Warning! This article contains spoilers for Devil's Reign: Superior Four #2

There have been no shortages of Ghost Riders throughout the Marvel Universe but only one of them stands below the rest as the all-time worst Spirit of Vengeance, and that person is Doctor Octopus. Doctor Octopus has been on a mission as of late to become the greatest version of himself across the multiverse. In that process, Doc Ock recruited the help of some of his variants at which point fans learn how truly terrible Doctor Octopus is as Ghost Rider. 

In Devil’s Reign: Superior Four #2 by Zac Thompson and Davide Tinto, Doc Ock and his variants are recovering from their latest mission through the multiverse in which the original Doctor Octopus drained the life force from one of his Spider-Man variants. Doc Ock becomes obsessed with his mission to steal the minds of all of his variants to become the superior Doctor Octopus while the other members of the Superior Four are a little worried about their leader’s mental state. 

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While Doc Ock sits alone and scans the multiverse looking for his next variant victim, the rest of his team comments on his recent isolation. His Ghost Rider variant thinks that perhaps the murder of his Spider-Man variant got to him, and Otto is pondering the cost of killing him for completely selfish reasons. While Doc Ock’s Ghost Rider wonders whether or not the original Doc Ock feels bad for killing someone, he proves to fans that he is the worst Ghost Rider because he is doing nothing to punish Earth-616’s Otto for his evil crime, a crime he was involved in. 

Not only is this version of Ghost Rider completely fine with the murder of an innocent, as the Doc Ock/Spider-Man variant was a hero in his timeline, but he participated in the senseless murder. Ghost Riders are known for their hellish brutality, but never on innocent souls. The only mission of the Spirit of Vengeance is to enact vengeance on those who commit atrociously vile sins. Killing an innocent person is pretty much the highest one can go on the vile sins list, and Doc Ock’s Ghost Rider is being led by such a murderer and is doing nothing about it. 

While Doc Ock’s Ghost Rider is morally corrupt and therefore the worst Ghost Rider in the multiverse, he is also the worst for a totally different reason. Later in this issue, this Ghost Rider attempts to use his Penance Stare on Doc Ock after his existence becomes threatened by Otto’s hubris. The Penance Stare is easily one of Ghost Rider’s greatest attacks, and for his latest murder alone Otto is more than worthy of being punished by it, but the villain just breaks free of Ghost Rider’s clutches and no harm comes to him. Either Doc Ock’s Ghost Rider is incredibly weak, adding a whole new reason to why he’s the worst, or he let Doc Ock go and wasn’t serious about punishing him. Whichever it was, one thing is clear and that is Doctor Octopus’ new title: Marvel’s worst Ghost Rider ever.

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