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Robbie Reyes’ wildest adventure saw him save Christmas with the help of none other than Santa Claus, and it cemented the fact that he is a far different Ghost Rider than anyone else.
For almost fifty years the Ghost Rider has stalked the Marvel Universe bringing vengeance upon those who are deserving of his Hellish brand of justice. Over the decades there have been several people to carry the burden of being the Spirit of Justice, and all of them have come face-to-face with the worst evils that the world has to offer. Of course, they have also come to find help when they need it most, usually from the rest of Marvel’s superhero community. In the case of Robbie Reyes, however, the most important hand he has ever been lent just so happened to belong to the merriest man in existence. Meeting Santa Claus alone is shocking enough, but having his life saved by Kris Kringle may very well be the most impactful thing to ever happen to the Ghost Rider.
Despite not sharing the same demonic origins as the other various Ghost Riders, Roberto Reyes has proven himself to be every bit as effective in the years since his first introduction back in All-New Ghost Rider #1 by Felipe Smith and Tradd Moore. In his early days Robbie faced off against all manner of street-level villains and nightmarish spirits, and as an Avenger he was instrumental in quelling the threat posed by the Dark Celestials, yet no battle he has waged can quite hold up to the one seen in the pages of 2017’s Ghost Rider X-Mas Special #1 by Method Man and Anthony Piper. When children all across East Los Angeles began to disappear during the holidays, Robbie was quick to jump on the case, only to be dragged all the way to the North Pole once he had uncovered the culprit – Krampus. As shocking as it was to discover that the dark Christmas legend was real, even more surprising was the fact that the Ghost Rider seemingly didn’t stand a chance against his cloven-hoofed foe. At least, not until Santa Claus showed up to give Robbie the pep talk he so desperately needed.
From the seat of his sleigh, Santa interrupted the battle between Robbie and Krampus just long enough to remind the hero that all he had to do was believe in himself, and with that the Ghost Rider’s flame was reignited. As overtly wholesome as this moment was, it still felt at home in the issue at hand, at least alongside the rest of the yuletide terror. Then again, Robbie Reyes has never been what anyone would call a typical Ghost Rider when stacked up against his darker predecessors such as Johnny Blaze or Danny Ketch. While Robbie has spent plenty of time dealing with the likes of serial killers and demonic forces, he has always maintained the kind of optimism that was never particularly present in previous iterations of Ghost Rider. Burning Krampus to a crisp with his infernal flames certainly wasn’t a cheery way to end things, but the fact that those same flames were lit by Father Christmas would likely have felt entirely out of place if anyone else had been the one wielding them.
This story might not be a defining moment in Robbie’s superhero career, nor even that well known of a tale compared to the rest of them, yet it is still a poignant if cartoonish indicator of just how different Robbie Reyes is from the rest of Marvel’s Ghost Riders. That isn’t to say that he is any less lethal, but rather that he has never lost himself in the anguish and agony that comes with sharing a body with a demonic entity, even one with largely heroic intentions. Thankfully, saving Christmas seems to have done the trick considering Robbie has never had to worry about Krampus since their first encounter. Here’s hoping that was more than enough to get him on Santa’s nice list.
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