The Strongest Marvel Sidekick Is One You’ve Never Heard Of

Many Marvel heroes have sidekicks, but Knuckles O’Shaugnessy is on another level, sharing the Spirit of Vengeance with the Ghost Rider.

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Unlike their colleagues in the DC Universe, Marvel heroes tend not to spend much time with their sidekicks. They were all the rage in WWII – Captain America had Bucky, while the Human Torch had Toro – but nowadays Marvel heroes are a lot more invested in legacy. Ms. Marvel might have been inspired by Captain Marvel, but she definitely doesn’t feel beholden to her, and the same is true of Marvel’s Spider-Men. When a Marvel hero does have a permanent sidekick, it’s usually because of a pretty remarkable bond – Wolverine and Scout share genetic code, Chewie is Carol Danver’s pet, and as even the most casual Marvel fan knows, Ghost Rider shares the Spirit of Vengeance with Knuckles O’Shaugnessy.

Joking aside, Knuckles is about as obscure as Marvel characters get. Introduced in Jason Aaron and Tony Moore’s Ghost Rider #33, Knuckles O’Shaugnessy was the sidekick of a Ghost Rider from the 1920s known as “the Undead G-Man.” Empowered by riding in the sidecar of “Big G’s” motorcycle, O’Shaugnessy wielded a spiked baseball bat and the attitude of a tough, streetwise kid, which is exactly what he appears to be. Despite being dead in the modern Marvel universe, Knuckles has appeared time and again, most recently to offer a few words of advice to Robbie Reyes in Jason Aaron’s “Challenge of the Ghost Riders” Avengers storyline. So, okay, Knuckles O’Shaugnessy lived and died as the Ghost Rider’s sidekick, but is he really that powerful?

Knuckles O’Shaugnessy doesn’t look like much more than a Newsies-inspired Ghost Rider, but tangling with the Spirit of Vengeance is a one-way ticket to near-limitless power. Though bound by strict mystical rules that limit their abilities to the extraction of righteous vengeance, Marvel’s Ghost Riders have almost divine power. In 2007’s Ghost Rider #13, Doctor Strange informs Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four that the Ghost Rider is powerful enough to beat the Hulk even at his strongest, saying, “The Ghost Rider’s powers are, for most intents and purposes, boundless. Godlike.”

But Knuckles O’Shaugnessy seems to be only sharing the Spirit of Vengeance, so does he have the full measure of possible power? Well, his inclusion in Battleworld: Ghost Racers – in which various Ghost Riders from different realities were forced to compete in a death race – would suggest so. O’Shaugnessy didn’t win the race, but he was able to compete against full-powered Ghost Riders like Johnny Blaze and Robbie Reyes. On top of that, the Spirit of Vengeance isn’t exactly a finite resource. As Doctor Strange goes on to say, the only real limit on its power is the fact that humans can only contain so much of it.

Understand, Reed, that the Ghost Rider is a wonder of mystical design. Johnny Blaze – along with every human who has ever hosted the Ghost Rider, throughout the ages – acts as a built-in “safety”… He limits the Ghost Rider’s power simply due to the fact that he is human.

To hear Doctor Strange tell it, Knuckles O’Shaugnessy should absolutely be at full power as a host of the Spirit of Vengeance, but do his accomplishments stack up to his potential? Well, despite Knuckles’ relatively few appearances in Marvel lore, he’s taken on some of the biggest occult hitters Marvel has to offer. In 2012’s Ghost Riders: Heaven’s on Fire, Knuckles was part of an army of past Ghost Riders raised to fight Zadkiel, a corrupted angel who had seized almost omnipotent power. That foe downed, Knuckles immediately led the charge against the Antichrist and his legion of demons, declaring, “Look at ‘im boys, he’s about to wet his britches. Just let ol’ Knuckles O’Shaugnessy handle this lily-livered palooka. Youse mugs can mop up the rest.”

Given that 2018’s Damnation saw Knuckles literally first in line to whale on a defeated Mephisto, it’s hard to think of many Marvel characters (let alone sidekicks) who have racked up so many huge wins in so few appearances. As Knuckles O’Shaugnessy appears to be a favorite of creator Jason Aaron, it’s likely that this staggeringly powerful Ghost Rider sidekick will enjoy at least a few more major victories before he’s finally laid to rest.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/marvel-strongest-sidekick-ghost-rider/