The Offical Peter Fonda/Mephisto Thread (All Pics/News Welcome!)

[Age of Mysterio]

he was a character called Captain America in the movie Easy Rider.

 

[Caliber]

Any news on what Mephiteles will look like?

 

[FlameHead]

Not yet.

 

[Caliber]

So they are going to show hell? Sorry if its a stupid question.

 

[Jayo]

I'm wonder. Was Mephisto always Ghost Rider's main antagonist? Or, was he just thrown into the movie by screenwriters, as a worthy adversary for GR?

If I remember correctly, it was another villian that gave Johnny Blaze his powers. Who was he?

 

[Ullic]

Mephisto is a traditional villain of Ghost Rider's. Whether he's the main one, I'm not sure but I believe he is. FlameHead would be the one to answer that with authority. He seems to be the lifelong GR fan around here.

 

[InVictus]

He's the one who created him....the one who tricked Johnny Blaze, the one who cursed him, so even if often indirectly(even in GRII, somewhat) he has been always the main villain, yes.

 

[BIGGUN]

Actually it was Satan who gave Blaze his powers..but sometime in the late 70s/early 80s Marvel wanted to drop any outright connections to the Devil so they changed it where it was Mephisto who cursed Blaze.

 

[FlameHead]

I have a feeling that it will be shown, yes. I say this because we know that there is a young version of Blaze, which tells me that they will be showing the original bonding of Ghost Rider (I guess). The only question reallly is if that happened in Hell or not. Did Mephisto come to the surface or did he drag Blaze down below? Hmmm...

Now that Constantine has come out, however, perhaps we won't see Hell at all. Tiz a good question.

 

[FlameHead]

Essentially Mephisto are the same character though. I mention that just to not confuse anyone.

Ullic, I'm not the only one with offical GR knowledge. Biggun is the real man when it comes to those questions actually. He's knows all things Blaze and most things Ketch. I know more about Ketch than Blaze and because of that my knowledge on Mephisto is limited as well. Biggun, MarvelMovies and I are definatly the long term Ghost Rider fans w/ lots of related knowledge though.

As for the question, I don't personally see Mephisto as a major villian for Ghost Rider. After the whole creation of the character incident, he never hung around much... though popped up to play his little games now and again.

Ghost Rider's main villian was himself; Zarathos. Blaze and Zarathos battled to be the owner of the body and that fight lasted for a very long time... even after they were separated in the final issue of GR v1. Zarathos returned to wreck havok on the world in the mid issues of GR v2.

 

[Jayo]

Essentially Mephisto are the same character though. I mention that just to not confuse anyone.

Ullic, I'm not the only one with offical GR knowledge. Biggun is the real man when it comes to those questions actually. He's knows all things Blaze and most things Ketch. I know more about Ketch than Blaze and because of that my knowledge on Mephisto is limited as well. Biggun, MarvelMovies and I are definatly the long term Ghost Rider fans w/ lots of related knowledge though.

As for the question, I don't personally see Mephisto as a major villian for Ghost Rider. After the whole creation of the character incident, he never hung around much... though popped up to play his little games now and again.

Ghost Rider's main villian was himself; Zarathos. Blaze and Zarathos battled to be the owner of the body and that fight lasted for a very long time... even after they were separated in the final issue of GR v1. Zarathos returned to wreck havok on the world in the mid issues of GR v2.

OHH okay!! That's who it was! Zarathos (a.k.a the demon that possessed Johnny Blaze). Why didn't the screenwriter go with that story instead of having Mephisto grant Johnny Blaze his Ghost Rider powers?

 

[Vartha]

I thought I read somewhere that Mephisto was Zarathos' boss, and Satan was Mephisto's boss...Man that was awhile ago hard to remember.

 

[FlameHead]

Mephisto and Satan are the same thing. Mephisto is just the Marvel universe's version of the ruler of Hell.

Zarathos and Mephisto have a very long history, which is a little too hard to explain right here. I'll get you some links when the time allows.

OHH okay!! That's who it was! Zarathos (a.k.a the demon that possessed Johnny Blaze). Why didn't the screenwriter go with that story instead of having Mephisto grant Johnny Blaze his Ghost Rider powers?

Well, it was Mephisto who grandted Ghost Rider his powers... per say. He mystically bonded Zarathos to Blaze's soul. Zartathos and Blaze didn't get along very well though... and that's where the story evolved into over the course of 83 issues of Vol 1.

Much happened after that to explain the whole thing though. After Ketch came into the picture, they had to explain a whole lot of story dealing with the bloodline of the whole situation... which is a complicated story, to say the least.

 

[BIGGUN]

they had to explain a whole lot of story dealing with the bloodline of the whole situation... which is a complicated story, to say the least.

heh....you aint kiddin!
if only Jim Shooter had stayed on as editor for the 90s series it would have been a much better book. Shooter was also the one who kept the 70s series on track w/ the "demon taking over Blaze" storyline that started around the 20's up until the end of the book w/ Zarathos being trapped in the soul crystal.

 

[Ullic]

heh....you aint kiddin!
if only Jim Shooter had stayed on as editor for the 90s series it would have been a much better book. Shooter was also the one who kept the 70s series on track w/ the "demon taking over Blaze" storyline that started around the 20's up until the end of the book w/ Zarathos being trapped in the soul crystal.

Um...Ghost Rider wasn't around in the 20s...hell, Marvel wasn't around in the 20s...typo?

 

[BIGGUN]

Um...Ghost Rider wasn't around in the 20s...hell, Marvel wasn't around in the 20s...typo?

sorry i should have been clearer....i was talking about the issue numbers of the 70s series. trust me...i know GR wasnt around in the 20s....or was he?

 

[Ullic]

oh issue number 20s... gotcha... I should've figured that...

 

[ObakeTora]

I thought GR was Zarathos devourer of souls.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Well...

Satan and Mephisto are not the same AND they are.


Evil in Marvel is kinda like a bad case of schizophrenia. Yes Evil is all one person. My name is Legion for we are many. All that stuff. But Satan and Mephisto are different personalities. They even act autonomous <sp?> of each other.

In the issues leading up to and including Defenders #100 we see Satan lording over Mephisto, Asmodeus, Satanish, and someone else I think. The Defender's establish that they are seperate entities and have their own wants and desires. Asmodeus even gets taken out at the end by Mephisto or Satan. Evil always turns in upon itself.

As for the boss. Satan seemed to be in charge for those issues. Doesn't mean they work together all nice and stuff, but Satan was the most powerful at the time.


So yeah... you're right, but Satan and Mephisto are definately seperate entities. Kinda.

 

[FlameHead]

heh....you aint kiddin!
if only Jim Shooter had stayed on as editor for the 90s series it would have been a much better book. Shooter was also the one who kept the 70s series on track w/ the "demon taking over Blaze" storyline that started around the 20's up until the end of the book w/ Zarathos being trapped in the soul crystal.

That's a hard statement to agree or disagree with for me. As you know, I'm a huge fan of the whole Ketch era and the confusion that was created because of it. I really enjoy the history of Ghost Rider that was created and the family blood line stuff. How they came to develop that story was indeed flawed and confusing but once you come to understand it... it's quite enjoyable.

You are right though, if Shooter was around to edit the storyline, that history I love so much probably would have been developed much better.

 

[FlameHead]

Source: http://www.tvguide.com/News/Insider/default.htm?rmDate=09022005

TVGuide.com: Will there be any homages to Easy Rider in Ghost Rider [in which Fonda mentors Cage's supernatural vigilante motorcyclist]?
Fonda: Well, the chopper in the film is a lot like the design of my Easy Rider chopper, but not the same paint job. The shape, the rake, the high bars and the sissy bar in the back.... It's not a replica, but it's pretty close. It's called Grace and from that I create the Hell-Cycle.

TVGuide.com: Did you go back and look at the comic to inform how you should play the Mephisto character?
Fonda: I had read a few of them before, but I thought regardless of what the guy who wrote the comics had designed here, it was up to me to put it on the screen. As it was, they let me play totally against part. Let me tell you, nobody has played the Devil quite like I do. Oh, man, I loved it. It was really cool.

TVGuide.com: Do you approach something like Ghost Rider differently than you approached, say, your roles in The Limey or Ulee's Gold?
Fonda: I do the same amount of work, but they are definitely different types of characters. Ulee was a real character with real problems in real time. When I play the Devil in Ghost Rider, they've airbrushed gold into my hair. So whether I'm playing a beekeeper from North Florida, a scumbag record producer from L.A. or the Devil, each one presents a really cool opportunity for me to go to different places. And I've never repeated a character. That's what makes it fun for me.

 

[Caliber]

I can't wait to see how he acts.

 

[FlameHead]

You and me both. It's not an easy thing to portray the Devil and I'm really excited to hear that's he's doing it different than anyone ever has. I wonder what exactly that means.

 

[Crowley9]

Can anyone dig up a picture of his Jabba the Hutt-like sack-of-lard appearance (Mephisto, not Fonda)? I think John Romita Jr. at least did that a lot.

 

[FlameHead]

I did a search online for a pic such as that but couldn't find one. When I get the chance, I'll take an image from the comics I have here... that is, if nobody finds a pic before then.