Mephisto (Ghost Rider Films)

"A deal's a deal."

- Mephistopheles trying to take back the curse of the Rider.

Mephisto is the bigger bad of the Ghost Rider films. During Wild West times, he had a Ghost Rider named Carter Slade ride to the town of San Venganza and retrieve a supernatural contract that contains 1,000 mortal souls, supposedly to bring them to Hell. However, Slade discovered how powerful it was and he couldn't let the Devil get it. So he runs off with it and does what no other Rider before had done; he outran the Devil himself.

He was originally portrayed by Peter Fonda in the first film, then was later recast by Ciarán Hinds for the second film, who also portrayed Steppenwolf and Mance Rayder.

Ghost Rider
In the film's actual events, Mephistopheles appears before Johnny Blaze whom he tricked into giving up his soul in return for saving his father from cancer, yet have him killed in a motorcycle accident. He ordered Johnny as an adult (now as Ghost Rider) to hunt his reluctant son Blackheart and destroy him before he finds the Contract of San Venganza that will give him the power to even overthrow his own father.

Johnny succeeded in defeating Blackheart and destroying the thousand evil souls of San Vengeanza that Blackheart consumed. In happiness, the Devil appears at the church in San Venganza, where Blackheart's body laid and where Johnny stood. Mephisto offers to give Johnny his soul back and let someone else be the Ghost Rider. Johnny refuses, claiming that he shall "own" this curse and use it against the lord of evil that deceived him. Mephisto proclaims that he will make Johnny pay for this, then is given the response "You can't live in fear". Mephisto yells out "NO!!!" and turns into smoke, taking Blackheart's body back to Hell with him. He returns to Earth later on.

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance
In the sequel, Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Mephisto is now going by the name "Roarke" and is the main antagonist. He was portrayed by Ciarán Hinds. It is revealed that while he walks the earth in human form, he is weak and must send people to do his bidding by using what Johnny calls his greatest power; the power of "the Deal", where he takes a mortal's soul away and enters their body, or has them become his Ghost Rider minions. He attempted to transfer his soul into the body of a boy named Danny, whose mother made a deal with him to save her life. This transfer would make him powerful, since Danny is literally the spawn of all evil. As Mephisto put it, it's a pain to stay in human form, as his various bodies throughout the centuries were never made to do the things he could do, but since Danny is a hybrid of demon and human, entering his body will allow him to use his powers on Earth.

He sent a drug dealer named Ray Carrigan to capture Danny for him, but Carrigan was mortally wounded by Johnny. However, Roarke transformed Johnny into Blackout, allowing him to decay whatever thing he touches. He eventually gets Danny and brings him to a ruined Colosseum, where his wealthy followers arrive one at a time. He reveals his plan to enter Danny's body and must hold a ceremony where his followers must dress in black robes and chant Latin while Roarke and Danny sit at the Colosseum center. Johnny, Nadya and monk Moreau arrive with their guns and disrupt the ceremony. Moreau is decayed, but smashes his head into Blackout's face. Johnny is brought before the audience by Blackout, now about to decay him. Danny approaches him, then roars fire into his face, turning Johnny into the Ghost Rider and sending all the Devil's present followers to Hell with his fiery chain. Roarke tries to flee in a car with Danny, now unconscious, while his minions drove in armed trucks to stop Ghost Rider from following him.

Even still, all of the trucks were destroyed, and Blackout was attacked by Ghost Rider's Penance Stare power, killing him. The Rider then throws his chain and rips a part of Roarke's car out from the bottom, sending it tumbling off the road and into the desert, where Danny had been wounded but Roarke was unharmed (likely because he was not really human). Johnny then ties his chain around Roarke's waist, throws him way up into the air and brings him smashing down to the desert ground, where he falls into the planet's crust and is burned alive. Roarke was now back in Hell and Johnny heals Danny, foiling the villain's plan.