Zarathos

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caption=Cover of Marvel Comics' "Ghost Rider" #77
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=Zarathos
real_name=Zarathos
species=Demon
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Marvel Spotlight" # 5 (Aug 1972)
creators=Roy Thomas, Gary Friedrich, and Mike Ploog
alliance_color=background:#ffc0c0
status=
alliances=Mephisto, Lilith
aliases=
relatives=
powers=Elemental powers.|

Zarathos is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics series "Ghost Rider". He is a demonic being who tortures and devours souls. He first appears in "Marvel Spotlight" #5 (August 1972).

Fictional character biography

As explained in "Ghost Rider" #77 (1973 series), the physical, stone body of the demon Zarathos had laid inert and un-animated beneath the earth for eons until his spirit was summoned by a tribal sorcerer named K'Nutu. Zarathos was then offered a steady supply of souls to consume in exchange for his aid in vanquishing enemies of the sorcerer's tribe, and for offering his might in their service. This alliance proves mutually beneficial, flourishes and a strong cult builds up around Zarathos, which gets the attention of Mephisto, who decides that Zarathos has too much of a following and is depriving him and the other lords of hell of souls. Mephisto eventually confronts Zarathos and defeats him (by the deceptive use of his soulless pawn, Centurious).

Zarathos is then forced to serve Mephisto for many centuries in the Netherworld, though still powerful enough to avoid total confinement. Mephisto sends his unruly vassal back to Earth on occasion, binding him to human hosts and allowing him to ravage souls (on a smaller scale). In modern times Zarathos is bound to Johnny Blaze; the combined Blaze/Zarathos entity manifests as a leather-clad flaming skeleton known as the Ghost Rider, ultimately serving the side of "good" while still using hellish means which earns the Ghost Rider a reputation of fear, and Johnny Blaze a never-ending sense of guilt. As time progresses, Zarathos would occasionally from time to time assert his control over Johnny Blaze's body. However, John Blaze grows stronger as well, causing an inevitable clash over Blaze's physical body. Before it can reach that point, Centurious (Mephisto's champion who defeated Zarathos thousands of years before) returns and has his pawn Sin-Eater use his Soul Crystal to suck Blaze's soul from his body. This greatly weakens Zarathos who, without Blaze's soul, finds himself dying, for as a demon, and thus truly not of the earth as mortals are, Zarathos cannot maintain himself upon the earthly plane unless he possesses the physical body of a mortal. Using the last of his strength, Zarathos splits the crystal in half, freeing not only Blaze's soul, but innumerable souls that had been consumed in the past. Before the crystal merges back into one piece, it sucks Centurious inside as well. Zarathos feels cheated out of his revenge against Centurious, but with the help of the now-dying Sin-Eater, the demon manages to transfer his essence into the crystal. Johnny Blaze is now free from the curse that Mephisto placed on him many years before and the first existence of the Ghost Rider comes to an end.

Near the climax of the events known as Secret Wars II, The Beyonder, angered at humanity and the entire plane of existence, travels to Hell and informs Mephisto of his plan to erase all existence contained in this universe. Mephisto pleads with the Beyonder not to commit such an act, going so far as to make a bet with him. The Beyonder agrees, under these terms: He chooses both a champion to represent him and a separate champion to represent Mephisto; if Mephisto wins, the universe will be given a twenty-four hour reprieve from destruction, but if the Beyonder wins, not only will he erase the universe from existence, he will give his champion ample time to exact revenge on Mephisto himself. The Beyonder chooses Spider-Man as Mephisto's champion and decides that Zarathos will be his own champion. Zarathos' goal is not only to corrupt Spider-Man's spirit and morals, but to prevent Spider-Man from stopping an assassination attempt on The Kingpin. Spider-Man overcomes Zarathos' nightmarish attempts at corrupting him and saves the Kingpin's life. Thus the Beyonder (after reimprisoning Zarathos inside the Soul Crystal) allows the universe one more day to exist (during that additional day came the Beyonder's defeat and seeming death). These events were shown in "The Amazing Spider-Man" (vol.1) #274.

Zarathos becomes a threat once again when the Midnight Sons are formed. He briefly joins forces with the demon mother Lilith (not to be confused with Dracula's daughter, who has the same name), but soon leaves her after he realized she was just using him to bring her the Medallion of Power. Another reason he left her was because she duped him into joining her forces. (His memory was so bad at the time that Lilith actually convinced him that he was her son). After he left, he went to become the leader of the Fallen, the evil Blood (his acolytes) once again. Having lost his memory, Zarathos has not quite reached his full power until he meets the Fallen. After that he gains enough power to defeat Ghost Rider and absorb his essence. However, he suffers horrible agony since Ghost Rider was still residing within him. This gives the Midnight Sons a chance to defeat Zarathos. It is Blade who takes Foundry's sword, killing her with it so he can use her blood-stained sword to defeat Zarathos. Blade defeats Zarathos by turning him into stone; he has remained that way ever since.

Zarathos had claimed that he had coupled with Lilith, impregnating her. Lilith plans to unleash her children, but this is yet to be seen.

Zarathos the Angel

During the "Revelations" story arc (by Daniel Way, "Ghost Rider" nos.14-18), Zarathos was possibly revealed to truly be an angel, a "Power of the Sixth Choir" sent by Zadkiel to protect Johnny Blaze's soul from the Faustian pact he had made with the Devil, in answer to Roxanne Simpson's prayers. [http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=139735]

Powers and abilities

Zarathos is an extremely powerful demon almost on the same level as Mephisto. He is able to control the elements on the Earth themselves, and can trap his opponents by taking the ground itself and wrapping it around his foe. Zarathos, if he wishes, can form the rocks into spikes, impaling his foes, as he did to Ghost Rider. In addition, he has superhuman strength, durability and stamina. He is able to shoot hellfire from his hands. Zarathos is able to transport both himself and others to different locations. Apparently, the more souls he consumes, the more powerful he becomes.

Other versions

MC2

In the MC2 alternate future, Kaine summons Zarathos in an attempt to save the life of his nephew, Reilly Tyne (the son of Ben Reilly and Elizabeth Tyne) who is dying because he has inherited the genetic defects from his father’s cloned physiology. This backfires when Zarathos attempted to claim Tyne’s body as his own. At the same time, Kaine also tries to bring Daredevil (who had been killed by the Kingpin while saving Kaine's life) back to life. The soul of Daredevil takes up residence in Tyne's body. The forces of the two spirits residing within him tend to keep each other in check; Tyne gains Zarathos’ physical appearance, demonic and regenerative powers, while the influence of Murdock keeps him from becoming corrupted. Under the influence of these two entities residing within him, Tyne decides to become the hero Darkdevil.

Notes and references