Merge:Zarathos

Zarathos is a character in the Marvel Comics series Ghost Rider. He is a demonic being who tortures and devours souls. As explained in Ghost Rider #77 (1973 series), he had slumbered beneath the earth for eons until summoned by a sorcerer. Zarathos was offered a steady supply of souls to consume in exchange for his aid in vanquishing enemies of the sorcerer's tribe. The alliance flourished and a strong cult built up around Zarathos - this got the attention of Mephisto, who soon decided that Zarathos had too much of a following and was depriving him of souls. Mephisto eventually confronted Zarathos and defeated him.

Zarathos was forced to serve Mephisto in the Netherworld, though still powerful enough to avoid total confinement. Mephisto would send his unruly vassal back to Earth on occasion, binding him to human hosts and allowing him to ravage souls - in smaller fashion, of course. In time, one of these human hosts would be John Blaze.

Much later, he would be a threat once again when the Midnight Sons were formed. He briefly joined forces with the demon mother Lilith (not to be confused with Dracula's daughter, who has the same name), but soon left her forces and became the leader of the Fallen, the evil Blood (his acolytes) once again. Having lost his memory before, he had not quite reached his full power until he had met the Fallen once again. After that he had gained enough power to finally defeat Ghost Rider and absorbed his presence. But he had suffered horrible agony since Ghost Rider was still residing within him. This gave the Midnight Sons a chance to defeat Zarathos. It was Blade who had taken Foundry's sword, killed her with it so he could use her blood-stained sword to defeat Zarathos. Blade defeated Zarathos by turning him into stone, and he remained that way ever since. He claimed that he coupled with Lilith and had his offspring in her. Lilith plans to unleash her children, but this is yet to be seen.

MC2
In the MC2 alternate future, Kaine summons Zarathos in an attempt to save the life of his nephew, Reilly Tyne (the son of the Ben Reilly and Elizabeth Tyne) who is dying because he has inherited the genetic defects from his father's cloned physiology. This backfired, however when Zarathos attempted to claim Reilly's body as his own. At the same time, Kaine was also trying to bring Daredevil (who had been killed by the Kingpin while saving Kaine's life) back to life. The soul of Daredevil also took up residence in Reilly's body. The forces of the two spirits residing within him tend to keep each other in check-Reilly gained Zarathos' physical appearance, demonic and regenerative powers which keep him alive and the influence of Murdock keeps him from becoming corrupted. Under the influence of these two entities residing within him, Reilly decides to become the hero Darkdevil.