Very little is known about the identity of Ghost. He claims to have been an IT researcher at one time, and to have been made into what he is by corporate greed. Ghost is an anti-capitalist saboteur who seeks to destroy various political and economic institutions he views as oppressive, apparently being most interested in those dealing with advanced technology and surveillance. He has, at times, hired his services out to corporations and other organizations, such as
Norman Osborn's Thunderbolts, that wish to destroy rival groups, but invariably plans to turn on his own employers and topple them as well.
Origin An unnamed man once worked as a programmer and an engineer at a rising IT company called Omnisapient. Impressing the
board of directors with his technological prowess and genius intellect, he quickly rose up the ranks and assumed the company's flagship project for which he developed a revolutionary processor that could physically change in reaction to its environment, becoming intangible before it can overheat. Thanks to his Ghost Tech, the company's stock skyrocketed while the board, ever more dependent on the man who would become Ghost, collected the credit. Exhausted after months of work, the socially introverted programmer decided to leave on vacation, conflicting with the board of directors' expectations for an ahead-of-schedule launch that could increase their profit margins significantly. Approached by an attractive co-worker as he was about to leave, the young man cancelled his travel plans and began a relationship with her. Happier and more productive than ever, he now found every single aspect of his life tied to the company, all part of a well-oiled machine, until his lover died in an explosion at her apartment. Depressed over her death and unable to cope with its apparent randomness, he sought solace by immersing his consciousness into the data networks he created by wiring his own flesh with his flux-state processors. Within this network, no randomness existed and his unconscious mind, in a state of alpha, could solve any dilemma his conscious mind was unable or unwilling to. In this state, he pieced memories and hidden fragments of data together to realize his dead lover had been hired by the board to seduce him, keeping him happy and available to the company's every demand, and later murdered for blackmailing them for more money. Terrified, he attempted to flee, but his discoveries had been detected by the board of directors which dispatched a contract killer after him. The hitman detonated a bomb in his apartment before he could leave, destroying the entire building and killing dozens of tenants. However, he survived, made intangible by the flux-state processors fused with his body when a wall of fire hit him. The experience completed his psychological transformation and the once naive workaholic emerged as Ghost, a paranoid vigilante bent on wiping out
corporatocracy. He took revenge upon the board of directors, butchering them, along with their contract killer, and then erased all records of his previous life.
The Accutech Merger Sometime after this, Ghost was hired by Carrington Pax, a leading executive of the
Roxxon Oil Corporation, to destroy Accutech Research and Development. Accutech was trying to develop a beta particle generator and when they refused to sell it to Roxxon, Ghost was hired to drive Accutech into bankruptcy. Tony Stark was interested in acquiring Accutech's technology and bought the company. Investigating a disturbance at the new facility as
Iron Man, he first met Ghost. Iron Man managed to drive Ghost from Accutech, but Ghost swore that he would have his revenge on Iron Man's employer, Tony Stark. For the next few weeks, Tony Stark spent all his free time modifying his armor. Sometimes, for extra security, he would sleep in his armor, too. When Pax and the other executives at Roxxon heard that Ghost had gone rogue, they feared his actions would make the company look bad, so they called in
Spymaster to take care of him. After a fierce battle at Stark Enterprises, Ghost killed Spymaster. Using a modified version of his intangibility circuits, Ghost made Spymaster materialize in a wall. The shock caused Spymaster's whole body to shut down, and he was believed dead. Tony finally took the offensive against Ghost. He set up a trap and Ghost walked right into it. After a short battle between Iron Man and Ghost, Iron Man cornered Ghost in the room with the beta particle generator. He had it turned on so he could see the cloaked Ghost better, since radiation from the generator would cause interference in Ghost's sophisticated tech-suit. However, prolonged exposure to the generator was fatal, and Iron Man did not want to stay in the room for too long. But Ghost had sworn to bring down Stark Enterprises and nothing, not even the chance of dying, would stop him. As he tried to reach the generator to destroy it, the intense heat from his overloading costume caused the floor to melt and Ghost fell through. As Iron Man searched for him, all he found of Ghost was his burnt costume. Still, Tony did not believe that Ghost was dead.
Unholy Ghost Indeed, fairly soon after, Ghost reappeared — this time plaguing a company in Italy, owned by
Justin Hammer. The shrewd industrialist intended to sell the company, Electronica Fabbrizi, to Tony Stark, ridding him of a dangerous enemy and a useless asset, as well as sticking a business rival with a nasty problem. However, after Tony Stark discovered the true ownership of the floundering company, a compromise was reached: Hammer's forces and Iron Man would cooperate in taking out Ghost. Hammer sent his operatives
Blacklash,
Blizzard, and
Boomerang to help Iron Man fight Ghost. However, Hammer's team betrayed Iron Man, planning to get rid of both their enemies. Ghost was next hired by the
Kingpin to steal the new Roxxon process to create synthetic
vibranium, and battled
Spider-Man and the
Black Panther. Ghost was then defeated by
Sunturion, but escaped and was then defeated by
Ultron.
The Big Bang Theory Much later, several companies were suddenly and violently destroyed when bombs, apparently installed in personal computers, went off in inner-city offices. Tony Stark, who at the time was undercover as a common employee at one of the companies that went under, managed to track down the source of the attacks: the "Advanced Corp", a cover for
A.I.M. It was then revealed that AIM, not usually operating in common business circles, on this occasion had employed a special agent to eliminate the competition: Ghost. Nearly defeating Iron Man in their first fight and escaping without a hitch, he hit a nasty snag during their second fight when he attempted to phase his costumed hand into Iron Man's chest, and Tony Stark's then-artificial heart defended itself, knocking him unconscious. He was subsequently arrested, but his identity appears to have remained unknown.
Inevitable Later still, having apparently escaped, Ghost (in a new, more streamlined outfit) was employed by the third
Spymaster to help free the
Living Laser, who was "held captive" by Stark Industries at the time. He attempted to kill Iron Man, and believed to have succeeded. In the end, he proved too unreliable and quirky, and was abandoned by his employer, remaining at large.
"Dark Reign" During the "
Dark Reign" storyline, Ghost seems to have become more unhinged and reclusive; however, as
Ms. Marvel mentions "He smells... Badly." Ghost himself shows signs of increasing obsessiveness. With the
Thunderbolts officially disbanded,
Norman Osborn recruits Ghost for his new Thunderbolts, now a
black ops team under Osborn's direct control. Ghost helps Osborn take control of
Air Force One with the Goblin (actually new Thunderbolts member
Headsman),
Doc Samson, and the new president aboard. As part of Osborn's plan, Ghost phases Samson out of the plane, and drops him from the sky. Osborn calls for Ghost to come to Stark Tower, where he unlocks a vault containing Iron Man's old
armors. Ghost later reveals to the Black Widow (actually
Natasha Romanoff in disguise) that when Osborn is king of the corporate world, he will act as "a virus" to bring it down from the inside. Widow was eventually exposed as Natalia Romanova, who was working undercover for
Nick Fury and was attempting to make sure
Songbird stayed alive.
Paladin, Ghost and Headsman purposely turned on the other Thunderbolts in order for the two heroines to escape. However, Ghost insisted that they stay in the Thunderbolts, for they all have their own agendas. He uses an electro-convulsive shock to make
Scourge and
Mister X forget about the betrayal. At the end of the Dark Reign arc, Ghost betrayed Osborn by sending a data package he had collected to whatever heroes could receive it, warning them of Osborn's plans to capture
Odin's spear,
Gungnir. Aware of the emergency, Quicksilver crossed the Atlantic Ocean and crushed Mister X (who wielded the weapon at the time) in combat, retrieving it.
"Stark Disassembled" Because Tony Stark had purposely lobotomized himself into a vegetative state, and had his power of attorney transferred over to
Donald Blake,
Madame Masque hired Ghost to kill Stark. She provided him a phone made by the
Tinkerer, which he could use to execute his phase abilities to reach any place in the world. Ghost managed to track Stark to
Broxton, Oklahoma, where he twice attempted to assassinate Stark. All the while, Stark's comrades were attempting to reboot his brain. By then, Stark had regained consciousness and used Ghost's own phone against him, sending him to a facility in
Seoul.
Thunderbolts post-"Siege" For his help in the downfall of Norman Osborn, Ghost was recruited into the new Thunderbolts team formed in the aftermath of the "Siege" storyline. Ghost is the first team member that Cage meets with as he arrives at the
Raft. During the 2010 "
Shadowland" storyline, he would witness
Crossbones assassinate a police officer the Thunderbolts were meant to save. Ghost would also prove instrumental in the attempted Thunderbolt break out, but in doing so, managed to go to an alternate dimension, and he came face to face with Iron Man again. To beat Ghost, Iron Man transmitted into Ghost's network a confirmation that all Stark Industries divisions were being shut down effective immediately. Ghost therefore resigned from plans to kill Stark, because he is no longer a tech monopolist. After coming back to the Raft, Ghost told
Moonstone an unverifiable origin tale, whereupon he mused over whether that means he has regained his capacity to trust or whether he perceives her as no threat at all, only to conclude, as he phased through a speechless Moonstone, that both are irrelevant to a man who abandoned his humanity and is untouchable. Ghost infiltrates Parker Industries, and while he is subdued by Spider-Man and the company's employees, he still succeeds in destroying their building and everything in it with explosives. ==Powers and abilities==