Ghost Rider vs. Shao Kahn: Who Wins?

Trying to determine which fictional characters could take each other on is a lot of fun most times even if there are debates to be had about who would be the victor. Some matches are tough to call since they’re too close, and others are definite mismatches that make little sense to even think about. But some matches, like this one, feel as though they would interesting to see in live-action or animation since it would be the kind of battle that wouldn’t end quickly. Shao Kahn and Ghost Rider are both characters that possess a great deal of power and are veterans of many battles, and both of them have feats and abilities that have allowed them to become memorable in their own universes. Taking a look at their stats and their history it’s easy to notice that Ghost Rider has been around far longer, but he’s also often bound by a human host, which could be seen as a weakness that Kahn might be able to exploit. Others have tried though, and they haven’t done that great of a job. 

The one thing that a lot of people tend to focus on is one of the Ghost Rider’s Penance Stare, which has ended a lot of fights and is one of the most devastating effects in the Marvel universe, but against Shao Kahn, it’s kind of tough to know whether this attack would work or not. It’s been seen that there are characters that can resist the Penance Stare, either because they don’t regret anything they’ve ever done, or because they have no soul to burn. The thing about Shao Kahn is that he has the ability to consume souls, which could possibly mean that he has a greater susceptibility to the stare. That does assume that the Rider can get close enough to Kahn to make this happen, and perhaps even beat him down enough that he won’t be able to escape the attempt. 

One has to remember that Kahn is an expert fighter and is insanely powerful on top of that, not to mention that he’s taken on just about every individual in the Mortal Kombat realm, and managed to thrash them a time or two. When it comes to his expertise and combat skill though it feels as though the Ghost Rider might blast right through that and force the up close and personal combat. To be fair, it doesn’t matter if the two fight from a distance or up close and personal since there’s one thing that works in the Ghost Rider’s favor: Kahn doesn’t actually use any holy weapons. Because of this, Shao Kahn could damage the Ghost Rider without question, but the kind of damage that would put the Rider down for the count isn’t within Kahn’s power unless there’s some way that Kahn could absorb the power that sustains the Rider. Even that would be an extremely tall order, since the fact that Ghost Rider deals in hellfire and a serious dose of judgment with his stare, his chain, and his indestructible form. While Kahn is a durable and capable fighter, it does feel that his body would start to wear out before the Rider and that he would start to show the wear and tear at some point. 

This is one of the Rider’s best qualities since the Spirit of Vengeance can go for quite a while, especially if the Spirit is in possession of the character. Even the danger of such a thing doesn’t cancel out the fact that the Rider would be able to outlast Kahn, as the emperor of Outworld might be as close to being a god as possible, but Ghost Rider can elevate his power levels almost at will when it’s needed, and his indestructible nature is going to keep him coming back time and again to finally lay the Penance Stare on Kahn and bring the fight to a crashing halt. Arguments are bound to be brought up when it comes to whether or not Kahn could cause enough damage to hamper the Rider, and whether or not he could come up with a divine weapon that might give him an edge. 

It would be a tough fight, there’s no denying this, but it would ultimately be one-sided since the Ghost Rider doesn’t have the same limits that Kahn does considering that even if Kahn is considered to be as close to a god as possible, the Rider has taken down and taken on opponents who would tear Kahn to pieces, and come out on top, or at the very least come out standing tall. Calling a match between these two would be all kinds of interesting no matter where it was held since it feels as though even Outworld wouldn’t give either fighter a serious advantage.