Today’s issue of Thanos revealed the identity of Marvel’s strange new Ghost Rider and it's not who fans expected.

SPOILERS for Thanos #15 follow.

When Donny Cates and Geoff Shaw took over Thanos a few issues ago, they quickly introduced a unique premise. Thanos has been summoned into the future by his own triumphant self from later in his timeline.

Present day Thanos needed to be forcibly convinced to make the trip, and future Thanos wasn’t going to bother to wrangle his past self with his own two hands. Instead, Thanos sent the Ghost Rider to do his bidding.

It was immediately clear that his Ghost Rider wasn’t Johnny Blaze, Robbie Reyes, or any of the other Ghost Riders that Marvel fans have known in the past. For one thing, this Ghost Rider was endowed with both the spirit of vengeance and the power cosmic as a result of having been Galactus’ herald before Thanos defeated the world-eater. The other difference was that this Ghost Rider is pretty chatty and possibly a bit deranged.

Many fans believed the new Ghost Rider was actually Deadpool. The strange behavior is in line with Wade Wilson’s personality, Deadpool is functionally immortal, and Deadpool has become entangled in Thanos’ business on occasion before. It turns out that’s not the case.

Instead, the new cosmic Ghost Rider is…

(Photo: Geoff Shaw)

If you’re surprised to find out that the Punisher is both a former herald of Galactus and a Ghost Rider, Thanos feels the same way. Thanos admits in the next two panels that he has no idea who Frank Castle is, which make sense since Frank is a street-level vigilante who rarely deals with cosmic, world-ending villains like Thanos.

(Photo: Geoff Shaw)

Of course, that just makes the fact that he’s serving Thanos in the future all the more curious. That story will be told in the next issue of Thanos.

Thanos #15 is on sale now.

Thanos #15

NOV170993

(W) Donny Cates (A/CA) Geoff Shaw

THANOS WINS Part 3

As King Thanos and his Rider prepare to face the coming forces of the Fallen One, he surveys the Universe he's dominated...just a king and his dog. His big...green...dog...

Parental Advisory

In Shops: Jan 24, 2018

SRP: $3.99