Mephistopheles

Mephistopheles, also known as Mephisto and Roarke, is the main antagonist of the Ghost Rider film duology, appearing as the overarching antagonist of Ghost Rider and the main antagonist of its sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance.

He is the Devil who corrupted the Angel of Justice Zarathos so he could create the Ghost Rider, a human possessed by Zarathos' vengeful spirit and contracted to carry out his deeds on Earth. He is also the archenemy of Johnny Blaze, the current Ghost Rider that rebels and becomes the one being stopping him from taking over the Earth.

In the 2007 film, he was portrayed by the late Peter Fonda. In Spirit of Vengeance, he was portrayed by Ciarán Hinds, who also played Steppenwolf in the 2017 Justice League film, Bill Maplewood in Life During Wartime, Mance Rayder in Game of Thrones, Jonathan Reiss in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life, Botticelli Remorso in The Tale of Despereaux and Henry Burke in Trip to Witch Mountain.

Major Events in the Comics
- Gets Naomi Kale to change into Ghost Rider, thus killing her.

- Makes deal with Johnny Blaze to spare the life of Crash Simpson from a fatal disease. Crash does not die - of the disease, but does die of a failed motorcycle stunt. The bargain fulfilled, Mephisto comes to claim Blaze's soul, but is forced back by Roxanne Simpson. However, Mephisto sends the demon Zarathos to posses Blaze, turning him into Ghost Rider. I.

- Reveals that the Ghost Rider possessing Blaze is Zarathos, a being he defeated and enslaved in antiquity with the help of Centurious. Ever since then he has used Zarathos to possess various souls for his own amusement.

- Makes a bet he made with the Beyonder to keep the universe alive for another day. Zarathos was breifly freed from his prison to torment Spider-Man.

- After the Dan Ketch Ghost Rider is hit by a beam of mystical energy from the Wrecker, Mephisto appears. This worries Loki, who pays Mephisto a visit and mentions that this new Ghost Rider resembles John Blaze's Ghost Rider. Mephisto assures him it is merely a coincidence and that he visited Earth only to view this new Ghost Rider with his own eyes. When Loki first appears, Mephisto is looking at the Soul Crystal that contained Zarathos and Centurious. (Thor 429-430).

- After tormenting Blaze in Hell for a while, he uses Blaze as a means to physically enter the mortal realm. This splits him into 666 pieces that Ghost Rider must hunt down and destroy.

- Claims that Blaze is possessed not by a demon, but by an angel. Some nearby angels apparently confirm this.

Ghost Rider
In the film's actual events, Mephistopheles appears before Johnny Blaze whom he tricked into giving up his soul in return for saving his father from cancer, yet have him killed in a motorcycle accident. He ordered Johnny as an adult (now as Ghost Rider) to hunt his reluctant son Blackheart and destroy him before he finds the Contract of San Venganza that will give him the power to even overthrow his own father.

Johnny succeeded in defeating Blackheart and destroying the thousand evil souls of San Vengeanza that Blackheart consumed. In happiness, the Devil appears at the church in San Venganza, where Blackheart's body laid and where Johnny stood. Mephisto offers to give Johnny his soul back and let someone else be the Ghost Rider. Johnny refuses, claiming that he shall "own" this curse and use it against the lord of evil that deceived him. Mephisto proclaims that he will make Johnny pay for this, then is given the response "You can't live in fear". Mephisto yells out "NO!!!" and turns into smoke, taking Blackheart's body back to Hell with him. He returns to Earth later on.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
In the sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Mephisto is now going by the name "Roarke" and is the main antagonist. It is revealed that while he walks the earth in human form, he is weak and must send people to do his bidding by using what Johnny calls his greatest power; the power of "the Deal", where he takes a mortal's soul away and enters their body, or has them become his Ghost Rider minions. He attempted to transfer his soul into the body of a boy named Danny, whose mother made a deal with him to save her life. This transfer would make him powerful, since Danny is literally the spawn of all evil. As Mephisto put it, it's a pain to stay in human form, as his various bodies throughout the centuries were never made to do the things he could do, but since Danny is a hybrid of demon and human, entering his body will allow him to use his powers on Earth.

He sent a drug dealer named Ray Carrigan to capture Danny for him, but Carrigan was mortally wounded by Johnny. However, Roarke transformed Carrigan into Blackout, allowing him to decay whatever thing he touches. He eventually gets Danny and brings him to a ruined Colosseum, where his wealthy followers arrive one at a time. He reveals his plan to enter Danny's body and must hold a ceremony where his followers must dress in black robes and chant Latin while Roarke and Danny sit at the Colosseum center. Johnny, Nadya and monk Moreau arrive with their guns and disrupt the ceremony. Moreau is decayed, but smashes his head into Blackout's face. Johnny is brought before the audience by Blackout, now about to decay him. Danny approaches him, then roars fire into his face, turning Johnny into the Ghost Rider and sending all Satan's present followers to Hell with his fiery chain. Roarke tries to flee in a car with Danny, now unconscious, while his minions drove in armed trucks to stop Ghost Rider from following him.

Even still, all of the trucks were destroyed, and Blackout was attacked by Ghost Rider's Penance Stare power, killing him. The Rider then throws his chain and rips a part of Roarke's car out from the bottom, sending it tumbling off the road and into the desert, where Danny had been wounded but Roarke was unharmed (likely because he was not really human). Johnny then ties his chain around Roarke's waist, throws him way up into the air and brings him smashing down to the desert ground, where he falls into the planet's crust and is burned alive. Roarke was now back in Hell and Johnny heals Danny, foiling the villain's plan. Being immortal he most likely survived and surely reformed in his field, waiting for the next opportunity to take revenge on the Ghost Rider.

Powers-

 * Immortality: Mephistopheles is not susceptible to human weaknesses, thus being immune to all aging, disease, and death. He has lived for millions of years before the creations of humans. There are not any known ways to kill him, although human hosts possessed by him can be killed, forcing him to find a new host.
 * Vessel Possession: Mephistopheles needs to possess an individual to manifest on earth.
 * Superhuman Strength: Mephistopheles has superhuman strength. He was able to lift a giant concrete wall off of Blackout.
 * Telekinesis: Mephistopheles can move objects and people with his mind.
 * Teleportation: Mephistopheles can move instantaneously from one location to another. He can teleport himself anywhere in the world.
 * Inter dimensional Travel: Mephistopheles can move freely through different dimensions.
 * Invisibility: Mephistopheles has the ability to make himself or others unable to be seen by other beings.
 * Intangibility: Mephistopheles has the ability to alter one's molecular structure to move through physical matter. He can even dodge attacks from enemies through this ability.
 * Conjuration: Mephistopheles has the ability to create objects and beings into existence out of nothing.
 * Wish Granting: Mephistopheles can grant wishes of others.
 * Weather Control: Mephistopheles can control the weather.
 * Illusion Manipulation: Mephistopheles can create, shape and manipulate illusions, causing others to see, hear, touch, smell and/or taste things which do not actually exist or cause them to perceive things differently from what they truly are.
 * Satisfying Desire: Mephistopheles can give everything humans want, such as power, knowledge, wealth, fortune.
 * Power Granting: Mephistopheles can grant powers to another beings. He gave Johnny Blaze the power of the Ghost Rider. He gave supernatural powers to revived Ray Carrigan.
 * Healing: Mephistopheles has the ability to heal injuries of himself and other beings. He can even cure diseases, viruses, infections, sicknesses,disorders and poisoning, etc. He can even heal other beings without touching them.
 * Resurrection: Mephistopheles has rare ability to either bring himself or others back to life from death of any means.
 * Telepathy:  Mephistopheles has the ability to transfer information from one mind to another and to read mind and thoughts of humans, animals and other beings without the aid of physical communication (noise or movement).
 * Technopathy: Mephistopheles has the ability to control and manipulate all forms of technology.


 * Mind Control: Mephistopheles has the ability to control the minds of others beings.
 * Empathy: Mephistopheles can sense, understand, and even feel the emotions of others.
 * Reality Warping: Mephistopheles has the ability to warp the reality itself.
 * Astral Perception: Mephistopheles can perceive true form of beings invisible to human's eye. He can even see supernatural incidents.
 * Localization: Mephistopheles has the ability to track and locate beings. He was able to track Johnny blaze.
 * Dream Walking: Mephistopheles has the ability to communicate to someone through their dreams.
 * Shape Shifting: Mephistopheles has the ability to alter his physical shape to assume the appearance of another.
 * Thermokinesis: Mephistopheles has the ability to control and manipulate heat.
 * Cryokinesis: Mephistopheles has the ability to create and control ice with his mind.

Abilities-

 * Master of Manipulation: Mephistopheles is a skilled manipulator with a keen ability to understand the mental and emotional weaknesses, desires and needs of his victims and determine how best to use them to his advantage.
 * Skilled Tactician: Mephistopheles has an exceptional ability to plan his schemes in advance, which, when paired with his patience and ability to keep his plans close to the vest, allows him to fly under the radar without anyone knowing what he's up to.

Weakness

 * Improper Vessels: Every time he uses his powers, his vessel seems to weaken and age. His powers are strictly limited while on earth, unless he can use the Antichrist as his vessel.