Profile

• Real Name: Frank Castle
• AKA: The Rider, Black Queen, Cosmic Ghost Phoenix Rider, Fredo Castle, Ghost Rider, Punisher, Spirit of Vengeance
• Family: Maria Castle (wife, deceased); Lisa Castle (daughter, deceased); Frank Castle, Jr. (son, deceased)
• Base of Operation: Mephisto’s Realm, Hell; formerly Thanos’ palace, Earth
• Identity: Secret
• Citizenship: American
• Martial Status: Widowed
• Occupation: Adventurer; former vigilante, Spirit of Vengeance, herald of Galactus, and black right-hand of the Mad King Thanos
• Education: –
• Gender: Male
• Height: ?
• Weight: ?
• Eyes: Blue (human form); No Eyes (demonic form)
• Hair: White (human form); No Hair (demonic form)
• Unusual Feature: Appearance of a flaming skeleton while transformed
• Origin: Human bonded with a demonic Spirit of Vengeance and later augmented with the Power Cosmic by Galactus
• Universe: ‘Thanos Wins Universe’ (Earth-TRN666), currently resides in Marvel Prime

How do you make the concept of the Punisher even crazier? Make him a space bike riding Ghost Rider who was the Herald of both Galactus and Thanos, apparently. Introduced in Thanos Vol 2 #13 (2018) by Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw, this Frank Castle comes from an alternate future where Thanos arrived on Earth and began killing everybody. Killed, Castle was sent to hell where Mephisto offer him a chance at vengeance by turning him into the latest Ghost Rider. However, when he return to the mortal realm, Thanos had left and ever living soul was dead. He began to wonder the planet for years, where the solitude drove him crazy. Eventually an injured Galactus arrived on Earth seeking help against Thanos. Castle offer up Earth in exchange to become Galactus’s herald. They both went to attack Thanos but Galactus was killed and Thanos made Castle his servant.

King Thanos sent the Rider back in time to bring the present Thanos to the future to help him defeat the Fallen One, a rogue Silver Surfer, who eventually smash the Rider. Thanos was eventually sent back in time and work to prevent this future. The Rider eventually wound up in Valhalla of an alternate timeline but didn’t fit in. He was offered to be sent to any place in time and choose to go to the day Thanos was born to kill him. Realizing this child was innocent, he took the child to raise him for good, which resulted in that timeline having Thanos be raise to resemble Punisher. He eventually returned the child to his own world. He eventually arrived in the Prime universe, where he joined up with the Guardians of the Galaxy and later the Dark Guardians. He was eventually forced to become the servant of Hela, but eventually broke free.

Cosmic Ghost Rider is a rather new character but has gathered quite a following since his introduction. So it came as no surprise when Hasbro announced him as part of the riders line, even though he was only a year in the comics.

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