Warning! This article contains spoilers for Avengers: Forever #3
The immense powers of Ghost Rider have very rarely been used against the Hulk, but when Robbie Reyes takes on a truly sinister threat, Ghost Rider proves that he can beat the Hulk anytime he wants with one brutal move. The Hulk has gone up against Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider on a number of occasions throughout the Immortal Hulk run when he along with the other Avengers would try to incapacitate the Hulk. In those fights the Hulk is shown easily defeating Ghost Rider, though Robbie had yet to reach his full potential during those battles. In his latest example of power, Ghost Rider shows how easily he can now take down the Hulk, especially while the Hulk is in his current form in Marvel Comics.
In Avengers: Forever #3 by Jason Aaron and Aaron Kuder, Ghost Rider finds himself captured by the villainous Black Skull in an alternate universe where this Red Skull/Venom variant rules with an iron fist. This universe’s Avengers are successful in rescuing Ghost Rider from Black Skull’s clutches, but Ghost Rider refuses to simply escape as he wants to take down Black Skull once and for all. When the villain is taken off guard, Ghost Rider beats him by using the one move that would also easily defeat the Hulk.
Ghost Rider explains that since Red Skull was bonded to the Venom symbiote, his original body was something of an engine that powered the vessel that was the symbiote. Black Skull was nothing more than a vehicle of hatred and villainy, and since Robbie Reyes is the All-Rider, a multiversal Ghost Rider, he breaks down his newly achieved power by saying, “I am the All-Rider. Which means I can drive anything.” Ghost Rider then proceeds to strip the symbiote from Black Skulls body, absorbs it into himself, and drags the villain’s body behind his Hell Charger. In the current Hulk run by Donny Cates and Ryan Ottley, Bruce Banner has effectively turned the Hulk into a vehicle of destruction known as Starship Hulk with his prime consciousness controlling the Hulk’s powerful body and the Hulk’s consciousness powering the entire ‘Starship.’ Since the Hulk is basically a vehicle driven by Bruce and powered by Hulk, Ghost Rider could use his All-Rider power to take control over the Hulk and beat him with the same move he used against Black Skull.
This unlocked ability Robbie Reyes’ Ghost Rider has achieved gives him the extra edge he needs over the Hulk especially after all of the losses Ghost Rider suffered to the Hulk during Immortal Hulk. However, Robbie Reyes isn’t the only Ghost Rider to give Hulk a run for his money. In Ghost Rider’s World War Hulk tie-in, Ghost Rider and the Hulk engage in brutal combat with one unable to overpower the other. In the end, Ghost Rider deems the Hulk’s violent actions justified after all the pain Earth’s heroes put him through and leaves him to continue his war.
The closest Ghost Rider ever came to defeating the Hulk ended in a stalemate, but after this development in the pages of Avengers: Forever, their fight would have a much different outcome. Ghost Rider could take over the ‘vehicle’ that is Starship Hulk by tapping into his multiversal All-Rider powers, proving that he can beat the Hulk with one brutal move.