Real Name: Noble Kale (currently bonded with Dan Ketch)

Class: Demon/mystically altered human

Occupation: Adventurer

Affiliations: Ally of the Pendragons; Member of the Secret Defenders

Scale of Operations: London

Powers: Noble Kale was transformed into a demon, giving him superhuman strength, agility, and resistance to injury. He can summon a motorcycle and travel with it at fantastic speeds, defying gravity so that the bike can travel up walls. He can also summon mystic flames, wielding them for a variety of effects such as creating walls of flame. Ghost Rider also uses a length of chain as a weapon. His most fearsome weapon is his Penance Stare, which forces its victims to bear the full brunt of their evil actions, leaving many of them insane with guilt.

History:  

Noble Kale, born in the 18th century, was the son of a pastor, an abusive man who was secretly in thrall to Mephisto. Noble himself fell in love with a young black girl named Magdelena, who worked for the Quentin Carnival. Because of Magdelena's race, Noble kept his relationship with her a secret from his father for as long as possible. The truth came out, however, when Magdelena gave birth to Noble's son. Pastor Kale, outraged at this, accused Magdelena of witchcraft and had her burned at the stake while Noble was locked away in the basement of Kale's church. Magdelena, with her dying breath, summoned the Furies to take revenge on Pastor Kale and his town. Pastor Kale, fearing for his life, offered Mephisto a deal -- he would give the Lord of Lies his own son's soul in exchange for help. Noble became the avenging spirit of vengeance and banished the Furies. Learning of his father's actions and that Pastor Kale had murdered Noble's son as well, Noble committed suicide. When Mephisto went to claim Noble's soul for eternity, the archangel Uriel appeared and demanded that Noble be spared. The compromise that was reached was this : Noble Kale's soul would be claimed by neither heaven nor hell, but would instead be called upon by his descendants. Thus began the legend of the Ghost Rider.

Daniel Ketch became the Ghost Rider's host after he and his sister Barbara stumbled upon a mob hit. The killer Deathwatch, who feared that they could identify him, ordered them dead. While pursuing their would-be killers, Barbara was shot by an arrow, putting her into a coma. Daniel, who was able to escape, happened upon a motorcycle. Upon touching the motorcycle Daniel transformed into the fiery spirit of vengeance known as Ghost Rider. As Ghost Rider, his personality was completely different, though their personas blended as time went on. The Ghost Rider entity himself lacked memories of his true origins for years, but it was decisively proven that he was not Zarathos, the entity who empowered the Johnny Blaze Ghost Rider. It is now known that his blood line is the only blood line that can trigger the Ghost Rider transformation. Over the course of his tenure as Ghost Rider's host, Daniel met up with his long-lost brother John Blaze (the Ghost Rider of the 1970s and early '80s) and his distant cousin Jennifer Kale. Being Ghost Rider constantly put Daniel's family at risk and he frequently sought a way out of his curse. Finally, Daniel went on a mission to Hell in hopes of restoring Ghost Rider's full memories to him. This mission succeeded, revealing that Ghost Rider was in fact Daniel's ancestor Noble Kale. At the climax of this battle, however, Daniel was killed and Noble Kale briefly became ruler of Hell, ruling alongside John Blaze's deceased wife, Roxanne, who had been revived as a demonic entity known as Black Rose.

Shortly thereafter, a confused Ghost Rider reappeared on Earth, running amok. He was seemingly restored to normalcy after Dan Ketch reappeared the two merged again. How Dan was still alive was left unanswered at that time....

One year later, Dan Ketch resurfaced in London. Living with old friends of John Blaze, Dan and the Ghost Rider had come to England based on a strange summoning in their souls. They knew that something terrible was coming and that it would be centered in London, but they weren't sure what it was going to be. Their arrival in London coincided with a sudden assault on many of the world's greatest sorcerers, including Jennifer Kale. These magicians had their souls pulled onto the astral plane, trapped from all Earthly contact.

The empath known as Topaz arrived in London, seeking out Dan Ketch. She warned him that things were coming to a head and enigmatically implied that Dan was living a lie. She forced him to recognize a terrible truth: that Dan Ketch had indeed died in Hell.

According to Topaz, Noble had found the strain of ruling Hell to be too great for him and had sought to escape the responsibilities of it. So, he restored Roxanne Blaze to mortal life and fled back to Earth himself. Lost and confused without a mortal soul to balance his own, he ran amok until his subconscious created a magical simulacra of Daniel Ketch. Powered by the lingering magicks he'd possessed as ruler of Hell, Noble Kale had created an autonomous illusion that had lived the past year alongside the true Ghost Rider.

Faced with the truth, Noble dissolved the false Daniel and learned that he still needed a human host to remain linked to this world. The magicks of Hell were fading now, after a year on Earth, and he would soon be a bodiless wraith -- unless he bonded with another host. Even though the Kale curse was supposedly broken, Topaz argued that it was best to find another member of the bloodline nonetheless, since a failure could be disastrous.

Using the strange family connection that had bound all of his descendants to him, Noble Kale managed to breach the barrier around the Astral Plane and brought Jennifer back to Earth and to London. There, she was forced to bond with Noble's spirit after Topaz was killed by a revived Blackout. This spilling of innocent blood allowed Ghost Rider to live again.

This new incarnation of Ghost Rider discovered that he had been brought to England to stop a scheme masterminded by his old enemy, Blackheart. The son of Mephisto was posing as the British Prime Minister Clive Winthrop and was attempting to trap all of Great Britain beneath a magic barrier. Ghost Rider united with the British super group known as the Pendragons in order to stop this plan, but the heroes succeeded only in destroying Blackheart -- the Black Mass Barrier was erected and the old magicks were restored.

Ghost Rider clashed with a number of foes after that, including Demogoblin, the Fury and a demonic entity called Flay. Eventually, however, Jennifer Kale embarked on a plan to gain more magical ability. Aided by Satana, Jennifer became a servant of Gaea, the Earth Goddess. This had the unforeseen effect of causing a rift between Jennifer and Noble, as the Earth magic was life-based and Noble was an angel of death.

A group of mystics including John Blaze, Satana and a reborn Topaz managed to separate Noble and Jennifer, saving Jennifer's life. Noble was left floating in the void, until he was summoned back to Earth by the Caretaker and a successor to the identity of Doctor Strange. Noble managed to craft a physical form for himself (similar to the one he used after first arriving in London)  and aided Strange in contacting Elsa Bloodstone. The three of them made a pact that they would aid one another in preventing the removal of the Black Mass Barrier, as they are aware that a powerful alien invasion force has laid waste to much of the outside world.

Shortly thereafter, the spirit of Dan Ketch returned to Earth and bonded once more with Noble Kale. Their new partnership was brought to a temporary end soon after as Mephisto captured both Blackheart and Ghost Rider, placing them in torment. They were freed by the unlikely alliance of Mordred and Mephista.

Ghost Rider then joined the Pendragons, seeking a home for himself under the Barrier.