Thanos vs Ghost Rider:
Thanos, 10/10. Put bluntly, Thanos delivers damage orders of magnitude beyond anything Ghost Rider has ever even tried to envision, let alone actually took. It goes *way* beyond any actually demonstrated ability of his to tolerate damage. Assuming that Ghost Rider has infinite ability to recover from damage is fallacious, because its always wrong to assume an infinite.
Also, on the matter of the Penance Stare. . . Mantis, who has the demonstrated ability to incapacitate cosmic beings with her mental abilities, could only temporarily and with great struggle restrain Thanos. The Penance Stare has no evidence for it doing any better. And this is giving Ghost Rider the extreme benefit of the doubt in terms of even being able to get in range to use it in the first place. Which he wouldn't, because Thanos is extremely fast and skilled and would reduce him to scattered atoms with a melee attack first every time.
Because I found Agents of Shield tedious, I admit I didn't pay much attention to Ghost Rider, and the Nic Cage films, which were mediocre but fun, may have influenced my understanding of the character.
My understanding of Ghost Rider's durability is that he is only temporarily inconvenienced by physical damage from non magical weapons ( the old "plus one weapon" trope). If so, unless Thanos has a magic weapon it really doesn't matter.
If there's evidence from the show that this understanding is incorrect, I'll accept it, but otherwise Thanos can only temporarily injure him - it's not about an infinite capacity to absorb damage, more about having a tool that can do real damage.
This trope was shown in Shang Chi where the Dweller in Darkness' minion creatures could simply not be harmed by non magical weapons.
If you've got evidence to the contrary, about the nature of Ghost Rider's durability, I'll happily accept it, but until then....
As for your blanket statement that it's always wrong to assume infinites ....I'd agree, in the real world.
Within the world of comics and even the MCUs there are arguably things that have infìnite or near infinite capacities, such as the infinity stones, Celestials, Dormammu etc. At the lower end of that scale The Eternals are millions of years old they have lifespans that could last billions of years ( or at least until there was insufficient energy in the universe to sustain them - their bodies do not age - if there was sufficient energy then they could conceivably live forever).
I'd suggest that if ever there was a context it was fair in which to assume an infinite capacity is possible, the world of superheroes is it.
As for the penance stare. The problem with your argument is that you are creating a false equivalency between the empathic attack of Mantis and a magical capability of the demonic entity that empowers the Ghost Rider.
The mechanics of the stare and Mantis' empathic sleep spell are very different. One is a psychic power that overrides the target's mind causing temporary unconsciousness.
The penance stare is a magical attack that uses the victim's own remorse for their "sins" to destroy them. It does not cause temporary unconsciousness, but utter anhilation of the recipient's soul.
In the comics one of the few beings that has resisted the stare is the Punisher - because he feels no remorse at all, for all the people he has slain.
The comic version of Thanos would probably be able to resist the stare, as he is an utterly remorseless nihlist, dedicated to the extermination of life.
In the MCU Thanos believes he is justified in committing mass murder on a universal scale, but also he shows that he is capable of feeling remorse and regret - e.g. for the murder of Gamora. In all honesty, this is what makes him such a great character- in Infinity War at least, because he has emotional frailties that make him relatable.
That kind of remorse is what makes the penance stare so devastating, and fries the soul of the recipient. As such, there is evidence that the penance stare would be effective against Thanos.
As far as ranged attacks go, Ghost Rider also has magical hellfire, which may have some effect on Thanos - not by dint of it's temperature alone but by its magical nature. He has his magic bike chain, which can tear open interdimensional portals, and might be able to at least inconvenience Thanos, or temporarily entangle him to allow for GR to follow up with a close range attack.
A while ago this very thread debated whether Hulk could beat Ghost Rider - I believe the consensus was that he couldn't because he lacks the right tools. Thanos is a more skilful Hulk with a formidable physical weapon. If Hulk can't beat Ghost Rider than neither can Thanos - for similar reasons. If I am misremembering that, let me know.
In the comics Thanos would obliterate Ghost Rider, but the MCU version, I still think, is a different story.
