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In Savage Avengers, Ghost Rider just got a new ride that is beyond a doubt the most frightening thing the Spirit of Vengeance has ever ridden.
WARNING: The following contains major spoilers for Savage Avengers #22, on sale now from Marvel Comics.
The hunt for the ancient, evil sorcerer Kulan Gath has sent the Savage Avengers to every corner of the Earth and beyond, and it just sent the most brutal member of the team spiraling through the layers of a living nightmare as Conan the Barbarian faced Ghost Rider. This isn’t the Hyborian Age hero’s first run-in with the Spirit of Vengeance, but it turns out to be his most frightening when Conan is thrust back in his own era and up against an equally ancient Ghost Rider and his massive eight-legged mount.
Conan’s latest night out on the town led him into the middle of a mass possession, and it didn’t take long before Ghost Rider came roaring through. Rather than fighting alongside his fellow hero, the stench of Kulan Gath’s influence emanating from Conan’s symbiote only drew Ghost Rider’s wrath down upon him. Conan was able to fend for himself even in the face of such an imposing enemy, but in defeating the Ghost Rider of the present the Cimmerian was somehow hurled back in time to deal with the ancient Ghost Rider of his age. This might not be such a tall order considering he had already felled one Spirit of Vengeance using their own ride, but Conan’s next foe was riding something far more intimidating than a motorcycle.
While most incarnations of Ghost Rider are scary enough on their own, the ancient Ghost Rider that Conan encounters in Savage Avengers #22 by Gerry Duggan, Patrick Zircher, Java Tartaglia, and VC’s Travis Lanham, is the most terrifying of them all. From the top of his giant spider mount, adorned with its own flaming skull, the Hyborian Age Ghost Rider lashes out against Conan with a vengeance.
Aside from the dark stain of Kulan Gath on his symbiote, Conan’s own past has left his soul marred by years of dispensing death and destruction to almost anyone who has gotten in his way. This makes Conan a prime target for the Spirit of Vengeance, and when the Rider’s chain misses its mark, his spider’s fangs are there to sink deep into the barbarian’s flesh, burning him with their venom. Even if this series of nightmares that Conan and Ghost Rider have been trapped in aren’t entirely real, the fiery venom coursing through the Cimmerian’s veins is lethal enough to knock the formidable warrior unconscious.
Though his time on the page might be short-lived so far, the Ghost Rider of the Hyborian Age has left an undeniable impact on the Marvel Universe. Motorcycles and the odd horse are one thing, but a 30-foot arachnid is easily the most unsettling ride that any Spirit of Vengeance has ever claimed.
While there isn’t any doubt that Conan will recover as quickly as ever from this brutal and terrifying encounter, the mental toll of it all might prove harder to shake than any wound.
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