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- Zadkiel is a former archangel in the service of Heaven and an enemy of the Ghost Rider, named after the mythical angel of the same name. Created by Jason Aaron, the character debuted in Ghost Rider (vol. 4) #27. Zadkiel was in charge of overseeing the Spirits of Vengeance in God's army, and gradually developed a hatred of humanity as God favored the sinners over the angels. This led him to decide to overpower and dethrone God, something that he would need the power of Spirits of Vengeance to do. It was revealed that he had endowed Johnny Blaze with the powers of the Ghost Rider. As a backup plan Zadkiel used Blaze's brother, Daniel Ketch. Danny was once the host for the Ghost Rider entity, and after he had exorcised the spirit he went into withdrawal. Falling off the wagon Danny soon found himself once again host to a new variation of the Ghost Rider. Zadkiel had tricked Danny into believing that by killing other Spirits of Vengeance he would be freeing the human hosts. What Danny did not realize was that by destroying the Spirits of Vengeance, he was fueling Zadkiel, making him all-powerful. Danny blindly led Zadkiel's army, the Black Host, into war with Blaze and the last remaining Ghost Riders. Danny and Blaze soon came into conflict, and Danny and Zadkiel's army were able to overpower Blaze and his allies. When Danny ascends to Heaven to deliver the last of the spirits, Zadkiel turns on him, casting him back to Earth. With his enhanced abilities, Zadkiel was able to apparently usurp the throne from God and instill himself as the new ruler of Heaven. His reign was short-lived, however, as Danny and Blaze had arrived in Heaven to challenge him. With the assistance of the deceased Ghost Riders of the past, the brothers were able to overthrow Zadkiel and return the Heaven to God; Zadkiel realized that though he might have, seemingly, been able to shift the power that fueled the Ghost Riders from its hosts, and even leech it from them, he could neither control nor destroy it, as only the one true God possessed that power, which he was not. Zadkiel is currently imprisoned in Hell, condemned by an enraged God for his treachery to be tortured for all eternity for his horrific crimes against Paradise and Creation. Powers and abilities Zadkiel has not revealed the full extent of his powers, but is essentially immortal. The sole ability he has demonstrated so far is that he can mutilate and destroy human souls. He did have a semblance of what seemed to be the Creator's power briefly and used the power to create havoc on Earth, erasing people from existence, though it is ultimately revealed that while he may have able to drain a portion of the power of the Spirits of Vengeance from them temporarily, he was not, and never would be, the one true God and could thus never truly claim dominion over Heaven for long, much less all Creation. Other versions During the 2015 "Secret Wars" storyline, a variation of Zadkiel resides in the Battleworld domain of Doomstadt and works for Arcade as the Killiseum's chief of security. As Arcade planned to destabilize Robbie Reyes, Zadkiel warned him that Robbie draws his power from a different source. After Robbie escapes with the help of the ghost of Eli Morrow, Arcade orders Zadkiel to send the Ghost Racers to hunt him down. When the Ghost Racers corner Robbie, Arcade kidnaps his brother Gabe Reyes and plans to have him race in Robbie's place. This causes Robbie to return to the Killiseum. Once at the Killiseum, Zadkiel orders the Ghost Racers to kill Robbie and to unleash the Venus Compiler on him as well. When Robbie frees the other Ghost Racers, they help to destroy the Venus Compiler. Zadkiel plans to kill Gabe, but Robbie instead kills Zadkiel by consuming his soul. (en)
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