrow: In the movie proper, Blackheart is only seen disguised as a human most of the time, and the most we get to see of his true form are [[GlamourFailure few flashes]] of his red eyes and sharp teeth. In the game, he fully [[OneWingedAngel unleashes his true, demonic form in all its monstrous glory]] for the FinalBoss battle.
* CompleteMonster ([[UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance GBA]] version): [[BigBad Mephisto]] is behind all the evil in the game. Seeking to expand his hellish kingdom, Mephisto decides to create a HellOnEarth by drawing a glyph that would break the seal between Hell and Earth and trigger [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the apocalypse]]. Choosing Johnny Blaze to become the Ghost Rider, Mephisto [[YouKilledMyFather has Blaze's dad killed]], and orders Vengeance to kill his girlfriend Roxanne when Blaze refuses to serve him. Once the glyph has been drawn into the Earth by Johnny, Mephisto tries to kill Johnny so that nobody can stop him.

* CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/MarvelComics here]].

* CompleteMonster ([[UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance GBA]] version): [[Characters/MarvelComicsMephisto Mephisto]] is [[BigBad behind all the evil in the game]]. Seeking to expand his hellish kingdom, Mephisto decides to create a HellOnEarth by drawing a glyph that would break the seal between Hell and Earth and trigger [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the apocalypse]]. Choosing Johnny Blaze to become the Ghost Rider, he has his dad killed, and orders Vengeance to kill his girlfriend Roxanne when Blaze refuses to serve him. Once the glyph has been drawn into the Earth by Johnny, Mephisto tries to kill Johnny so that nobody can stop him.

!!The movies:
* AcceptableTargets: The overweight goth woman Johnny saved from an attacker; her interview was played for laughs the next night, and not so much because she was describing a man whose head was on fire.
** What's really egregious is this scene could have been cut out, and the later scene where Johnny reveals to Roxanne that he's Ghost Rider would have made more sense (given that Roxanne should be aware of Ghost Rider now, after her interview with the goth). Leaving the scene in just brings in FridgeLogic and makes Roxanne look [[TookALevelInDumbass a little idiotic.]]
* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Plenty of people mostly remember this movie for seeing Creator/EvaMendes running around in most scenes wearing rather skimpy outfits.
* CompleteMonster:
** [[Characters/MarvelComicsMephisto Mephisto]] is the ultimate ruler of Hell and seeks to spread his influence on Earth. In the first film, he seeks the contract of San Venganza and collect the thousands of souls he bargained with, and tricked Johnny Blaze into a deal that cursed him with the Ghost Rider to save Johnny's father from cancer, only [[KickTheDog to kill Johnny's father the next day]] to let Johnny know he's his property. Later, Mephisto sends Johnny to kill his rebellious son, Blackheart. In [[Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance the sequel]], Mephisto, as [[BigBad Roarke]], reveals that in order to walk on Earth he needs a human body; not only does this limit his power but his current body is now dying. Among [[HistoricalRapSheet his previous host bodies]] were UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, UsefulNotes/IdiAmin, and [[SerialKiller John Wayne Gacy]]. To create a permanent and powerful host body, Mephisto conceived a child with Nadya Ketch. It's also revealed that in order to create the Ghost Rider, Mephisto dragged Zarathos, the Angel of Justice, into hell, torturing and twisting him into insanity. When Nadya and her child Danny escape, Mephisto masterminds a demonic conspiracy of murder to get his hands on Danny in preparation to destroy the boy's soul, possess him and bring about TheAntiChrist. When Johnny, Nadya and Moreau disrupt this ritual, Mephisto makes a final attempt to flee and abduct Danny before his final confrontation with Ghost Rider.
** [[BigBad Blackheart]], a [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils prince of Hell]] and the son of Mephisto, is given more characterization in the extended cut. Jealous of his father's power and angered by the fact that he gave the power of Hellfire to a lowly human instead of him, Blackheart plans to obtain the contract of San Venganza, which would grant him the power of a thousand evil souls who made a DealWithTheDevil. Blackheart plans to use the power of the contract to create HellOnEarth and devour as many souls as he can, then using his new power to overthrow his father. Throughout the movie, Blackheart murders almost every human he encounters, only sparing those who can serve his plans later. On his search for the contract, he heads to the Caretaker and starts beating him for information on where the contract is. He then decides to kidnap Johnny Blaze’s girlfriend, Roxanne, and hold her hostage, promising her release for the contract. [[BadBoss Not even his partners are safe from him]], as he only sees/uses them as muscle against Ghost Rider, and quickly abandons one of them when he starts losing to him.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Carter Slade... couldn't the film have been about ''him''?
* FridgeBrilliance: Mepistopheles made the deal with Blaze that if he took out Blackheart, Blaze would get his soul back. However, Mepistopheles forgot to make it a part of the deal that Blaze would also have to give the Ghost Rider power back, thus he was able to keep it at the end.
* MoralEventHorizon:
** Mephistophiles crosses it by using a loophole in his deal with Johnny. After curing his father of cancer, he has him killed off during a failed stunt just so he wouldn't know about Johnny's deal.
** Blackheart crosses in with his first kill. He murders an entire bar just to have a spot where he and his minions can meet. The last kill was a waitress who was hiding behind the counter, knowing she was there the whole time but just waiting for her to peek out.
* {{Narm}}: See [[Narm/GhostRider the page]].
* NarmCharm: 'He may have my Soul... but he doesn't have my Spirit.'
** The whole of Johnny's speech to Mephisto at the end, with the absolute most stand-out example being "Wherever innocent blood is spilled, it will be my father's blood." The speech is incredibly corny, but it's also incredibly sincere to the entire spirit of a superhero.
* OlderThanTheyThink: Some viewers considered it {{Narm}} that Johnny uses a Hellfire-enhanced shotgun during his fight with Blackheart, but [[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Hellfire_Shotgun it's actually something from the comics]] that first appeared in ''1991.''
* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: The tie-in game for the [=PS2=] is basically a ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' clone with a bit of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' and ''VideoGame/RoadRash'' thrown in, and it managed to be a lot of fun, mixing all of the elements that made those games good.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/RebelWilson as the goth girl.
* SignatureScene: Carter Slade's last ride.
* SoBadItsGood: Both films, though it's debatable which is better than the other.
* SpecialEffectFailure: While the actual effects used for Johnny's first transformation into the Ghost Rider are impressive, they had to cut the sequence down in order to avoid being hit with an R-rating. As a result, the missing footage is replaced with a cheesy-looking stock fireball effect that looks like it was taken from a Wrestling/{{WWE}} intro video.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The only thing that's cooler than Ghost Rider? [[spoiler:''[[UpToEleven Two Ghost Riders]]''. The previous is a cowboy on a flaming horse, the new one is a biker a flaming motorcycle. They ride together and you think they've formed an unstoppable TagTeam of awesome. [[ButNowIMustGo But then the old Ghost Rider leaves]] and basically tells Johnny "good luck", muttering that the ride used up the last of his strength and he's just been hanging on all this time. The writers could have given him a bit more strength so he could actually help Johnny fight Blackheart, or in-story could have ridden with Johnny and then used his powers during the fight instead of using them to just ride his horse alongside Johnny.]]
* UncannyValley: Blackheart as [[IAmLegion Legion]] does manage to look very unnerving to look at with his wide red eyes and darker skin.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The scenes with the actual Ghost Rider in them, as in full flaming skull mode, are usually considered the best and most well remembered parts of the movie, with badassery and cool visual effects.
* WhatAnIdiot: Blackheart [[spoiler: absorbing the 1000 souls from the contract]] in the middle of his fight with Johnny may not have been the smartest move, considering that his lack of a soul was keeping Johnny from being able to beat him before. If you think about it, there was no reason it couldn't have waited until the fight was over.
* WhyWouldAnyoneTakeHimBack: Roxanne appears to be a successful, confident adult woman who runs into the ex-boyfriend who, when they were teenagers, left her with no explanation. He proceeds to badger her into a date by [[ForcefulKiss forcibly kissing]] her only to turn around and stand her up again, yet she's the one who comes after ''him'' to apologize??
** Roxanne, meanwhile, has grown up to be a moody, petty, vindictive shrew who lashes out at anyone who hurts her feelings with whatever she thinks will hurt them the most, at one point sneering at Johnny that he's "still just a carnie" (which could easily be considered a classist slur) because she's not ready to accept his apology for missing a dinner date. There's really no reason for Johnny to still find her appealing other than teenage nostalgia.

** ComicBook/{{Mephisto}} is the ultimate ruler of Hell and seeks to spread his influence on Earth. In the first film, he seeks the contract of San Venganza and collect the thousands of souls he bargained with, and tricked Johnny Blaze into a deal that cursed him with the Ghost Rider to save Johnny's father from cancer, only [[KickTheDog to kill Johnny's father the next day]] to let Johnny know he's his property. Later, Mephisto sends Johnny to kill his rebellious son, Blackheart. In [[Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance the sequel]], Mephisto, as [[BigBad Roarke]], reveals that in order to walk on Earth he needs a human body; not only does this limit his power but his current body is now dying. Among [[HistoricalRapSheet his previous host bodies]] were UsefulNotes/JosefStalin, UsefulNotes/IdiAmin, and [[SerialKiller John Wayne Gacy]]. To create a permanent and powerful host body, Mephisto conceived a child with Nadya Ketch. It's also revealed that in order to create the Ghost Rider, Mephisto dragged Zarathos, the Angel of Justice, into hell, torturing and twisting him into insanity. When Nadya and her child Danny escape, Mephisto masterminds a demonic conspiracy of murder to get his hands on Danny in preparation to destroy the boy's soul, possess him and bring about TheAntiChrist. When Johnny, Nadya and Moreau disrupt this ritual, Mephisto makes a final attempt to flee and abduct Danny before his final confrontation with Ghost Rider.

* CompleteMonster ([[UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance GBA]] version): ComicBook/{{Mephisto}} is [[BigBad behind all the evil in the game]]. Seeking to expand his hellish kingdom, Mephisto decides to create a HellOnEarth by drawing a glyph that would break the seal between Hell and Earth and trigger [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt the apocalypse]]. Choosing Johnny Blaze to become the Ghost Rider, he has his dad killed, and orders Vengeance to kill his girlfriend Roxanne when Blaze refuses to serve him. Once the glyph has been drawn into the Earth by Johnny, Mephisto tries to kill Johnny so that nobody can stop him.

* MemeticLoser: The Penance Stare has failed (in admittedly kind of humiliating and nonsensical ways) a few times, but from the way people talk about it you get the impression that it ''only'' ever fails and is little more than a FakeSpecialAttack that only ever gets trotted out when writers want to showcase how badass a character is by subjecting Ghost Rider to TheWorfEffect. The fandom perception got so bad that Marvel eventually introduced the more potent and powerful Damnation Stare variant (starting with the ''King of Hell'' story arc), which retains its effectives even against enemies that the Penance Stare has failed at, albeit at the cost of [[CastFromHitPoints damaging Ghost Rider's mind as well]] and thus limiting its usage for emergency situations.

* MemeticLoser: The Penance Stare has failed (in admittedly kind of humiliating and nonsensical ways) a few times, but from the way people talk about it you get the impression that it ''only'' ever fails and is little more than a FakeSpecialAttack that only ever gets trotted out when writers want to showcase how badass a character is by subjecting Ghost Rider to TheWorfEffect.

* CompleteMonster:
** [[RoguesGalleryTransplant Ebenezer Laughton]], known as [[ScaryScarecrows the Scarecrow]], is a longstanding enemy of Ghost Rider. Originally trained as a contortionist, Laughton found a life of crime more exciting. Sinking further into madness and depravity, the Scarecrow began to [[WouldHurtAChild target children as murder targets]], the younger the better. He once gruesomely murdered a mother and her baby with his pitchfork. Afterwards, the Scarecrow attempted a "masterpiece" by creating a [[HumanArchitectureHorror building out of human beings]], stitching his victims together. Some were lucky enough to be already dead, but [[AndIMustScream others weren't]]. When Ghost Rider confronted him, the Scarecrow attempted to blackmail him into avoiding a fight by stabbing the walls of the building, murdering the still-living victims and threatening to kill more if Ghost Rider didn't surrender and let Scarecrow torture him to death.
** [[EmotionEater Deathwatch]] is one of the Trans-Lords, an [[HumanoidAbomination extradimensional being]] who arrives on Earth to dominate and feed off human suffering. As "[[TheDon Steven Lords]]", he wages a gang war against ComicBook/TheKingpin, killing many people in the process while also trying to steal a group of canisters with a nerve agent. Deathwatch has the vampire assassin Blackout murder police officers and their families, killing others along the way before tracking down the biker gang with the canisters, killing one young woman's friend in front of her before revealing he intends to unleash the agent on the Tri-State Area, killing half the population instantly and subjecting the other to agonizing and lingering death which will spread through the country. Deathwatch later blows up an apartment building to kill Ghost Rider, killing hundreds of innocents and even his own men, before revealing his [[VillainWithGoodPublicity supposedly philanthropic homeless shelters]] are places for him to torture and feed upon the less fortunate.
** The vampiric [[CastingAShadow Blackout]] makes his living as an [[PsychoForHire enthusiastic hitman]] who hunts down and [[CopKiller murders cops]] for Deathwatch, slaughtering their families and killing most who cross his path. When he gets his hands on the canisters, Blackout plots to unleash the biotoxin himself to cause a nuclear war and reign over the night, before his face is scarred by Ghost Rider. Upon learning Ghost Rider's identity as Danny Ketch, Blackout begins murdering all close to him, even his comatose sister Barbara in her hospital bed, later trying to help his grandmother, the demonic Lilith, try to raze humanity. A SerialKiller in his spare time, Blackout [[ChildEater targets children and teens]], including a troubled teenage girl named Alicia whose death is enough to spur Ghost Rider to finally use lethal force against the killer.
** ''Midnight Sons'': Clarisee [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Van Ripper]], from the first ''Unlimited'' issue's story "Eyes of the Beholder", is a deeply psychotic SerialKiller who primarily preys on [[WouldHurtAChild children]]. As a young woman, Ripper welcomed a bunch of children to her home to play, but [[ForTheEvulz decided that she needed some entertainment back]], so to this end Ripper decided to go around the house and kill every child she came across. While chasing one child who saw her kill another, she is paralyzed and put in a wheelchair but manages to escape justice anyway. Forty years later, a demon comes and gives her demonic powers, which she instantly abuses to kill a random couple and then kill a bunch of other children. When Ghost Rider investigates, Ripper becomes worried that he might steal her powers, so she sends a demon to kill him. Although the comic has multiple vicious cult leaders and {{serial killer}}s, Ripper stands out by being the only one who's MO is primarily targeting children.
** Zadkiel, the ArchEnemy in the Jason Aaron series, is a truly monstrous excuse for an angel. The lord of the [[EvilArmy Black Host]], Zadkiel was also the angel in charge of the Spirits of Vengeance and began to desire to use them to overthrow both God and humanity. Zadkiel subtly influenced the lives of Johnny Blaze and Dan Ketch, destroying those close to them to make them vulnerable to the Ghost Rider spirits. Zadkiel, as TheManBehindTheMan, negotiated multiple deals with demons and other monsters on earth, allowing them to prey upon those they wished, while directing his other minions to murder multiple innocents in addition to those who could prove problematic--and everyone close to them as well. Even death brought no respite as Zadkiel showed a penchant for annihilating the souls of his defeated enemies. While manipulating Danny Ketch, Zadkiel showed no remorse slaughtering and torturing his angelic brethren until he finally had the powers of the Riders and [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness banished Ketch and Blaze to earth to die in the apocalypse he would create]]. Zadkiel succeeded in [[TakingOverHeaven conquering heaven]] and began to achieve omnipotence with his final goal to [[AGodAmI become the new God]] and then commence genocide on all of humanity and all other beings who didn't worship him.
** YMMV/{{Mephisto}}, Ghost Rider's boss, can be seen at his own page.
** ''YMMV/AllNewGhostRider'' has Eli Morrow. See that page for more details.

* MemeticLoser: For a power rather than an actual character, the Penance Stare fits this. While it has worked now and again, usually whenever it's used upon a character who's popular like, say, Thanos, Captain Marvel or The Punisher, it does damn near nothing.

** [[BigBad Blackheart]], a [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils prince of Hell]] and the son of the aforementioned Mephisto, is given more characterization in the extended cut. Jealous of his father's power and angered by the fact that he gave the power of Hellfire to a lowly human instead of him, Blackheart plans to obtain the contract of San Venganza, which would grant him the power of a thousand evil souls who made a DealWithTheDevil. Blackheart plans to use the power of the contract to create HellOnEarth and devour as many souls as he can, then using his new power to overthrow his father. Throughout the movie, Blackheart murders almost every human he encounters, only sparing those who can serve his plans later. On his search for the contract, he heads to the Caretaker and starts beating him for information on where the contract is. He then decides to kidnap Johnny Blaze’s girlfriend, Roxanne, and hold her hostage, promising her release for the contract. [[BadBoss Not even his partners are safe from him]], as he only sees/uses them as muscle against Ghost Rider, and quickly abandons one of them when he starts losing to him.

** Roxanne, meanwhile, has grown up to be a moody, petty, vindictive shrew who lashes out at anyone who hurts her feelings with whatever she thinks will hurt them the most, at one point sneering at Johnny that he's "still just a carnie" (which could easily be considered a classist slur) because she's not ready to accept his apology for missing a dinner date.

* SeparatedAtBirthCasting: It's no coincidence that Raquel Alessi got cast as a young Creator/EvaMendes. She more than looks the part.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The only thing that's cooler than Ghost Rider? ''[[UpToEleven Two Ghost Riders]]''. The previous on a flaming horse, the new on a flaming motorcycle. They ride together and you think they've formed an unstoppable TagTeam of awesome. [[ButNowIMustGo But the old Ghost Rider leaves]]... [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter for no reason]]! Except [[spoiler:the character explains why. He's basically used up all the energy keeping him alive in the ride. He was a dead man walking who turned into a dead man.]]