MOLEK
MOLEK
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human possessed by a Spirit of Vengeance, citizen of unspecified Middle Eastern nation
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: Spirits of Vengeance / Ghost Riders, formerly Order of the Midnight Sons
Affiliations: Bai Gu Jing, Baron Skullfire, Caretaker (Sara), Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Marinette Bwa Chech, City of Skull's Phantom Riders
Enemies: Zadkiel, demons, Kid Blackheart, formerly Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch)
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: Ghost Rider
Base of Operations: Unspecified Middle Eastern nation
First Appearance: Ghost Rider VI#29 (January, 2009)
Powers/Abilities: Molek possessed superhuman strength and durability, and was presumably immune to conventional small arms. He wielded a scimitar in combat, and armor manifested over some of his clothing when he assumed his transformed state. He also seemed to be able to sense other Ghost Riders' presence, and perhaps even had a general sense of what they were doing (see Comments).
History:
(Ghost Rider VI#31 (fb) - BTS) - Muslim Ghost Rider Molek formed a close friendship
with African Ghost Riders Baron Skullfire and Marinette Bwa Chech. Alongside
legions of other Spirits of Vengeance, they fought alongside one another
as the Order of the Midnight Sons. He was a Spirit of Vengeance for decades,
and, unlike many of his kind, at some point he learned the true source of
the Spirits' powers, and that the Caretakers who worked with them deliberately
misled to the Spirits, trying to keep them in the dark on this front using
lies, half-truths and misdirection, so that the power could never be traced
back to its source, Allah (or God, depending on which name a given religion
used).
(Ghost Rider VI#30 (fb) - BTS) - Now in his sixties, through undisclosed circumstances Molek became aware that Ghost Riders around the world were being depowered and often slain into the bargain by Ghost Rider Dan Ketch, who had been duped into serving the rogue angel Zadkiel, who in turn had plans to take over Heaven. Molek and his Chinese counterpart Bai Gu Jing together began looking for their remaining fellows to warn them and recruit them, while also hunting Ketch.
(Ghost
Rider VI#29) - After Dan Ketch slew Tibetan Ghost Rider 'Khrag Thung, he had
squared off against his brother Johnny Blaze, eventually ending the fight
by turning his Penance Stare on Johnny, making his sibling relive his past
failures including the deaths of his wife and children. Before Ketch could
finish the now despondent Johnny off, Caretaker (Sara) intervened, whisking
Johnny away on her motorbike. Hunting for other Ghost Riders to help stop
Zadkiel and Dan, Molek and Bai Gu Jing tracked Johnny Blaze and Caretaker
down to a flophouse in Kathmandu, Nepal, where Caretaker was trying to get
the morose Johnny out of his funk. Unsure of what might greet them inside
the room, the two Ghost Riders announced their arrival by smashing the door
to smithereens and Bai Gu Jing struck a battle-ready pose. Caretaker, initially
thinking it was an attack, drew her swords and threatened to slice the intruders
in two, but Molek told her to put her weapons away and come with them, or
else there would soon be nothing left in the world that might be called
Holy.
(Ghost Rider VI#30) - The quartet traveled to Tokyo, Japan, hoping to warn and recruit Yokai-Raida, but as they reached the temple where Yokai-Raida's Caretaker was based, Molek sensed that they had arrived too late, informing his companions that another Ghost Rider had fallen. Unaware that Dan Ketch was covertly observing them from a rooftop, they inspected damage done to the temple, and Bai Gu Jing confirmed to Sara that Ketch was assuredly responsible, adding that they had only missed him by hours. Sara expressed disbelief that Zadkiel could have turned the moral Ketch into a murderer, but Molek pointed out that Ketch believed he was saving the Ghost Riders he depowered, relieving them of their burden before it turned them into monsters, and that even if they died as a result, Ketch felt they were better off. Finding Yokai-Raida's human form, Yoshio Kannabe, naked and terror-stricken, Bai Gu Jing scoffed at what Molek had just said, asking him if the petrified Yoshio could be called better off. Looking down at the wrecked man, Molek noted that they could be of no help to him, nor he to them. Johnny angrily suggested that maybe Yoshio deserved his fate, and that they deserved the same too. Molek tried to reason with him, asking him if he would want Zadkiel to win, consolidating the power of all the Spirits of Vengeance so he would become unstoppable and conquer Heaven itself, but even this failed to impact on Johnny's negative state of mind. As he stomped away, Bai Gu Jing observed that he had lost his will to fight, but Molek confidently asserted that Johnny would find it again when the time was right. Trying to come to terms with what was happening, Sara noted that she could not believe she was looking at the last of the Spirits of Vengeance, but Molek informed her that there were two others left, and that they would go to them now and prepare to make their stand against Zadkiel. Ketch watched them go, and considered attacking them, but, communicating via a dove, Zadkiel told him to let them go, and wait for all the remaining Ghost Riders to get together before moving in to finish them off.
(Ghost
Rider VI#31) - The group traveled to the City of Skulls in the African Congo,
where, after being briefly confronted by the City's guards, they were given
a warm welcome by Baron Skullfire and Marinette Bwa Chech. Despite being
happy to renew their acquaintance, Baron Skullfire noted how few their number
were compared to the old days, and wondered if what was left would be enough,
but Molek pragmatically noted that it would have to be. After being shown
to their quarters within the city, Molek, now back in his human form, found
Sara looking out over a jungle sunset from a balcony. His advice to try and
get some sleep was swiftly rejected by Sara, who explained that she was
struggling to wrap her mind around their situation, especially as she had
just recently had the entire history of the Ghost Rider's downloaded into
her mind. He expressed a respectful admiration of her, informing her that
he wished she had been around years earlier to assist the Spirits of Vengeance.
He told her she now knew what it was to be a Caretaker, and they discussed
how most Ghost Riders had worked alone, unaware of their fellows or who they
truly served, kept in the dark by their Caretakers. Sara noted that she couldn't
make sense of their being Spirits representing so many different religions
if the power's source was God, but Molek hypothesized that were they both
to view Heaven together, each would see it as their religion described it,
their perceptions shaped by their faith. However, despite that, he insisted
there was only one source for their power, and that is who they would soon
be fighting to defend. Molek concluded that they were servants of a greater
cause, even Zadkiel, and that they would soon fight to remind the rogue angel
that the Spirits' power had never been his to control. He noted that each
of the Spirits was preparing for the battle in their own way, even Johnny,
and he asked Sara whether she thought Blaze would fight when the time came.
She told him she could only pray.
A short while later the forces of the City of Skulls assembled, ready for the coming fight - Molek, Bai Gu Jing, Baron Skullfire and Marinette Bwa Chech, Sara, and the City's human population, the Phantom Riders of the Congo. In his transformed state once more, Molek complimented Baron Skullfire's rallying speech, adding that he hoped they could back it up. At the last moment Blaze joined them in his Ghost Rider form. Seconds later the similarly transformed Dan Ketch raced out from the treeline, leading an army of Zadkiel's Black Host angels.
(Ghost
Rider VI#32) - Battle commenced, with the City's defenders fighting bravely
and initially seeming to make headway, up until Baron Skullfire was slain.
The Baron's Spirit of Vengeance immediately took a new host from the Phantom
Riders, and Ketch ordered the angels to stop killing people, both because
he believed they were trying to help the City's people, and because slaying
a Spirit's host would only cause it to take a new one. Ketch manifested hellfire
avatars of himself who tore through the Phantom Riders to get to the Ghost
Riders, an achievement that impressed Molek despite the fact that this was
bad news for the defenders. Spotting the real Ketch, Blaze told Molek to
handle the phonies while he tackled the real thing. Ketch raced off on his
motorbike, and Blaze pursued, but in their absence the avatars overcame Molek
and the remaining Ghost Riders, draining them of their Spirits and leaving
them for dead.
The
battle ended, Ketch dissipated his avatars, absorbing the power they had
taken. Stealing Blaze's power too, he flew up towards Heaven to deliver the
combined might of the Spirits of Vengeance to Zadkiel. Blaze, weakened but
alive, returned to the City of Skulls to find only Sara still standing. Moments
later, having learned too late of Zadkiel's villainous intentions, Ketch
crashed back down to Earth, having managed to hang on to just enough of the
power to restore Blaze's Spirit of Vengeance to him. Lying amidst the carnage,
with Molek's unmoving form mere feet away, Ketch dejectedly announced that
Zadkiel had won.
(Ghost Rider: Heaven's on Fire#6) - Like all past Ghost Riders, Molek was revived to take part in defending Heaven from first Zadkiel and then Kid Blackheart's demon army. During the second assault, he fought alongside Bai Gu Jing. After the battle ended, while other Spirits finished off wounded demons, Molek informed Johnny Blaze, Hellbilly and Knuckles O'Shaugnessy that the Holy City was secure, but that Kid Blackheart had escaped. Knuckles began explaining that he had personally fought Kid Blackheart, but the debriefing was interrupted by a blinding light, heralding God's return. Johnny watched as the resurrected Ghost Riders, including Molek (perhaps - see comments), returned to their eternal rest.
Comments: Created by Jason Aaron and Tan Eng Huat.
Molek is almost certainly the character's codename, since all the other Spirits are referred to only via codenames - even when Molek is speaking to Baron Skullfire, who is a very old friend, he only ever refers to him by that codename. It is may be a reference to Molek, a.k.a. Moloch, one of the gods of the Ammonites, whose followers allegedly sacrificed children by burning them, or Moloch, the chief of Satan's angels in John Milton's Paradise Lost, but both of these would be unusual source material for a Muslim to choose, since they are Jewish and/or Christian in origin. Or it may reference Malik, the Arab word for master.
Molek is identified as being in his sixties in the script for Ghost Rider VI#31.
It is uncertain whether Molek was slain when he was depowered, or merely rendered unconscious. The presence of his Spirit of Vengeance, complete with his personality, in the battle for Heaven doesn't confirm his demise, as Yokai-Raida was also present, and he definitely survived his depowering. It may simply be that the Spirit took on his appearance and manner, or it may be that the revival of the Ghost Riders not only resurrected the dead hosts, but also brought Molek to Heaven, where he was reunited with his Spirit of Vengeance. If this last is what happened, then unlike the resurrected Ghost Riders, Molek would presumably not have stayed in Heaven, but might have returned to Earth and be back in action. He wasn't explicitly shown to be departing into the light like the other, nondescript, Ghost Riders.
Molek was definitely able to sense that Yokai-Raida had fallen when the group arrived in Japan, well before they spotted signs of the fight Yokai-Raida had with Dan Ketch. However, he didn't sense Ketch watching them, so whatever ability he had in relation to detecting his fellow Spirits of Vengeance can't have been too exact. In the City of Skulls, when Sara asks him what the others are doing, there is an implication from his response that he is generally aware of what his fellow Spirits are doing to prepare for the coming battle, though it may simply be that he looked in on them prior to talking to her.
Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Molek is definitely connected to, but should not be confused with
but has no known connections to
images: (without ads)
Ghost Rider VI#29, p22, pan1 (main image)
Ghost Rider VI#31, p14, pan3 (human headshot)
Ghost Rider VI#31, p12, pan2 (human clothing)
Ghost Rider VI#32, p3, pan2 (in combat)
Ghost Rider VI#32, p1, pan2 (being depowered)
Ghost Rider: Heaven's On Fire#6, p14, pan2 (fighting in Heaven)
Other Appearances:
Ghost Rider VI#30 (February, 2009) - Jason Aaron (writer), Tan Eng Huat (art),
Sebastian Girner (editor)
Ghost Rider VI#31 (March, 2009) - Jason Aaron (writer), Tan Eng Huat & Roland
Boschi (art), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Ghost Rider VI#32 (April, 2009) - Jason Aaron (writer), Tan Eng Huat (art), Sebastian
Girner (editor)
Ghost Rider: Heaven's On Fire#6 (February, 2010) - Jason Aaron (writer),
Roland Boschi (art), Sebastian Girner (editor)
Last updated: 03/24/14
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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