MAORI GHOST RIDER

Real Name: Unrevealed 

Identity/Class: Human possessed by a Spirit of Vengeance, presumably New Zealand citizen

Occupation: Unrevealed 

Group Membership: Spirits of Vengeance / Ghost Riders 

Affiliations: Starbrand (Brandy Selby), her shark;
   formerly Zadkiel

Enemies: Demons, Kid Blackheart, Zadkiel; possibly formerly Dan Ketch (see comments)

Known Relatives: None 

Aliases: None

Base of Operations: Wellington, New Zealand 

First Appearance:  Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch #3 (February 2009)

Powers/Abilities: The Maori Ghost Rider wielded a (presumably hellfire-enhanced) taiaha and shield. She could generate a flying hellfire war canoe, allowing her to traverse land and sea with equal ease; she was also known to sometimes ride a hellfire-empowered Great White shark, and could survive underwater. Like most Ghost Riders, she presumably possessed superhuman strength and durability, and could generate fire. She wore a war mask that hid half of her (presumably skull-like) face; what properties it had, if any, were unrevealed.

Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: (human form) unrevealed; (Ghost Rider form) none
Hair: (human form) unrevealed; (Ghost Rider form) none

History: (Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch #3 (fb)) - An unidentified virgin female of the Maoritanga was possessed by a Spirit of Vengeance. This Maori Ghost Rider inflicted retribution on villains in New Zealand and on the seas around the islands nation.

(Ghost Rider #30 (fb) - BTS) -  At some point the Maori Ghost Rider was destroyed, possibly by Dan Ketch.

(Ghost Rider: Heaven's on Fire #6 - BTS) - Like all past Ghost Riders, the Maori Ghost Rider was revived to take part in defending Heaven from both the rogue angel Zadkiel and then Kid Blackheart's demon army.

(Avengers VIII#61 (fb)) - Apparently alive again, and having gained some am and chest tattoos, the Maori Ghost Rider met and was befriended by Starbrand, who flew alongside her underwater as the Maori Ghost Rider rode a new steed, a great white shark with burning eyes.

Comments: Created by Simon Spurrier and Javier Saltares.

    Since the Maori Ghost Rider only appeared in a single panel, there's very little information known about her. She's not named in the comic, but is identified as being Maori; the script also identifies her specific weapon and type of transportation.

    It wasn't specified exactly in which time she operated in her first appearance, but the script identified her and the other Ghost Riders shown in the same vision as being "contemporary." However, if active at the time of Dan Ketch's vision, she was no longer so by Ghost Rider #30, when a discussion between Caretaker (Sara) and the Ghost Rider's Molek and Bai Gu Jing confirms the identities of the tiny handful of surviving Ghost Riders, none of whom includes this one. Between GR:DK #3 and GR #30 Dan Ketch was racing round the world slaying Ghost Riders, so the Maori Ghost Rider may well have been one of his victims.

   She had seemingly recovered later though, as she was seen in the company of Brandy Selby, who was born some time after the events of Heaven's on Fire. It's not impossible that Brandy met her while time traveling, as Brandy did go back in time during her tenure as Starbrand, but all the other individuals seen in Starbrand's flashbacks in Avengers VIII#61 were from the "current day."

   Note that just because she was riding a shark in Avengers VIII#61 she is not the same Shark Rider Spirit of Vengeance as either the Atlantean Shark Rider seen in Ghost Rider VI#31 or the Samoan Shark Rider seen in Avengers VIII#50 (despite some online seeming to think they are all one and the same); not every Ghost Rider who rides a motorbike is Johnny Blaze, so why assume that all Spirits of Vengeance who ride sharks are one and the same? All three shark-mounted Spirits have different ethnicities, as confirmed by script or on panel text; all three have different outfits and looks, and the one in Avengers VIII#50 is definitely male while the Maori one is definitely female. The shark-riding Ghost Rider in Avengers VIII#61 isn't named on panel as being the Maori Ghost Rider from Danny Ketch#3, but the matching outfits, necklaces, shields and very distinctive spears are pretty conclusive.

Profile by Loki.

CLARIFICATIONS:
The Maori Ghost Rider is definitely connected to, but should not be confused with

• all the other Spirit of Vengeance-empowered Ghost Riders

but has no known connections to

• Phantom Riders - luminous lawmen of the Old West also known as Ghost Riders--Ghost Rider I#1 - though some of them were apparently Spirit of Vengeance-empowered too, if Heaven's on Fire #6 is to be believed
• Ghost Wind Rider - Comanche Indian and former lover of Red Wolf--Blaze of Glory#2
• Shark Rider - Atlantean Spirit of Vengeance--Ghost Rider VI#31
• Shark Rider - Samoan Spirit of Vengeance--Avengers VIII#50
• any other ghostly characters or characters who ride things

Shark Rider's Great White

The Maori Ghost Rider's shark steed was a gigantic Great White Shark empowered by the Spirit of Vengeance.

--Avengers VIII#61

images: (without ads)
Ghost Rider: Dan Ketch #4, p15, pan1 (main image)
Avengers VIII#61, p14, pan2 (riding shark, and shark sub-profile images)

Other Appearances:
Ghost Rider: Dan Ketch#3 (February 2009) - Simon Spurrier (writer), Javier Saltares (Ghost Rider: Heaven's On Fire #6 (February 2010) - Jason Aaron (writer), Roland Boschi (art), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Avengers VIII#61 (December 2022) - Jason Aaron (writer), Ivan Fiorelli (art), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 03/01/2014
Last updated: 09/18/2023

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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