My birth branding no longer applies. Nor does any federal identification number. All designations try to define who I am. But nothing explains that. Only I know who I truly am. 
- —Ghost[src]
History
Origin
The man who would be known as The Ghost was once a promising data engineer for a major computer corporation, and the brainchild behind GhostTech, a series of computer chips that phased into an intangible state before overheating, yet could still function in this state and hold an incredible amount of data. The prized employee of this company, its executives used his genius to make themselves exceptionally wealthy, spurring his continued productivity with everything from sports tickets to sexual favors from another employee.
When the GhostTech project was finally completed, they had his lover killed after she threatened to reveal how the company made her into a call girl for their benefit, causing him to slide into a deep depression. As a result, he infused his body with GhostTech and formed a cybernetic connection with the company's systems. Through this, he discovered his girlfriend had been murdered. Surviving an assassination attempt thanks to the GhostTech in his body, he dispatched the company executives one by one, before eliminating any link to his past life and becoming a full-time corporate saboteur. It should be noted that this origin may be inaccurate, given that Ghost was telling it to the untrustworthy Moonstone, and that his prolonged existence within an intangible state has negatively affected his psyche.[1]
Joining the Thunderbolts
Sometime during his rise to power, Ghost was recruited by Norman Osborn into the Thunderbolts.[2]
When Natalia Romanova (Black Widow) 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. Ghost had his own agenda, being more interested in studying advanced technology. For Ghost, Norman Osborn represented everything wrong with modern American society; a fusion of military, corporate and political power, and was taking part in the Thunderbolts so as to sabotage his efforts from within.[3]
Stark Disassembled
Because Tony Stark had purposely lobotomized himself into a vegetative state, his power of attorney transferred over to Donald Blake. Madame Masque hired Ghost to assassinate Stark. She provided him a phone made by the Tinkerer, which he could use to execute his phase abilities to reach any place in the world. Ghost managed to track Stark to Broxton, Oklahoma, where he twice attempted to assassinate Stark. All the while, Stark's comrades were attempting to reboot his brain. By then, Stark had regained consciousness and used the Ghost's own phone against him, sending him to a facility in Seoul.[4]
Luke Cage's Thunderbolts
The Ghost became a member of the new incarnation of the Thunderbolts team under the leadership of Luke Cage. Participating in missions alongside Juggernaut, Crossbones, Moonstone, Mach V, Luke Cage himself, and Man-Thing. While on a mission hunting Trolls, an Asgardian half-troll was capable of cutting Ghost's suit while he was intangible. When the Avengers Academy students came to the Raft for a "Beyond Scared Straight" scenario Ghost was telling how they have pills in the food and that Pym shrinks down to control them. Later on, Luke Cage sent the team down into a cavern, while in the Cavern Ghost detected thirty-eight life forms. The team assumed rats, but when the lights come on thirty-eight ninjas were revealed. After their fight, Songbird took Fixer to a hospital while Moonstone, Juggernaut, Crossbones, and Ghost stayed to look for the dojo. 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 and freed the prisoners, giving them weapons. When a ninja saw Ghost, he stayed intangible to keep him distracted while the prisoners got out and killed the ninjas.[5]
During Ghost's time with this version of the Thunderbolts, one mission pulled Ghost, Juggernaut, and Crossbones aside with Iron Man and Commander Steven Rogers. While Juggernaut tried to escape and Crossbones tried to kill Captain America, Ghost started a fight with Iron Man, only for Stark to reveal the current state of his business to Ghost: that Stark Enterprises was now a small, independent business and not the sort of "evil corporation" that Ghost was dedicated to destroying. Due to this development, Ghost had, for the time being, sworn off his grudge against Tony Stark.[6]
After the Thunderbolts got grounded for Crossbones' killing of Darris Kimbro, Ghost and Moonstone were the only ones left in Thunderbolts Tower. In an act to attempt to lighten the mood, Moonstone warmed up to Ghost by asking him what his origin was. Ghost agreed to her request and told her his life's story. After telling his story, Ghost left Moonstone speechless.[1]
On a new mission that involved stopping monsters from entering Japan, the Thunderbolts added Hyperion to their ranks. Ghost and his fellow Thunderbolts headed to Japan via Man-Thing. Ghost, being unable to due to his talents, was left to observe. Hyperion lost control, attempting to drown Moonstone and Songbird. Juggernaut resurfaced the two, and Ghost gave them mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Ghost with fellow Thunderbolts, Juggernaut and Moonstone incapacitated Hyperion, with Man-Thing delivering the finishing blows.[7]
Thunderbolts Return
Hydra's leader Baron Zemo and Mayor Fisk came up with a plan to deal with the Punisher once and for all. Along with other villains, The Ghost was recruited by Zemo to join a new incarnation of the Thunderbolts. He was introduced at a press conference with the other members as Citizen V pronounced that they would end the Punisher's reign of terror and restore order to New York City.[8] Following the defeat of Zemo and his allies, the Kingpin had the Ghost seemingly dispose of Zemo.[9]
Project Aaru
Following the aftermath of New York, Ghost discovered his old lover had secretly had her consciousness uploaded into a computer by the Roxxon Corporation, which was stolen by Moonstone. Using it as a bargaining chip, she convinced Ghost to aid her experiments to upload consciousnesses into the Internet, creating a digital afterlife called Project Aaru. After the discovery that she was using the bodies of her patients without their consent, and with no intent of actually making sure her project worked, Ghost turned on Moonstone and aided the Strikeforce, who had ended up in the hospital. In the resulting defeat of Moonstone, Ghost stole the data chip of his old lover and escaped before the Strikeforce could find him.[10]Attributes
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Abilities
- Expert Computer Scientist: As a former data engineer, Ghost is proficient with technology of all kinds. Being able to easily dismiss firewalls and hack into most computers with ease.[11]
- Gifted Inventor: Ghost has designed most of his arsenal.[11]
- Firearms: Ghost has gradually become more proficient in the use of firearms.
Weaknesses
- Mental Instability: Gradually, Ghost has become more reclusive and less social. This may be due to the detrimental effects of his equipment.[12] He also thinks in a completely binary way, once Iron Man stopped one of their fights by liquidating Starktech, which resulted in Ghost no longer identifying Stark as corporate mogul and therefore as a threat.[6]
Paraphernalia
Equipment
- Ghost's Suit: The Ghost's suit is designed for stealth, using intangibility and invisibility technology. 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. In addition to his suit, Ghost uses portable intangibility circuits. His mask contains cybernetic circuitry that allows him to mentally control his powers and a personal wi-fi transmitter and receiver for communications.[11]
- Invisibility: By harnessing polarized eternons Ghost can make himself and whatever he is touching invisible and immune to detection by most sensory equipment. Smoke or mist can reveal his outline while invisible.[11]
- Intangibility: By harnessing polarized eternons Ghost can make himself and whatever he is touching intangible. While intangible Ghost becomes partially transparent but he cannot become fully invisible while intangible.[11]
- Scanners: His mask is also able to pick up heartbeats and life signs from other people.[13] His mask also possesses speech recognition approximation capabilities which he can use to lip-read a distant conversation.[6]
- Electronics Disruption: His suit can also be set to disrupt or override electronic devices via touch.[11]
- Mechanokinesis: Ghost's suit has a armor override feature that once allowed him to take control of MACH V's armor by phasing into it.[14]
- Electro Blast: Ghost's suit can also deliver powerful electric shocks capable of taking down a man.[2]
- Levitation: Ghost's suit grants him limited flight abilities, making him able to float and move through air at a limited speed.[15]
Weapons
Trivia
- Ghost is often marked as a terrorist.
See Also
- 110 appearance(s) of Ghost (Earth-616)
- 9 appearance(s) in handbook(s) of Ghost (Earth-616)
- 9 minor appearance(s) of Ghost (Earth-616)
- 13 mention(s) of Ghost (Earth-616)
- 6 mention(s) in handbook(s) of Ghost (Earth-616)
- 101 image(s) of Ghost (Earth-616)
- 6 quotation(s) by or about Ghost (Earth-616)
- 2 victim(s) killed by Ghost (Earth-616)
- 1 item(s) used/owned by Ghost (Earth-616)
Links and References
- Ghost on Marvel.com
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Thunderbolts #151
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Thunderbolts #128
- ↑ Thunderbolts #134
- ↑ Invincible Iron Man (Vol. 2) #22–24
- ↑ Thunderbolts #148–149
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Thunderbolts #150
- ↑ Thunderbolts #152–153
- ↑ Punisher (Vol. 12) #13
- ↑ Punisher (Vol. 12) #16
- ↑ Strikeforce #6
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 11.5 11.6 Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #4
- ↑ Thunderbolts #144
- ↑ Thunderbolts #145
- ↑ Thunderbolts #146
- ↑ Thunderbolts #129
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #4
- ↑ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Vol 1 4