Exactly this. It works like Human Torch’s Green or Punisher’s Black and stays around once it goes off, just resetting each time.
At 5 covers Green is 610 or 804 damage/AP which is less than what Kamala’s does (847). Red does 226 or 271 damage/AP the first time it goes off; double that if it goes off twice, etc. Both not counting the attack tiles, which aren’t powerful enough for a 4* in my opinion. Pretty lackluster. Might be better paired with Sam Cap’s passive, but then you’re using Sam Cap.
Ice could you clarify something for me:
If you continue to take a lot of damage, then heal (whether true or not) and then take more damage (rinse, repeat) does penance stare then deal the total amount of damaged received or just the initial amount before the healing?
Penance Stare -
Ghost Rider looks into his opponent’s eyes and forces them to revisit all the pain they’ve inflicted a thousand times over. Deals damage to the target enemy equal to 50% of the total amount of damage they’ve dealt so far this mission.
Level Upgrades
Level 2: Deals 75% of the enemy’s total damage back at them.
Level 3: Deals 100% of the enemy’s total damage back at them.
Level 4: Deals 150% of the enemy’s total damage back at them.
Level 5: Deals 200% of the enemy’s total damage back at them.
Description might need to be re-worded since at max covers the power only deals 200%, not “a thousand times over.”
As others have pointed out, he looks like a 4* Punisher–right down to ability colors, cheap abilities (Penance Stare not withstanding), two abilities that do a relatively small amount of damage but also leave behind special tiles to dish out more damage and a situation ability that can either be really powerful (Punisher’s Retribution and GR’s PS) or fall flat.
I’m worried that he’s going to suffer the same fate as Punisher. Death by a thousand papercuts can be fun–depending on which side you’re on–but this seems like trying to break a rock with a bunch of toothpicks instead of one really strong hammer. The one thing he does have going that Punisher does not is a large health pool so that will help somewhat.
Initial build reaction is 5/3/5. Mainly because red is such a highly-contested color in 4s and there’s no way that Hellfire can compete with some of the top-tier reds of existing 4 characters.
Added a list of heroes/villains since everyone keeps asking. 
I think the key word here is “dealt”.
If it wasn’t for 2 overlapping colors I’d say it looks like he’s X23’s perfect teammate. Her red is passive, so it’s really only overlapping on green. Let her tank damage, heal and create strikes while you build up AP.
Total amount of damage dealt regardless of any healing. If you theoretically took 10K damage, true/temp healed it all, then took 5K more, Penance Stare would deal damage based on 15K damage. It also does not reset the damage counter on use.
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How are attack tiles factored into Penance Stare since they don’t technically have an “owner”?
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Are goons all considered villains by default?
EDIT:
3) Does AOE attack damage stack (e.g. 1k to all 3 characters is 3k to that character’s damage allocation)?
- They aren’t.
- Yarp. To note, this also applies to exceptional circumstances like Prodigal Sun. Villains are still Villains in that mission, even if you’re playing as them.
- Yarp.
So for #2, 
minions are still villains?
If you’re fighting them in every event except for Prodigal Sun, it’s because they’re traitors or such. Which makes them generally not nice people.
Is penance stare based off damage the opponent has done to Ghost Rider, or Ghost Rider’s team?
Prodigal Sun AND Deadpool Vs Heroes, that is. 
But isn’t that true about literally every character?
Like Enemy of the State Wolverine, or Mystique/Skrull fakes?
But yeah, thanks for the clarification.
Dealt to anyone and everyone on Ghost Rider’s team. Which also means that if he pops up as an opponent in a later round in a Survival Mode pin, you should probably stun him before he gets to stare at you.
Holy nuke!
He seems very underwhelming for a 4*, less his black skill. For some reason Punisher/Torch comes to mind when I look at his colours & skill costs.
I’m guessing the strategy with him is to get the enemy team to damage your own team as much as possible before nuking them completely. Seems like a good teammate with carnage and patch. Which makes him (in my book) a pretty dismal choice to use altogether.
Also IIRC 4* are meant to be 35% better than 3*. Not sure if this was achieved here. Will have to wait and see once he’s useable though.
Seems to me that The Punisher should be on this list.
Moving into a metagame dominated by half covered 5*s, I see Ghost Rider as an 0/0/5. I might be undervaluing him as I haven’t used him yet, but wow does he seem like Penance Stare and nothing else.