WARNING: The following article contains spoilers for Devil’s Reign: Superior Four #2. Doctor Octopus likes to fashion himself a “superior” genius, having once taken over the body of his nemesis Peter Parker to become the Superior Spider-Man. The Daredevil event series Devil’s Reign has provided Doc Ock an opportunity to flaunt his “superior” ways by plucking variants of himself from the multiverse. This “Superior Four” consists of other Otto Octavius’ who have taken control of the Marvel heroes Wolverine, Hulk, and Ghost Rider. Devil’s Reign: Superior Four #2 introduces a Spirit of Vengeance that rides atop something far more sinister than a motorcycle or muscle car.
The Marvel 616 Doctor Octopus fancies himself the leader of this Superior Four. After killing the heroic Spider-Ock, they drew the attention of another of their variants: a Doctor Octopus who is a master of the mystic arts. This Supreme Octopus is pulling strings from the background, eventually manipulating 616 Otto Octavius into becoming aggressive towards his multiversal counterparts. A fight between the foursome results in a portal opening up and them traveling Earth-8968, aka the Savage Land and home of Supreme Octopus.
616 Doctor Octopus attempts to gather his team to fight their supremely powerful variant, though they quickly find out they’re no match for him. However, the Ghost Rider Octopus takes possession of a Savage Land beast, transforming it into his new mode of transportation. Unfortunately, the duo barely get the chance to charge into battle before Supreme Octopus freezes the Spirit of Vengeance’s hellfire within the Icy Tendrils of Ikthalon. This isn’t the first time Marvel has introduced a Ghost Rider traveling atop a beast. The prehistoric Avengers had a Ghost Rider among its ranks that rode a woolly mammoth.
It’s been a busy two weeks for Ghost Rider, with Marvel launching a new volume of his comic in celebration of Ghost Rider’s 50th anniversary, and Sony Pictures re-releasing the trailers for 2007’s Ghost Rider and 2012’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance within 24 hours of each other. Fans are also waiting to find out if and when Ghost Rider will make his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, with The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus reigniting speculation that he will be the one cast as Johnny Blaze.
“The Ghost Rider conversation has been coming up for years, and yeah, tell them to put me in it,” Reedus previously told ComicBook.com‘s Brandon Davis in an exclusive interview ahead of The Walking Dead‘s 2021 Comic-Con panel. “I want to play Ghost Rider.”
Let us know your thoughts on this Ghost Rider variant’s choice of transportation in the comments!
