DANTE KALE

Real Name: Dante Kale

Identity/Class: Human spirit (17th century to modern era)

Occupation: Spirit

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Naomi Kale, Noble Kale, Dan Ketch

Enemies: The Furies (Dark Lady the Matriarch, Ember the Maiden, Lady Ash the Crone)

Known Relatives: Destin Kale (father), Noble Kale (Ghost Rider, brother), Magdelena Kale (sister-in-law, deceased), unidentified nephew (deceased), Illyana Kale (ancestor, deceased), Joshua Kale (descendant, deceased), Naomi Kale (Ghost Rider, descendant, deceased), Andrew Jackson Kale (descendant, deceased), Jennifer Kale (descendant), John Blaze (Ghost Rider, descendant), Barbara Ketch (descendant), Daniel Ketch (Ghost Rider, descendant), Craig Blaze (descendant), Emma Blaze (descendant)

Aliases: "Destin Kale," "Magdalena Kale and child" (forms he assumed), "The Little Boy" (name called by Dan Ketch)

Base of Operations: Presumably mobile throughout the afterlife

First Appearance: (unidentified): Ghost Rider III#77 (September, 1996); (identified): Ghost Rider III#79 (November, 1996)

Powers/Abilities: As a ghost, Dante Kale could appear and disappear at will, often traversing the dimensions between the realms of the afterlife. He seemingly could choose who could see him when he appeared (see comments) and, while often appearing at the same size he was as a human, he could alter and change his form if necessary.

Height: Variable; (as human): 3'1" (by approximation)
Weight: Variable; (as human): 30 lbs. (by approximation)
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Strawberry blonde

History: (Ghost Rider III#92 (fb) - BTS) - After Magdalena Kale was burned at the stake and cursed the town of Patience as she died, the monstrous Furies arrived to exact Magdalena's vengeance on the town and Noble Kale in particular, whom Magdalena had been falsely told had not cared for her. The young Dante Kale was the Furies' first victim, killed for no reason other than being a blood relative of Noble Kale.

(Ghost Rider III#79 (fb) - BTS) - For some unrevealed reason, Dante Kale survived his physical death and continued on a spirit.

(Ghost Rider III#77) - After Noble Kale's memories began returning following being exposed to his own Penance Stare, the spirit of Dante Kale appeared before Noble's human host Dan Ketch as Noble's memories began flooding Dan's mind and informed Dan/Noble that blood was on all of their hands.

(Ghost Rider III#79) -  Dante Kale appeared before Noble Kale within the void between realms and suggested that perhaps he was not as dead as Noble had thought. Rather than go into how he could exist as a ghost, Dante instead reminded Noble that the Furies were gunning for him. Dante also explained that Noble needed to remember a lot of things forgotten and face the blood from his past in order to die in a state of grace. As Dante led Noble in recalling his past memories, Dante transformed himself to reflect the memories Noble was regaining, reminding Noble of his father Destin and Noble's wife Magdalena and their child. In those forms, Dante reminded Noble that he was reaping what he had sown and that the ruin that Noble had brought to his loved ones would eventually cause Noble to die horribly.

(Ghost Rider: Finale/2) - After Noble Kale defeated Blackheart and took over his Hell-realm, Noble asked the spirit of Naomi Kale what she planned to do now that she had freed her bloodline from the curse of the Spirit of Vengeance. Dante's spirit appeared and exclaimed that he reckoned Naomi would rest in peace. Dante then laughingly accused Noble of forgetting about him and Noble replied that he did not and gave Dante a hug. After smiling, calling Noble a "tale-teller" and asking Noble to stop hugging lest he squeeze the death of him, Dante explained that he was not in the Hell-realm for Noble but rather, for Naomi, whose time had come to cross over into the afterlife. Dante then took Naomi's hand and said his goodbyes to Noble, warning him not to be swallowed up by the darkness inside. Dante then disappeared with Naomi. Later, after Noble freed the damned souls in his Hell-realm and left to live free of afterlife influence, Dante and Naomi Kale appeared to Dan Ketch and waved to him as Dan realized he might actually be able to live a normal life again.

Comments: Created by Ivan Velez, Jr., Salvador Larroca and Sergio Melia.

Whatever sort of spirit that Dante Kale was, he seemed to be working for the Heaven side of things as he helped Noble regain his memories to allow him to die in grace and later showed up to carry Naomi to the other side.

How Dante Kale became a spirit was never revealed, even when Noble asked directly how Dante could be there. When asked, Dante simply said he didn't want to go into it.

When Dante first appeared, only Dan Ketch could see him so either Dante could choose he could see him or he could only appear to those with his bloodline.

Profile by Proto-Man.

CLARIFICATIONS:
Dante Kale has no KNOWN connections to:

images: (without ads)
Ghost Rider III#77, p8, pan2 (Dante Kale as a spirit, main image)
Ghost Rider: Finale, p48, pan2 (Dante Kale in hat, headshot)

Appearances:
Ghost Rider III#77 (September, 1996) - Ivan Velez, Jr. (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Sergio Melia (inks), James Felder (editor)
Ghost Rider III#79 (November, 1996) - Ivan Velez, Jr. (writer), Salvador Larroca (pencils), Sergio Melia (inks), James Felder (editor)
Ghost Rider III#92 (January, 1998) - Ivan Velez, Jr. (writer), Javier Saltares (pencils), Mark Texeira (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)
Ghost Rider: Finale (January, 2007) - Ivan Velez, Jr. (writer), Javier Saltares (pencils, inks), Mark Texeira, Klaus Janson (inks), Tom Brevoort (editor)

First Posted: 07/01/2015
Last updated: 06/29/2015

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

Non-Marvel Copyright info
All other characters mentioned or pictured are ™  and © 1941-2099 Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. If you like this stuff, you should check out the real thing!
Please visit The Marvel Official Site at: http://www.marvel.com

Special Thanks to www.g-mart.com for hosting the Appendix, Master List, etc.!

Back to Characters