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arvel Comics films releases their big screen version of Ghost Rider, something of a second tier comic book character, but it's saved through a distinctively quirky performance by Nicolas Cage, who has long been jonesing to play a superhero of some sort. He finally gets his superhero moment as Johnny Blaze, a leather-clad, flaming stunt rider who has sold his soul to Mephistopheles.

Blaze, as a young boy, made a deal with the devil (Peter "Easy Rider" Fonda) in order to save his father from cancer, only to have his dad promptly die in a stunt accident. He tries to reneg on the deal by hitting the streets. This new situation has turned him into somewhat of a loner who has forsaken love, friends, family and everything but his beloved bike.

Flash-forward a couple of decades, and the Devil returns to collect: With another deal in place – this time for him to "buy" back his soul - Blaze becomes the Devil's bounty-hunter, complete with a flaming skull, a flame-retardant biker suit and a matching psychedelic motorcycle. He becomes Ghost Rider, collecting the lost souls that escaped hell.

The formula is similar to a classic werewolf story, and to a certain degree, "Blade." By day, Blaze is a stunt motorcycle rider whose job involves making death-defying motorcycle jumps at monster truck rallies. But at night, his head turns into a flaming skull and his Harley chopper turns into a bike from hell. As Ghost Rider, he goes into a rage whenever a crisis arises and inadvertently destroys entire city blocks just to rid the world of a single mugger. He eats jelly beans out of martini glasses and likes to listen to the Carpenters while dishing out Elvis hand gestures whenever possible.