Michael casting down Satan are seen more than once, and we’re told that four of the demonic characters were cast out of heaven by Michael himself. Once they’ve been cast out of heaven, it seems the only thing fallen angels have to fear on the face of the earth is someone badder than they are.ĭepictions of St. God may be on Johnny Blaze’s side, but he doesn’t seem to be doing blazes to help him against the forces of darkness arrayed against him.
Yet in a story that finds room for (I think) six to eight different demonic figures (depending whether you count the two Ghost Riders), once again the powers of heaven are present in name and image only.
Ghost rider film series series#
Writer Tony Isabella, who developed the story in that 1973 issue, has observed that there were “plenty of Satan avatars active in the Marvel Universe, but precious little evidence of the loyal opposition.” (Isabella planned to have Blaze become a Christian and be delivered from the Devil’s power, but this was squelched, and even Jesus’ appearance later reinterpreted, apparently at the insistence of controversial editor-in-chief Jim Shooter.)įilmmaker Mark Steven Johnson knows the Ghost Rider mythos backward and forward, and has synthesized elements from four decades of different comic-book series about characters called Ghost Rider, not all of which were originally connected, into a single story. (In one scene demons kill a priest right in front of an angel, who can only comfort him as he dies, and another major angelic figure turns out to be a dangerous wacko.) Then there’s Spawn, in which a damned soul subverts hell’s plans to attack heaven, without much evident support from heaven itself.Īn early Ghost Rider storyline in the comic books featured a startling contrast to this general principle: In Ghost Rider #9, Johnny Blaze is granted his “second chance” by no less than Jesus Christ himself, who stands between Blaze and the Devil, saying, “Johnny Blaze’s soul is beyond you, Satan. Constantine at least has angels around, although they seem impotent and passive compared to the demons. In Hellboy, the villain goes so far as to taunt one of the heroes about how “your God remains silent” while the villain’s “god” is active in the world. Religious references and iconography are allowed, yet as the powers of hell run amok on the earth, the powers of heaven seem distant and uninvolved.
In supernatural comic-book movies, though, “God’s side” can be a pretty abstract concept, especially compared to, well, the other side. “You did it for the right reason,” Slade assures Blaze, “and that means you’ve got God on your side.” Carter Slade (Sam Elliott) is sure Blaze deserves a second chance - even if his “mistake” was selling his soul to a devil named Mephistopheles (Peter Fonda) in order to save a loved one dying from cancer.
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