SHARK RIDER SHARK RIDER
Real Name: Unrevealed
Identity/Class: Human Atlantean possessed by a Spirit of Vengeance (see comments)
Occupation: Unrevealed
Group Membership: Spirits of Vengeance / Ghost Riders
Affiliations: His Great White Shark
Enemies: Zadkiel, demons, Kid Blackheart
Known Relatives: None
Aliases: None
Base of Operations: Atlantis (see comments)
First Appearance: Ghost Rider VI#31 (March 2009)
Powers/Abilities: Shark Rider presumably possessed superhuman strength and durability, as well as immunity to conventional small arms, and could generate fire, even underwater. His body was covered in spines and barnacles, and he rode a hellfire-enhanced Great White Shark.
Height: Unrevealed
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: (human form)
unrevealed; (Ghost Rider form) none
Hair: (human form) unrevealed; (Ghost Rider form) none
History:
(Ghost Rider #31 (fb)) - Shark Ghost Rider was one of dozens of Ghost
Riders who operated in different parts of the world, in his case in the
region of Atlantis. At some point he was destroyed or died of natural
causes (see comments).
(Ghost Rider: Heaven's on Fire #6) - Like all past Ghost Riders, Shark Rider was revived to take part in defending Heaven from first Zadkiel and then Kid Blackheart's demon army. Despite the battle taking place on dry land, Shark Rider still managed to get involved, attacking demons who came too close to a waterfall and pool that adorned the divine landscape. After the battle, Heaven lit up as God returned, and the resurrected Ghost Riders returned to their eternal rest.
Comments: Created by Jason Aaron and Tan Eng Huat.
Shark Rider appears in Ghost Rider #31 as part of a montage image of international Ghost Riders that Caretaker (Sara) sees in her mind. Arguably it is a vision rather than a flashback, and certainly it provides no non-visual information about him or his history, so the Ghost Rider Index neither listed it as a flashback nor included it in the chronologies of the characters depicted. However, for Appendix purposes, I've listed it in the history, if only because it counts as his first appearance.
With so few appearances, there's little to go from in the comics when it comes to defining details about this Ghost Rider. Luckily the script for Ghost Rider #31 provided a tiny amount of extra information, albeit not that much - it notes that he is from Atlantis (so not just Atlantean, but which nation of Homo Mermani). Further information is forthcoming in the script for Ghost Riders: Heaven's On Fire #6, where he is named as Shark Rider, and his shark steed is specified to be a Great White Shark. Because he is seen in Caretaker (Sara's vision) after she states that she now has six thousand years of Ghost Rider history crammed into her head, it isn't clear if Shark Rider operated in the present day or distant past, but Sara's statements that they are "all gone now" at least confirms he is no longer active. Since at least two others in the same vision were present day Ghost Riders (Yokai-Raida and Shoba Mirza), it might be the case that all those seen were recently active, in which case Shark Rider might be one of the victims of Dan Ketch's Ghost Rider pogrom that took place between Ghost Rider: Dan Ketch #3 and Ghost Rider #30.
Note that just because he was riding a shark
in Ghost Rider VI#31 he is not the same Shark Rider Spirit of Vengeance
as either the Samoan
Shark Rider seen in Avengers VIII#50 or the Maori
Ghost Rider seen in Avengers VIII#61 (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 one in #61 is definitely
female.
Could Jason Aaron, who wrote both the issue where the Atlantean Shark Rider debuted and the one where the Samoan Shark Rider debuted, have intended them to be the same individual? Perhaps, assuming he forgot or decided to retcon the nationality of the from Ghost Rider VI#31 when Avengers VIII#50 came around. And assuming that the differences in appearance (see below) get written off as being down to the different artists. But that's a lot of assuming to rebut counter evidence in order to justify merging two apparently different characters as the same just because both ride sharks, especially considering we definitely do have at least one other shark-riding Spirit of Vengeance.
| Comparing the Shark Riders | ||
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Ghost Rider VI#31: script identifies as Atlantean |
Avengers VIII#50: identified on panel as Samoan |
Avengers VIII#61: identified on panel in Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch#3 as Maori |
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Profile by Loki.
CLARIFICATIONS:
Shark Rider is definitely connected to, but should not be confused
with
but has no known connections to
Shark Rider's steed was a gigantic Great White Shark empowered by the Spirit of Vengeance.
--Ghost Rider #31, (Ghost Rider: Heaven's On Fire #6
images: (without ads)
Ghost Rider: Heaven's On Fire #6, p13, pan3 (main image)
Ghost Rider #31, p13, pan1 (in Sara's vision)
Ghost Rider #31, p13, pan1 (Great White Shark)
Other Appearances:
Ghost Rider: Heaven's On Fire #6 (February 2010) - Jason Aaron (writer),
Roland Boschi (art), Sebastian Girner (editor)
First Posted: 03/08/2014
Last updated: 09/18/2023
Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.
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Shark Rider's Great White