The Road to "Challenge of the Ghost Riders"

This Wednesday will see the release of Avengers (2019) # 22, which begins the "Challenge of the Ghost Riders" storyline focusing on Johnny Blaze as the new King of Hell.  Robbie Reyes and Frank Castle are along for the race through Hell, and there may even be appearances by Danny Ketch and Alejandra Jones!  It's all leading up to the launch of the new ongoing Ghost Rider series in October by Ed Brisson and Aaron Kuder with a few surprising stops along the way.  The seeds for this story were actually planted over a year ago and the tension has been building across multiple comics for the last several months.

With the Challenge about the begin I figured I'd post a roadmap for everyone to follow along to before Wednesday.   Pull your comics out and go down into Hell with me!

In the 2018 crossover event "Damnation", Johnny Blaze was sent to Hell by Wong take over the throne of Mephisto.  The devil had set up shop in Las Vegas and taken the souls of everyone in the city, transforming them (and a team of Avengers) into his army of Ghost Riders.  The Midnight Sons, assembled by Wong to rescue the imprisoned and possessed Dr. Strange, entered Las Vegas and Johnny immediately had his ass straight-up murdered by Mephisto.  This gave Blaze his entrance into Hell and he quickly claimed the throne for himself.  When Dr. Strange and the Midnight Sons sent Mephisto packing back to Hell he was confronted by Johnny's own army of Ghost Riders.  Mephisto was imprisoned back on Earth by Dr. Strange and Johnny Blaze was left trapped in Hell as its new ruler.  This all occurred in Doctor Strange: Damnation (2018) # 1-4 and Damnation: Johnny Blaze - Ghost Rider # 1.

 While Johnny was left in Hell his predecessor on Earth, Robbie Reyes, became an unlikely member of the reorganized Avengers.  He quickly settled into his role as the team rookie, but during a battle with the vampiric Legion of the Unliving Robbie found himself transformed into a twisted version of the Spirit of Vengeance under the Legion's command.  While his body was used as a weapon against the Avengers, Robbie's soul was trapped in Hell.  He was soon confronted by Johnny Blaze, who hinted that he had plans for Robbie, though their talk was interrupted when Robbie's soul was returned to his body.  Since then Robbie has asked for the aid of Blade and Black Panther to "exorcise" his car of the Spirit of Vengeance before Hell can claim him.  Robbie met Johnny in Hell in Avengers (2018) # 16 and the exorcism was previewed in Free Comic Book Day 2019: Avengers # 1.

Robbie Reyes has not been the only Ghost Rider that Johnny Blaze has shown an interest in since his ascension as Hell's ruler.  Danny Ketch has resurfaced, again possessed by his own Spirit of Vengeance, and was last active in Brooklyn against the ghostly entity Wallow.  When Ketch sent Wallow to Hell using the Penance Stare, he was greeted by Blaze on his throne.  Another recent arrival to Hell was the future version of Frank Castle, the Cosmic Ghost Rider, who found his dead body controlled by the Asgardian death goddess Hela.  When Castle fell into Hell he, too, was welcomed by Blaze, who asked him point blank: "wanna race?".  These two events happened in Marvel Comics Presents (2019) # 6 and Guardians of the Galaxy (2019) # 6.

Follow the "Challenge of the Ghost Riders" in Avengers (2018) # 22-25 with a detour into the Absolute Carnage tie-in "Symbiote of Vengeance", which features Danny Ketch and Alejandra Jones.  Then be sure to pick up Ghost Rider # 1 in October!