Appearing in "Circle of Four: Part Five"
Featured Characters:
- Ghost Rider (Alejandra) (Resurrection) (Loses the Spirit of Vengeance)
- Red Hulk / Circle of Four (Thaddeus Ross) (Resurrection) (Bonds to the Spirit of Vengeance and the Venom Symbiote) (First appearance as the Circle of Four)
- X-23 (Laura Kinney) (Resurrection)
- Venom (Flash Thompson) (Resurrection) (Loses the Venom Symbiote)
Supporting Characters:
- Doctor Strange (Stephen Strange)
- Son of Satan (Daimon Hellstrom)
- Spirit of Vengeance (Leaves Ghost Rider and bonds to Red Hulk)
- Johnny Blaze
- Mephisto
Antagonists:
- Gari Oyle
- Blackheart
- Venom Symbiote (Resurrection) (Leaves Venom and bonds to Red Hulk)
Other Characters:
- Jericho Drumm (Referenced)
- Vishanti (Invoked)
- Hoggoth (Invoked)
- Antitheses (Corpse, skeleton or other remains)
- Encephalon (Corpse, skeleton or other remains)
- The Evangelist (Corpse, skeleton or other remains)
- Belial (Invoked)
- U.S. Army (Mentioned)
- Satan (Marduk Kurios) (Mentioned)
- God (Yahweh) (Invoked)
Races and Species:
Locations:
Items:
- Hell-Mark (Unnamed)
- Hellstorm's Trident
- H'elian's Mirror Cauldron
- X-Uniform
- Adamantium (on X-23's claws)
- Spells
- Hoary Hosts of Hoggoth (Invoked)
Vehicles:
Synopsis for "Circle of Four: Part Five"
While Doctor Strange and Daimon Hellstrom struggle to hold back Hell, the Spirit of Vengeance emerges from Alejandra's corpse and searches for Johnny Blaze to become its host. Along the way, it passes Gari Oyle, who captures it and brings it to Blackheart.
The group returns to Earth, only now, Alejandra is without the Spirit of Vengeance and is pessimistic about their chances of victory. As they race through Hell, the group decides to work as a team this time around while Alejandra explains to them how she was fooled into activating the portal.
Meanwhile, Blackheart takes advantage of Daimon and convinces him to allow Hell to spread. Now nothing can stop Hell from engulfing the world.
X-23, sent on a solo mission, infiltrates the site of the portal to Hell with the intention of getting Blaze to spin the machine in the opposite direction and destroy it before it sucks Earth into Hell.
In Blackheart's throne room, as he prepares to bond with the Spirit of Vengeance, which is encased in a vial, Red Hulk smashes in through the window and fights him, joined shortly after by Venom, giving Alejandra a chance to retrieve the vial containing the Spirit of Vengeance. She makes off with it, abandoning their plan, but Venom is able to get it back from her anyway. The symbiote seizes control of Flash, proclaiming its intent to bond with the Spirit of Vengeance itself, but Blackheart hurls Red Hulk at Venom, sending them both out the window.
Blackheart renews his offer with Alejandra if she tells him their plan. Alejandra betrays them again by telling him that they plan to reverse the direction of the portal. In response, Blackheart orders Gari Oyle to go there and kill them and pushes Alejandra out the window. But when he looks down, he sees that Red Hulk has bonded with both the Spirit of Vengeance and the Venom symbiote, riding toward him with Alejandra on his bike.
Solicit Synopsis
• Hell is spreading across the Earth from out of Las Vegas.
• Ghost Rider is responsible but what price is she willing to pay to save mankind?!
• X-23, Venom & Hulk must defeat their worst enemies, buying Ghost Rider time to stop hell’s march across the globe!
• As a clone, X-23 has often wondered if she has a soul. This is where she gets her answer!
• Who is Ichor and why has he targeted Venom for Death?!Notes
- Thaddeus Ross' Venomized Ghost Rider form was given the name "Circle of Four" in Absolute Carnage #3.