Marvel’s Anti-Ghost Rider is Finally Back From The Dead

Warning: Spoilers for Ghost Rider: Return of Vengeance #1

Nothing seems to be able to keep a Ghost Rider down for very long, not even death, and in Ghost Rider: Return of Vengeance #1 that turns out to be truer now more than ever. Michael Badilino, a Spirit of Vengeance and sort of anti-Ghost Rider, found himself deep down in a special rung of Hell alongside an old enemy, Anton Hellgate, and notorious demon, Skinner. Of course, it was foolish of the demons in charge to think they could keep vengeance at bay.

Ironically enough, the reason Badilino was in Hell to begin with was that he caused a massive explosion that took him and Hellgate out. Unfortunately, though for Hellgate, they landed in the same dark, fiery pit of Hell… and they weren’t the only guests. Skinner was being eternally tortured there as well and he had a plan for escape that relied entirely on the Spirit of Vengeance… at least almost entirely.

Related: Ghost Rider’s Forgotten Version of Death is the Opposite of Thanos’ Love

Fans have been waiting for the moment when the darkest Spirit of Vengeance would return in the comics, back from the dead like a literal bat out of Hell. Now it’s come and it’s just as epic as readers might have imagined. For entertainment, the demons, given the task of torturing and containing the Spirit of Vengeance, decided to pit him against the other prisoners in one-on-one battles. Their first mistake was unchaining Badilino, and their second and last mistake was pitting Skinner against him. Little did they know, Skinner had been hiding a piece of Ghost Rider’s hellfire infused bone and finally had the opportunity to break it out and give it to Badilino in order to allow him to transform. Once he did, there was nowhere for the demons or Hellgate to run. Together Skinner and Badilino took down every demon in their path, then hog-tied Hellgate to the back of a Hell Cycle freshly built from the bones of slaughtered demons and drove off to find their ticket out of Hell.

Too bad for Hellgate, the two decided to take his name in the most literal sense and sacrificed him to open a gate back to the world of the living. But it was in the dimension between Hell and Earth that Badilino saw Skinner’s past and the heinous acts he had committed, and once they had made it through the Spirit of Vengeance sent Skinner right back to the pits of Hell they’d just escaped from.

Badilino isn’t your typical Ghost Rider. The Spirit of Vengeance does not take pity, he sees it in black and white. He was a man of the law and he saw Skinner as a killer, a demon belonging to the pits of Hell, so he returned him to where he belonged. But Badilino doesn’t want anything to do with the Hell that created him. He wants a new lease on life, another chance at seeking vengeance where he sees fit, where it’s needed. When people feel pain and sorrow at the hands of others, only then will vengeance ride!

About The Author