Demon Rider (Marvel)

From Multiversal Omnipedia
Jump to: navigation, search
The Spirit Rider in Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1.

The Demon Rider is a female comic superhero who features in Marvel Comics.

Contents

Biography

Kushala the Demon Rider in Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #3.

Kushala was an Apache woman who lived in the mid-1800s where she was said to had been born at night and had made no sound. She was a young woman when her tribe came under an attack by the U.S. Army who began to massacre them. During an attack, her mother was killed and in the chaos she called out in rage to the creator for help but something else answered her call. This caused her to become possessed by an entity that turned her into that era's Ghost Rider. Becoming a Spirit of Vengeance, she killed all the attackers with their bodies being turned to ash in the process though their spirits came to forever haunt her. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #3) At some point, she was noted to had become the Sorcerer Supreme of her era. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #1)

She longed to be free of the burden of being a host to a Spirit of Vengeance. This was until on day she was approached by a time-travelling Merlin who asked for her aid on a mission. In exchange for her help, he offered to help rid her of the Sprit within her by pulling it from her body thus freeing her from it. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #3) After having agreed to join Merlin, Kushala participated in several battles as the Forgotten grew near. Kushala and Merlin's other recruits battled beast men serving the Forgotten and Merlin soon traveled through time to recruit the present-day Dr. Stephen Strange, emerging seconds before he had left with Strange. Kushala continued fighting as Strange joined the battle. During the fight, Dr. Strange bantered with Sir Isaac Newton before asking who Kushala was, prompting Kushala to warn Strange not to patronize her. Gruffly introducing herself, Kushala announced that she was not a young lady, as Strange had called her, then transformed into her Demon Rider persona, exclaiming that she was a Sorcerer Supreme. Revealing that all of his recruits were Sorcerers Supreme, Merlin reminded all of the sorcerers to stay focused, as the Forgotten were coming. Following the battle, Kushala felt something within the Earth and Merlin remarked on how the Living Earth spell was working for her. She admitted that she had indeed requested powerful magic, which was delivered, but when Kushala felt the ground, Merlin informed her that she was sensing the Forgotten. A giant gestalt Forgotten then erupted from the ground, knocking Kushala and Merlin back, and proceeded to seemingly kill Merlin. Upon Merlin's death, Kushala assumed her Demon Rider form and attacked the Forgotten with the other Sorcerers Supreme, only to be knocked aside by the Forgotten's tail. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #1) Demon Rider fought back against the Forgotten using her magic skills alongside the other Sorcerers Supreme and when she found herself back to back with Nina the Conjuror, Kushala noticed Nina wearing the Bindings of the Demon K'hur. Commending Kushala on her knowledge of magic, Nina was told by Kushala that Kushala knew all magic. Kushala then used her mystic powers to charge Nina's gunblades and Nina flew at the Forgotten, blasting it in its collective head. When Yao's arm was broken by the Forgotten, Kushala blasted the Forgotten and held it off until Earth-13729's Wiccan enveloped Kushala and the other Sorcerers Supreme within his cape and used it to teleport them to the beaches near Merlin's castle. Upon arrival, however, Kushala and the others tripped a trap set by Merlin that sunk them all into the sand, where they were besieged by the Spirits of the Unholy. Recognizing the Spirits of the Unholy, Kushala held the Spirits at bay when the Mindful One, who was not trapped due to its lack of a soul, rescued them from the sand. Upon hearing Newton claim the Mindful One possessed no soul, Kushala assured the Mindful One, claiming that she could feel its soul and that she was grateful it was there, to which the Mindful One told Kushala she was nice. Shortly after, Kushala accompanied the other Sorcerers Supreme in venturing towards Merlin's castle to retrieve his magic tomes for use against the Forgotten. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #2)

After defeating The Forgotten, however, the team was betrayed by their teammate Sir Isaac Newton, who proceeded to remove the Spirit of Vengeance from Kushala to help him in his quest to become a god. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #4)

Months later, she was called by Laussa Odinsdottir to summon the ghosts of several powerful warriors from her era to defend Earth from the invasion of Malekith the Accursed and this Dark Council. (War of the Realms: Journey Into Mystery v1 #4) With the aid of Gaea and Skuld, Kushala was able to commandeer Ares' radio and impersonate Sindr. All the travels of the Babysitters Club culminated in the formation of an army of Skrulls, cowboy ghosts, henchfolk, gods, and heroes ready to join the final battle against Malekith's forces, just as Laussa had planned. (War of the Realms: Journey Into Mystery v1 #5)

Having spent so much time in the present, Kushala made some friends and grew familiar with some of the wonders of the modern world, such as cat videos on the Internet. One day, while having lunch with her friends, Doctor Strange paid her a visit to ask for her help in dealing with a new demon that had possessed Johnny Blaze. Suspecting that this demon was related to her own, she asked Johnny for permission to enter his soul and investigate. While there, she relived the death of her family and encountered her mother during her dying moments. As she looked into her eyes one more time, she saw a vision of her demon's origin, detailing that it was the embodiment of the corruption of a planet from a multiverse before the current one. This being had been scattered through the new multiverse and spent eons bringing itself together until, nearly complete, it had merged with Kushala. The final piece was the one infecting Johnny, hoping to get Kushala's attention and become whole once more. As she fought the beast with her powers, she began realizing that she didn't stand a chance against it, so, instead, she let go of all her desires for vengeance and calmed down. As Kushala tamed the part of the demon inside of her, the remaining bit grew weaker and smaller, and in the end Kushala ate it, finally reuniting all the pieces, but under her control. With the demon exorcised, she returned back to the physical plane and revealed that Blaze was cured of the creature. Furthermore, she had become whole now and freed from the cycle of vengeance. It was then that she told Strange that she needed to return to her own time in the 1800's as that was where she belonged. She asked that they say her goodbyes to the friends she made in the present as she then helped Strange in casting a spell sending her back in time. Once there, she continued her part in history as she was no longer the Demon Rider but now the Spirit Rider. (Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1)

Overview

Personality and attributes

She came to be known as the Demon Rider. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #1) After exorcising the demon in her, she claimed that she had become a Spirit Rider. (Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1)

It was said that she was forever haunted by her past that was the murder of her entire tribe by the U.S. cavalry. (Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1)

Kushala had said that she was never alone as she was forever in the presence of the spirits of the people she had killed. She had longed to be freed from this burden that had been placed on her. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #3)

She had never ridden a motorcycle but was content with a horse as she felt that they could love their rider back unlike a machine. (Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1)

One of her mentors was Auntie Jessa where she learnt to 'Ride the Fire' from the Tongva medicine woman. (Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1)

Kushala had noted that she and Johnny Blaze were strangely similar as they both lost those they loved and embraced the lack of control along with the chaos inherent in their lives. The difference though she came to find balance through her study in the Mystic Arts. (Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1)

Powers and abilities

Originally, Kushala had been a normal human with no special talents until the massacre of her tribe where she became host to a Spirit of Vengeance. As a Spirit of Vengeance, she was the host to a supernatural entity that sought vengeance against those that have wronged the innocent. Sometimes, she was not capable of controlling her transformation with the spirit taking over her. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #3)

As the Demon Rider, she possesses the ability to generate, control, and fire and infuse it with her horse so that it travels at extreme speeds leaving a Hellfire trail in its wake. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #3)

It was said that her knowledge of the Mystic Arts allowed her to regain control of herself and keep the demon inside of her in check. One of her teachers was Auntie Jessa who was a Tongva medicine woman with her being responsible for teaching Kushala how to Ride the Fire. (Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1)

She could channel hellfire into numerous effects such as creating constructs like a fiery axe or fire it as flame blasts. (Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1)

A unique ability held by her was 'Riding the Spirit' that allowed her physical body to travel the different planes of existence. This was different than astral projection as she 'rode' the spirit of another by travelling into the inner mountain of the person's soul. Once inside, she could see the person's entire life map where memory fragments connected to others allowing her to see their entire history. Such journeys went through multiple layers of the spirit based on the elements of air, fire, water until she found herself at the 'mountain' that was the center of the soul and where the true spirit resided. (Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1 #1)

In addition, she came to serve as the Sorcerer Supreme of her era. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #1)

She was haunted by the spirits of the people that had massacred her tribe. (Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #3)

Notes

  • The Demon Rider was created by Robbie Thompson and Javier Rodriguez where she made her first appearance in Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1 #1 (October, 2016).

In other media

Video games

  • In Marvel Contest of Champions, Kushala was introduced as a playable character in the setting of the mobile fighting video game. She was said to be a proud member of the Apache nation in the mid-1800s, was the sole survivor of a tribe slaughtered by U.S. soldiers. In her anger and grief, she cried out for aid, opening herself to a Spirit of Vengeance, a demon that helped her reduce the soldiers to smoldering ash. Horrified by the violent nature of her new partner, she sought to rid herself of its influence. She ultimately failed in this task, but along the way came to master the mystical arts, ultimately becoming the Sorcerer Supreme of her time and a staunch defender of reality.

Appearances

  • Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme v1: (2016)
  • Journey into Mystery v1:
  • Spirits of Vengeance: Spirit Rider v1: (2021)

External Links

This article is a stub. You can help Multiversal Omnipedia by expanding it.

Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Toolbox