I had already been thinking of how ideal and natural a team-up between Ghost Rider and the Spectre would be when last night, I watched an episode of Hulk and the Agents of S.M.A.S.H that really confirmed it for me. It was the episode, "Spirits of Vengeance", with Ghost Rider putting the Abomination and Red Hulk on trial for their past sins. Good episode really.
So......
Just imagine how bad things would have to be to cause these two vengeance-driven characters to team up. It'd have to be a huge, mega-bad supernatural crisis of biblical proportions right?
While traditionally GR and the Spectre don't really have much of a rogue's gallery since they usually wind up dead after crossing paths with them, I can still name a few bad guys off the top of my head that would make things bad enough to team these two up.
1). Mephisto-
He's the devil of the Marvel Universe who's crossed paths with just about all of the heroes that live there from Daredevil to the X-Men. He loves to break up marriages and buy souls, so I can definitely see him causing so sort of catastrophe bad enough to cause Ghost Rider to have to team up with the Spectre since all other mystical heroes are conveniently unable to help.
Throw in his son Blackheart, and the situation really begins to get even more dire than it already was.
2). Wotan-
This ancient and evil wizard has been a major pain in the ass for a number of mystical heroes in the DCU, especially the Spectre and Dr. Fate. I don't see that particular pattern stopping anytime soon, especially in this scenario.
3). Neron/Satannus/Lady Blaze-
The three wannabe rulers of DC's Hell seem like ideal antagonists to me in this one. Each one's plotting against the other causes the barrier between Hell and Earth to weaken....even dimensional ones with parallel universes, causing Ghost Rider to get involved.....somehow.
4). Azmodel-
Remember this guy? He's the fallen angel that attempted to overthrow God in the early part of Grant Morrison's JLA run. He came back in a very cool mini-series, lost, then came back again, attempting to take over as the Spectre's host during the 1999 Days of Judgement event.
Now while GR has history with the marvel version of this guy, he doesn't know this guy....yet. Perhaps he makes a power play for ruler of Hell in the MU? Either way, this tough and sadistic fucker's more than enough trouble to occupy both Ghost Rider and the Spectre.
5). The Shadow King-
I know, I know, you're probably thinking, "The Shadow King!? But he's an X-Men villain." And you'd be right, but with his penchant for possessing people and being a really old and powerful evil entity that keeps trying to crossover into our dimension, why wouldn't he be on the radar of many a mystic hero in the MU? You telling me Dr. Strange wouldn't just as likely face the shadow king as Prof.X and the X-men? He is the sorcerer supreme after all.
Anyhoo, lets say for arguments' sake, that the Shadow King is at his most powerful, threatening to invade and posses not just all the inhabitants of the MU, but the DCU as well?
Sounds like a job for the Spectre and Ghost Rider to me.
Those are a few ways I see how the team up would happen, what about you guys?
