White, pale faces. Evil staring powers to make people regret. Their speech bubble is all distressed and dark to indicate they're really angry and moody at people doing bad things. Both are, ostensibly and categorically, the most powerful beings on Earth. We're here to answer, if these two copycat characters were to fight, who would win?
The Spectre (Pre-Crisis)
Back in More Fun Comics #52, Jim Corrigan was traveling to his engagement party with his fiancee and was murdered by some thugs who stuffed him into a barrel of cement and threw him into the water. When Corrigan gets to heaven, his spirit is refused entrance and is sent back to Earth by an entity known as "the voice," who gives him the chance to seek justice for what happened to him. Corrigan agrees and is bonded with the "Divine Wrath." In later stories, it's revealed that the Voice was an aspect of a higher power that was a stand-in for God. The voice said he was to fight evil with the supernatural powers he now possessed given to him by the voice. With his new mission as an agent of God, Corrigan/the Spectre became a superhero and part of the Justice Society of America.
Why Pre-Crisis? Under writer Gardner Fox and penciler Murphy Anderson, his power vastly increased, at times approaching omnipotence. Pre-Crisis, The Spectre was the most powerful he ever was, as Post-Crisis he was significantly depowered. The Spectre can manipulate reality and is immortal; he has superhuman strength, flight, intangibility, and invulnerability. He was, however, limited by his human host. While the Spectre was a force of vengeance, his powers were dependent on the morality of Corrigan. He was still influenced by the emotions and memories of Corrigan's life, which sometimes impacted how he used his powers. The Spectre was essentially an omnipotent figure who could perform actions such as altering the fabric of space-time, resurrecting the dead, and even confronting cosmic beings.
All-Rider
Robbie Reyes was just a young mechanic from East LA, doing his best to take care of his disabled brother, Gabe. Desperate for money, he entered a street race in a stolen car, not knowing it was filled with stolen drugs. He was gunned down by mercenaries and left for dead, but something brought him back—Eli Morrow, a vengeful spirit with a dark past. The two became one, transforming Robbie into a new kind of Ghost Rider. Unlike the others before him, he didn’t ride a motorcycle—his Hell-Charger became an extension of his power, and with it, he hunted down the wicked. But Morrow’s influence wasn’t easy to ignore, and Robbie struggled to keep control over the spirit inside him.
During Avengers Forever, Ghost Rider and one of the Deathloks travel across the Multiverse to put together an army of Multiversal Avengers to combat the Multiversal Masters of Evil who have conquered other Earths. In this series, we learn Robbie is, in fact, the All-Rider, the Multiversal Spirit of Vengeance. There are no variants of Robbie Reyes in other realities; there is only the All-Rider. He commands not only souls but life and death and space and time on a multiversal scale.
I know what you're probably thinking.
Robbie isn't like Blaze or Ketch; he has nothing to do with Zadkiel or Mephisto, therefore my copycat character theme breaks down. And you're right. Originally, I intended this article to be The Spectre vs. Every Ghost Rider Ever since that fit the copycat theme of similar characters fighting each other. But then I remembered Robbie turned into the All-Rider a much better match for the Spectre, and having him fight the All-Rider would just negate needing all the other Ghost Riders, so I decided to focus on just Robbie. So my copycat idea kind of gets thrown out kind of, but it's a compelling fight nonetheless! So let's dive in.
The Spectre vs. The All-Rider: Which character would win out?
So, who would win? There are two beings with the power of gods. The answer obviously has to be... Spectre! Or All-Rider! Well, there are a lot of occurrences we need to go over.
In Showcase #61, Spectre travels through time using the most destructive forces ever to happen on Earth to destroy Shathan. Eventually, this brings him to the primal atom, the creation of all things, which eventually destroys his foe. If Spectre can do that to Shathan, one of the elder forces of the universe, then surely he could do that to All-Rider.
BAM! 👊
In Marvel Legacy # 1, All Rider, who was the only Ghost Rider at the time, defeats the Star Brand using his penance stare. The Star Brand grants the bearer potentially infinite power, limited in application only by their imagination. If the All-Rider can do this to The Star Brand, it is reasonable to think he can do that to Spectre, whose powers rival each other. We know that Spectre can do this to common criminals and the power-mad despot, but can he do this to a god who is omnipotent?
SMACK! ✨
In Brave and Bold #180, Spectre seemed to have been easily defeated by the scepter of the dragon god, so we know that Spectre has his limitations by way of particular weapons.
POW! 💥
However, with All Rider, we don't quite know his limitations; he only discovered his powers seven years ago. In Avengers # 5, Robbie takes control over a Celestial body, stating that he feels the power not only of the celestial but also within himself, aside from the celestial. Can Robbie take over more than just mechanical inanimate objects, or could he also "ride" the Spectre? (That sounded dirtier than I meant it.)
BAM! 👊
In Spectre # 1, we see Spectre bathing in the power of a quasar, which is a supermassive black hole believed to hold the most power within any world, dimension, or reality.
SMACK! ✨
In Avengers Forever # 11, Robbie reminisces that he rode Silver Surfer's board and commanded a horde of symbiotes. All the while, he took control of a helicarrier and rode it like he would his Charger or Blaze or Ketch would ride their motorcycle. In this issue, they say that he is a Rider without limits.
POW! 💥
In Spectre # 2 we see Spectre being incapacitated by a magician Dick Rawley. In Avengers Forever #11, we see that officially, Robbie Reyes Is no longer a Ghost Rider and is officially the All-Rider. This means whatever was used before to defeat a Ghost Rider would no longer work, as the Green Goblin learns in this issue.
So far, the way this is looking is that this contest would be All-Rider, all the way. But the thing is, The Spectre has years more experience. I wanted to trade off instance by instance, issue by issue, as I've only scratched the surface of the Spectre's pre-Crisis appearances.
So, how does one determine who is the most powerful and who would win in a fight? Especially in two evenly matched characters.
I am compelled to land on All-Rider though, because, in Spectre # 5, we have another occurrence of Spectre being defeated by yet again another mystical weapon, this time from the Psycho Pirate. Spectre seems to be susceptible to varying mystic villains who get their hands on powerful weapons. Whereas in Avengers Assemble: Omega, they say that All-Rider, nothing is beyond his power, not even the walls of death. If it exists, then he can make it his "ride" and proceed to light up a planet with hellfire and ride it.
My educated guess—backed by what feels like a PhD in comic book reading (as evidenced by a tuition-sized investment in these books)—is that while both the Spectre and the All-Rider are bound to hosts, Robbie Reyes' transformation into the All-Rider appears to break the established rules of previous Ghost Riders, making his full potential harder to define.
Spectre may be a god’s executioner, but All-Rider is a force beyond conventional gods. In Avengers Assemble: Omega, it’s stated that “nothing is beyond his power.” If Spectre can be controlled, possessed, or ridden, then All-Rider has the perfect counter. Spectre can seemingly only take over human hosts (to this author's knowledge). This helps Spectre provide moral guidance and prevent the Spectre from acting without restraint, as seen in Day of Vengeance, where he was easily persuaded by Eclipso.
Verdict: All-Rider Wins.
While Spectre’s divine origins make him a terrifying force, his weaknesses leave him vulnerable to a being with no defined limits. Robbie Reyes, as the All-Rider, is an entity that rides everything, including concepts like time and existence itself. Spectre may be the Wrath of God, but against a being that can control the very fabric of reality, he’s just another ride waiting to be taken.