| “ | If corporations are people, I am a murderer! | „ |
| ~ Ghost |
Ghost is a recurring villain in the Marvel Comics universe and an enemy of Iron Man. He has also clashed against Deadpool and Spider-Man. Little to nothing is known about the Ghost's past history. Ghost was something of a legend in the electronics industry, but few have heard about the story, including industrialist Tony Stark.
Biography[]
Before he became the supervillain and criminal known as Ghost, he was a highly talented data engineer who worked for major computer corporation and the creator of GhostTech. This was a new series of computer chips that phased into an intangible state before overheating, but could still be active in this state and hold a significant amount of data. He was the most valued employee in the entire company. The man was so popular, that the executives used his advanced intellect to become rich and spurred his continued productivity through everything, with examples such as sports tickets and sexual favors from another employee.
After GhostTech was completed, the executives arranged for Ghost's lover to be killed after she threatened to reveal how the company made her into a call girl for their benefit. This caused Ghost to slide into a deep depression. As a result, he eventually infused his body with GhostTech and formed a cyberpathic connection with the company's systems in order to become more productive and escape the traumas of the real world. Coincidentally, he discovered the woman's murder in the process when he was connected to the system.
Surviving an assassination attempt thanks to the GhostTech in his body, he killed the company executives one by one, before eliminating any link to his past life and becoming a full-time corporate saboteur. However, this origin story may be false, given that Ghost was telling it to the untrustworthy Moonstone, and that his prolonged existence within an intangible state has affected his mind, including perhaps his memories as a result.
Carrington Pax, who was an Roxxon Energy Corporation executive, would hire the Ghost to drive Accutech Research and Development, which was an electronics firm that was going into financial trouble, into bankruptcy. Roxxon had attempted to purchase Accutech, but that firm's executives wanted nothing to do with the disreputable Roxxon. Pax hoped that the sabotage the Ghost did would further damage Accutech's financial standing, making it more amenable to Roxxon's next offer of purchase. Unfortunately for Pax, Tony Stark, who owns Stark International, was interested in acquiring Accutech's technology and would purchase the company. Stark would later investigate a problem at Accutech as Iron Man, where he encountered the Ghost for the first time. Iron Man managed to drive the Ghost from Accutech, but the Ghost promised that he would have vengeance on Tony Stark and his company.
After Ghost's failed mission, Pax and other Roxxon executives were concerned that Ghost had gone rogue. They were afraid that Ghost's nefarious actions would give the company a bad reputation, so they hired Spymaster to eliminate him. However, the Ghost was successful in killing Spymaster before he could get to him. Ghost did this by getting Spymaster to materialize while phasing mid-way through a wall when both were trying to escape Iron Man (although it was revealed that Spymaster survived years later).
Stark would later attempt and succeed in luring Ghost into a trap. This resulted in a battle between Iron Man and Ghost, with Iron Man getting the advantage and cornering him in with the beta particle generator. Iron Man turned it on in order to make Ghost more visible, due to the radiation from the generator would interfere with Ghost's stealth suit. Ghost tried to reach the generator in order to destroy it, but the intense heat from his overloading costume caused the floor to melt with Ghost falling through it. Ghost, however, was able to escape Iron Man but left his burnt costume behind.
Ghost would later work for Justin Hammer and appeared in Italy. Hammer planned to sell the company, Electronica Fabbrizi, to Tony Stark, in order to dispose of a worthless asset and simultaneously give his business rival a difficult time. Unfortunately for Hammer, Stark found out about the true ownership of the company. This resulted in a compromise between Stark and Hammer: Hammer's forces would assist Iron Man in apprehending the Ghost and bring him to justice. Ghost would confront Iron Man after this and tried to kill him by rendering him intangible. Although Iron Man saved everyone during the conflict, Electronica Fabbrizi was destroyed and Ghost was able to yet again escape. However, when Ghost confronted Hammer for his treachery, Hammer had defensive countermeasures in place against Ghost's intangibility powers and escaped, leaving Ghost trapped. Ghost would blast his way out and swore he would continue to destroy Hammer, Stark, and all other companies in the world.
Ghost was hired by his next client, Kingpin (Wilson Fisk), to steal the new Roxxon process to create synthetic vibranium. Fisk tasked Ghost to steal Roxxon's data and destroy their facilities so that they could not continue their experiments. Eager for another opportunity to interfere with Roxxon, the Ghost was interferd in his mission by the combined efforts of the Black Panther, Iron Man, Spider-Man and Roxxon's own Sunturion (Arthur Dearborn). When Ultron became involved, the Ghost abandoned his assignment and alerted the Kingpin to Ultron's presence. The Kingpin ultimately made an alliance with Ultron to further his interest in the synthetic Vibranium. In another of his assignments, the Ghost targeted energy research company Tricorp. Attempting to sabotage one of the company's energy tests, the Ghost ran afoul of Spider-Man and the time-traveling historian Cassandra Locke. Locke shut down the Ghost's bomb and temporarily shorted out his intangibility devices, enabling Spider-Man to strike him down. The Ghost was taken into police custody.
Later on, several companies were destroyed when bombs, that were installed in personal computers, went off in inner-city offices. Stark, was currently going undercover as a common employee at one of the companies that went under, managed to track down the source of the attacks. This turned out to be the "Advanced Corp", a cover for A.I.M. It was then revealed that A.I.M, not usually operating in common business circles, had employed a special agent to eliminate the competition and was none other than the Ghost. Nearly defeating Iron Man in their first fight and escaping without a hitch, he hit a nasty snag during their second fight when he attempted to phase his costumed hand into Iron Man's chest, and Tony Stark's then-artificial heart defended itself, knocking him unconscious. He was subsequently arrested, but his identity appears to have remained unknown.
Ghost was able to escape custody and was hired by the third Spymaster, Sinclair Abbot, to help liberate the Living Laser who was being monitored by Stark International at the time. Ghost would try to kill Iron Man after meeting him and believed to have succeeded (but turned out to be a decoy). However, due to Ghost's unreliability and quirkiness, he was fired and Spymaster left him.
During the Dark Reign storyline, Ghost becomes recruited by Norman Osborne into his version of Thunderbolts. Because of him being with this group, Ghost becomes reclusive and doesn't take off his suit. When Natasha Romanova (Black Widow), who posed as Yelena Belova (Black Widow II), was captured along with former Thunderbolt member Songbird, Ghost, Headsman and Paladin went against orders of killing the two. They helped them escape custody and Ghost erased the memories of Mister X and Scourge in order to keep their place on the team. Despite this act of generosity, Ghost usually had his own personal agenda and didn't really care about the Thunderbolts. He was more fixated on studying advanced technology instead. For Ghost, Norman Osborn represented everything wrong with modern American society. He believed it was a fusion of military, corporate and political power, and was taking part in the Thunderbolts so as to sabotage his efforts from within.
When Tony Stark deliberately lobotomized himself in a vegetative state, and had his power of attorney transferred over to Donald Blake, Madame Masque would hire Ghost to kill Stark. He was given a phone by Masque, that was created by the Tinkerer, which would allow him to use his phase abilities to reach any place in the world. Ghost tracked Stark down to Broxton, Oklahoma, where he tried to assassinate Stark twice but failed. During this time, Stark's friends tried to reboot his brain. At this point, Stark regained consciousness and used Ghost's phone against him. He would send him to a facility in Seoul, South Korea.
After this, Ghost becomes a member of Luke Cage's Thunderbolts. He participates in missions with teammates Juggernaut, Crossbones Moonstone, Mach V (formerly Beetle), Luke Cage, and Man-Thing. Their base of operations is the Raft and they are also imprisoned there. While on a mission hunting trolls, one troll (who was an Asgardian with a troll father) with an ax cut his suit while he was intangible and he is shocked that it happened. When the Avengers Academy students came to the raft, they were scared straight when Ghost was talking to them how they have pills in the food and that Pym (Ant-Man) shrinks down to control them.
After this, Luke Cage sends the team down into a caver and he detects 38 life forms and the team thinks he's talking about the rats but when Fixer turned on the lights, Ghost says he wasn't talking about the rats and there were ninjas who attacked them. When they beat the ninjas, Songbird took Fixer to a hospital and Moonstone, Juggernaut, Crossbones and Ghost stayed down and looked for the underground ninja palace. Juggernaut and Moonstone stayed outside to face the ninjas while Ghost and Crossbones went in to look for the prisoners. Ghost took the direct route but couldn't phase Crossbones so he had to go the hard way and fight ninjas. Ghost went to the top, gave weapons to the prisoners and freed them. When a ninja saw Ghost, he stayed intangible to keep him distracted while the prisoners got out and killed the ninja.
During one mission, Ghost was pulled along with Juggernaut and Crossbones and placed aside with Iron Man and Captain America. While Juggernaut tried to escape and Crossbones tries to kill Captain America, Ghost starts a fight with Iron Man, only for Stark to reveal the current state of his business to Ghost. He tells Ghost that Stark Enterprises is now a small, independent business and not the sort of "evil corporation" that Ghost is dedicated to destroying. Due to this development, Ghost has, for the time being, sworn off his grudge against Tony Stark.
After the Thunderbolts get grounded after for Crossbones kills Darris Kimbro, Ghost and Moonstone are the only ones left on Thunderbolts Tower. In an act to attempt to lighten the mood, Moonstone warms up to Ghost by asking him what his origin is. Ghost agrees to her request and tells her his life's story. After telling his story, Ghost leaves Moonstone speechless (origin story is at beginning of article).
Ghost reappears participating in a new mission that involves stopping monsters from entering Japan. During this time, the Thunderbolts add Hyperion to their ranks. Ghost and his fellow Thunderbolts head to Japan via Man-Thing. Ghost, who can't really do much in this mission is left to observe. Hyperion goes ballistic and drowns Moonstone and Songbird. Juggernaut resurfaces the two, and Ghost gives them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Ghost with fellow Thunderbolts, Juggernaut and Moonstone, beat up Hyperion, with Man-Thing delivering the finishing touches.
Other Media[]
Ironman Armored Adventures[]
- Main article: Ghost (Iron Man: Armored Adventures)
Season 1[]
Ghost in Iron Man Armored Adventures.
Ghost is one of the recurring villains in the TV show; Ironman Armored Adventures. He is a mercanary and assassin who just wants to get payed. Ghost made his first appearance when he was first hired to kill Tony Stark. He was later bought out of cancelling the hit by Tony's friend, Whitney. It was later revealed that it was A.I.M. that hired Ghost. In another episode, A.I.M. hires Ghost again to kidnap Living Laser from S.H.I.E.L.D. They were planning to use the Living Laser to power up M.O.D.O.K. When M.O.D.O.K. rebels against the A.I.M. leader, Ghost easily escaped from A.I.M. explaining they have no more money to pay him.
Season 2[]
Ghost was later hired by Obadiah Stand to steal the blueprints on the Iron Man armors. Ghost was succesful but doublecrosses Stane by selling the armor blueprints to Justin Hammer. He also managed to find out that Iron Man is Tony Stark. But instead telling the whole world that Stark is Iron Man, Ghost is planning to blackmail Stark when he turns 18 and takes over Stark Enterprise, because then his price for silence would increase much more. However, at the end of season 2, after Iron Man, War Machine, Rescue, Grey Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Nick Fury saved the world from an alien invasion, Iron Man's helmet came off, resulting in everyone known Iron Man's secret identity.
Avenger's Ultron Revolution[]
Ghost in Avenger's Ultron Revolution.
While Ghost is an enemy of Iron Man in this show, this version of Ghost is shown to be an Inhuman descendant where his Inhuman abilities have enhanced his phasing abilities. He is voiced by Jim Cummings. He appears in the episode "The Kids are Alright". Ghost infiltrates Avengers Tower in order to steal Friday while disabling Captain America and Iron Man as well as abducting Falcon, Hawkeye, and Inferno. Once Ghost gets his hands on Friday, he uses his phasing abilities to sink Avengers Tower into the ground. While Inferno uses his fire abilities to keep Avengers Tower at the surface, Ms. Marvel gets Iron Man to his lab so that he can work on a device to use on Ghost.
Once the device is done, Iron Man uses it to disable Ghost's phasing abilities. After being knocked down by Captain America, Ms. Marvel beats him up while telling him never to return. In the episode "Avengers No More" Pt. 1, Ghost spies on the Avengers setting up the Stark Expo in preparation for the event that Iron Man can be saved from the unstable dimension. He then tries to target some Stark Industries technology only to be detected and subdued by Thor. Before being taken away by S.H.I.E.L.D. and making a comment about Iron Man not being with them, Ghost warns the Avengers that things will get worse for them.
Marvel Cinematic Universe[]
- Main article: Ghost (Marvel Cinematic Universe)
A female version of the character named Ava Starr appears as the main antagonist of the 2018 film, Ant-Man and the Wasp. She is portrayed by Hannah John-Kamen.
Powers and Abilities[]
Ghost is highly skilled in electronics and computers. He is also an expert in firearms and explosives. Ghost is able to leave messages, to taunt his enemies, that are almost virtually impossible to trace. He is very good at hacking, being able to go through firewalls and security with minimal difficulty and easily hack into the toughest networks. Ghost has a battle suit that is designed for stealth, primarily via cloaking device. It also enables him to become intangible. He is also able to make other objects invisible and intangible. After his early battles with Iron Man, he upgraded his suit to mask sounds, including his heartbeat. His suit can also be set to disrupt or override electronic devices via touch. In addition to his suit, Ghost uses portable intangibility circuits.
Gallery[]
Images[]
.jpg "Ghost (Marvel).jpg (31 KB)")
_from_Venom_Separation_Anxiety_Vol_2_3_001.jpg "Ghost (Earth-616) from Venom Separation Anxiety Vol 2 3 001.jpg (841 KB)")
_from_Thunderbolts_Vol_1_140.jpg "Ghost (Earth-616) from Thunderbolts Vol 1 140.jpg (93 KB)")
_from_Thunderbolts_Vol_1_168_0002.jpg "Ghost (Earth-616) from Thunderbolts Vol 1 168 0002.jpg (116 KB)")
Videos[]
Trivia[]
- Ghost is often marked as a terrorist.
- When not wearing at least his mask, Ghost is a very socially awkward individual, unable to even speak to others.
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 Villains
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