Warning: SPOILERS for Avengers #27
One of the perks to being a superhero is that occasionally the job comes with a cool car, and such is the case with Marvel’s own spirit of vengeance, Ghost Rider (AKA Robbie Reyes). Dubbed the Hell Charger, Robbie’s 1969 Dodge Charger can generate demonic flames, self-repair, ghost through matter, track dark energies like a bloodhound, and most recently in the pages of Avengers #27 can also burn rubber in the the cold void of outer space.
Though becoming an astronaut typically takes years of training, when Captain America finds himself shorthanded for a mission to investigate trouble at a Shi’ar prison galaxy it’s all hands on deck. While some of Cap’s star crew include Avengers who have previously ventured into the far reaches of space (including Captain Marvel, Thor, and even the daywalking vampire Blade), Robbie Reyes admits prior to the start of the mission that up until a few months ago he’d never even left Los Angeles, let alone Earth’s orbit. Ghost Rider’s reaction to his first space mission is a mix of youthful exuberance and mild terror (with occasional vomiting). Needless to say, Reyes brought his muscle car from hell along for the ride.
But Robbie isn’t the only member of the team (relatively) unaccustomed to space travel, as Cap also recruited former Avenger Black Widow (AKA Natasha Romanoff) to the mission. While preparing for their voyage to Ravenstarr maximum-security prison, a puzzled Romanoff asked Cap “Is that Ghost Rider kid really taking his car into space?” It’s an odd question considering any fan of Agents of SHIELD can attest that the Hell Charger is no ordinary jalopy. And when their fact-finding mission goes to hell, Black Widow quickly learns why Ghost Rider never leaves his wheels behind. By the end of the issue, Reyes had the pedal to the metal as he raced through the emptiness of space with Romanoff and Blade (who is dying) riding shotgun—with a certain shiny-skinned cosmic surfer chasing their tail.
Avengers #27 serves as part 1 of writer Jason Aaron and artist Ed McGuinness’s “Starbrand Reborn” saga, where they will introduce the new wielder of the star-shaped cosmic mark that gives its bearer the power to annihilate entire planets like a Dragon Ball villain. Its previous bearer, college student Kevin Conner, went crazy and confronted Ghost Rider in a fight that left the previous Starbrand dead and looking for a new host. Believing the new Starbrand might somehow be involved in the riot on Ravenstarr, Cap took his team of heroes on a space mission that very quickly turned dire.
Not long after entering the prison galaxy, the Avengers find themselves snared in a magnetic web and under constant siege by a wave of enemies. Blade, though immune to the effects of Earth’s sun, is slowly dying under a red star. And while their ship’s life support systems quickly die out, a Brood-mutated Thor slowly transforms into a bloodthirsty monster. In a last ditch effort to save the crew, Captain Marvel and Ghost Rider leave the ship to search for help. While Captain Marvel is certainly no stranger to free-flying through the cosmos, Reyes is an astro noob—but that didn’t stop him from peeling out through space in his demonic Dodge like Vin Diesel in a Fast and the Furious movie. Laws of physics be damned!
Robbie Reyes isn’t like his predecessors who share the title of Ghost Rider. In a race against former Ghost Rider and current king of Hell Johnny Blaze, Reyes proudly declared that, unlike those who came before him, he’s a rider who never rides alone. Robbie beat Blaze in Avengers #25 with significant help from his friends, and in doing so exorcised the Hell Charger from demonic possession. Now the fiendish muscle car is returning the favor by being the slickest ride to recklessly speed through the galaxy since the Millennium Falcon.