Venom (vol. 2) #13.3
Circle of Four Part Four
Alejandra Jones, the new Ghost Rider, has just destroyed the amulet that was keeping a spell to bring Hell on Earth. She is shocked to discover that she is still alive. She is then confronted by a creature made of flame that is furious that she didn’t sacrifice her wants. This creature changes into Blackheart, then into Adam — the man who raised her. He is disappointed that she didn’t follow the destiny he laid out for her before his body burns away into nothing.[1]
That’s when the scene lifts and Alejandra is reunited with a woman who claims to be her mother. She asks Alejandra to come back to her and be the defender that Mexico needs. Jones agrees to promises changing into the Ghost Rider and racing off to meet here.[2]
Elsewhere, Flash Thompson wakes up in a hospital room surrounded by the Avengers. He is told by Doctor Strange that he managed to defeat Blackheart and as a result he was permenantly bonded to the Venom symbiote, however this came at the cost of the symbiote’s soul, giving Flash full control of its abilities. That’s when Spider-Man announces that he is going to retire from superheroics and offers Flash the opportunity to take his place. As the new Spider-Man, Flash easily takes out Doctor Octopus to rescue Betty Brant. After the battle is over, Betty is happy that he has come to rescue her, but suggests he acts like less of a show-off next time.
Meanwhile, the Red Hulk has finished pounding the Encephalon when suddenly the Hellzone retreats. He is then greeted by Doctor Strange and Captain America who tell him that the danger is over. Captain America refers to Thaddeus Ross by his real name and announces that his identity will no longer be kept secret and announces to the media that Thaddeus Ross is a hero.[3] Soon, Ross forms the Busters, a group of that includes the Hulk, She-Hulk, and A-Bomb and uses them to take down AIM.
Elsewhere, X-23 is dropped into a pit of hellfire but is saved at the last moment by Wolverine. She then leaps back up into Blackheart’s office to kill him. With the battle over, Wolverine shows her a startling secret, that Blackheart has a Weapon X facility in his casino and, apparently, the demon was behind the program from the very start.[4] That’s when she tells Wolverine that she discovered that she has a soul, Wolverine smiles in response and tells her that he could have told her that.
However, these happy endings are all the work of Mephisto who decides to twist these moments of wish fulfilment. For the Ghost Rider, answers her mothers cries for help at an ancient Mayan temple. There her mother denounces Ghost Rider as her body begins to decompose. While in Flash’s dream to become Spider-Man turns tragic when Betty Brant is murdered by the Green Goblin.[5] While in the Red Hulk’s fantasy, MODOK Supreme shows up and uses a device to revert all the gamma powered heroes back to their human forms before gunning them all down in cold blood. While in X-23’s fantasy, Wolverine and X-23 are trashing the Weapon X lab when Logan makes the error of shattering a canister of pheromone triggers that prompt Laura to murder her father figure.
The four heroes suddenly find themselves in Hell as though none of the past events happened. They are then confronted by Mephisto who explains that in order to make people suffer eternal torment in Hell they must first be given a taste of their own personal versions of paradise. However, Mephisto is no happy that his son Blackheart has succeeded in creating Hell on Earth and makes the heroes a deal, he will bring them back to life in exchange for stopping Blackheart. However, he will only offer this opportunity if they all agree to enter an eternal pact with the demon that they will reunite again to do what Mephisto asks of them at a later date. The alternative is spending eternity being tortured in Hell. With no other choice, the four heroes agree to Mephisto’s deal.[6]
Recurring Characters
Agent Venom, X-23, Red Hulk, Ghost Rider, Mephisto
Continuity Notes
For more on Adam (who, yes, is the Biblical one) see Ghost Rider (vol. 7) #1-9.
I’m going to get this out of the way right now. All of these illusions created by Mephisto are actually glimpses of other realities. The Unofficial Appendix to the Handbook of the Marvel Universe designates the realities as Earth’s 12433 (Ghost Rider becomes a champion of Mexico), 24133 (Flash Thompson becomes Spider-Man), 33124 (Red Hulk celebrated as a hero, forms the Hulk-based Busters team), 43312 (X-23 saved from Blackheart by Wolverine)
In reality, the Red Hulk’s true identity is secret at the time of this story. As far as everyone knows is that Thaddeus Ross is dead after the Red Hulk “killed” a LMD duplicate of himself in Fall of the Hulks: Gamma #1. He later joined the Avengers in Avengers (vol. 4) #7-12, but his identity was kept secret.
This is not accurate, at least in the Earth-616 universe. As explained in Weapon X (vol. 2) #23, the Weapon X program was created by the US government project and the 10th iteration of the Weapon Plus Program, which dates back to the creation of Captain America during World War II. There is no evidence to support that Blackheart was involved with the project in any way.
This nightmare is inspired by the time the Green Goblin murdered Gwen Stacy, as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #121.
This pact and what Mephisto intends of all of the heroes has yet to be revealed. As I write this in October 2020, it appears that this plotline is abandoned as the Red Hulk was later de-powered in Hulk (vol. 3) #15, and Alejandra Jones was killed in Absolute Carnage: Symbiote of Vengeance #1 leaving only X-23 and the Venom symbiote alive.
