The History of the Midnight Sons

In the days before Atlantis sank, the world was a dark and
dangerous place.  Evil forces such as Zarathos and Lilith, the 
mother of demons, threatened to destroy all of humanity.  
Mankind's foes were poweful, but so too were their protectors.  
The Order of  the Midnight Sons opposed these dark forces.  
Armed with thier courage, their spirit, and their nightmarish 
occult power, these brave men and women gave their lives 
to defeat their enemies.

With Zarathos seemingly destroyed and Lilith banished, It seemed 
the Midnight Sons had fulfilled their destiny.  Still, the day 
could come when these great evils could once again threaten the 
Earth.  The Blood, an immortal race of sorcerers and allies of the 
Midnight Sons, took the greateast weapon left following the war, 
the Medallion of Power, and hid it.  The Medallion was broken into 
quarters.  Two human families were selected to guard the Medallion. 
In each family, one piece was placed within the essence of a son, 
another in the essence of a daughter.  In this way, the Medallion 
could never be brought together again.  Over the millenia, however,
this sacred duty was abandoned, and the Medallion forgotten.

Centuries later, one of the quarters was sealed within the soul 
of Noble Kale, the son of a great pastor and a settler in 
early New England.  Noble fell in love with a gypsy woman and 
they bore a son.  Enraged, Noble's father had the two married, 
then imprisoned and tortured Noble for his sins while keeping 
his wife seperated.  As soon as Magdalena gave birth to Pastor 
Kale's grandson, he had her burned at the stake because she 
knew the truth about Pastor Kale: he had sold his soul to the 
devil for his town's prosperity.

In her anguish, Madalena called out for vengeance.  Her call was 
answered by the Furies, a trio of spirits who avenge crimes against 
women.  Knowing the Furies would destroy everything, Pastor Kale 
sold his own son Noble's soul to the dark lord Mephisto in order to 
defeat the Furies.  Mephisto transformed Noble Kale into a demonic 
warrior who defeated and drove away the Furies.  Then Kale was to 
consume the soul of his own infant son to complete the bargain.  
Even in his demonic state, Kale resisted and took his own life 
rather than commit such an atrocity.

Amused, Mephisto appeared to claim Noble Kale's soul as per the 
bargain he made with Pastor Kale.  Mephisto was stopped, however, 
by the appearance of Uriel, an angel.  Uriel would not permit 
Mephisto to claim such a noble and selfless soul, and for a moment 
it appeared as though a war would erupt that could consume all of 
Earth over the fate of Noble Kale's soul.

Realizing such a war must never take place, a compromise of sorts 
was reached.  Mephisto asserted his right to select a Spirit of 
Vengeance, a force for revenge.  Uriel instilled in the Spirit a 
desire to avenge the innocent, making him a force for good in a 
demonic visage.  Furthermore, Uriel forced Mephisto's pledge not 
to harm Kale's descendants.  In his usual fashion, Mephisto 
corrupted this pledge, stating that although he could not harm 
them, he could assure Noble Kale's descendants no peace.  The 
first born of each generation would provide the flesh for the 
riding ghost, the Spirit of Vengeance.  Furthermore, he cursed 
Pastor Kale to walk the earth forever, watching over the riding 
ghosts.After Mephisto departed, Uriel returned to grant one last 
gift to Noble Kale's spirit: forgetfullness, that he might not know 
what he had lost.

In the late '60's and early '70's, the flesh for the Ghost Rider 
was provided by Naomi Kale, Noble's descendant.  Naomi gave 
up her own life to Mephisto in order to spare her three children, 
John, Daniel and Barbara, from the curse.  Again, Mephisto twisted
his promise, sparing the eldest child John by passing the legacy 
on to the middle child, Barbara, who like John possessed one 
quarter of  the Medallion of Power.  Furthermore, Mephisto 
decreed to Naomi as she lay dying that just because John Blaze 
would not be the Ghost Rider did not mean he could not be a 
ghost rider.

John Blaze was raised by his adopted father Crash Simpson while 
the siblings he didn't know he had, Barbara and Daniel, were raised 
by their adopted mother, Mrs. Ketch.  As a young adult, John Blaze 
made a pact with Mephisto to spare his father from a terminal 
illness.  Although Crash Simpson was killed in a motorcycle stunt 
shortly thereafter, Johnny Blaze became the physical host of the 
demon Zarathos, fulfilling Mephisto's prophecy and becoming a 
totally new Ghost Rider.  In one encounter, Zarathos's hellfire 
caused serious psychological damage to a police officer named 
Badilino.  He went on to kill his wife, daughter and himself, 
leaving only his young son alive.  Michael Badilino, with his 
sister's death, inherited both quarters of the Medallion of Power 
that had been entrusted to his family millenia ago by the Blood.

In time Zarathos was trapped in the Soul Crystal with his ancient 
enemy Centurious, freeing John Blaze from his curse.  He married 
Roxanne Blaze and raised a family, finally free of the Ghost Rider.
Many years later, John's two unknowning siblings were involved in 
a criminal conflict while loitering in the Cypress Hill Cemetary 
in New York.  Barbara was mortally wounded and their family's 
quarter of the Medallion of Power was passed to Dan.  The trauma 
of the evening, combined with finding Naomi Kale's long-lost 
motorcycle in a maosoleum, triggered Dan's powers.  A new Ghost 
Rider was born.

John Blaze eventually sought out the new Ghost Rider, believeing 
him to be Zarathos.  Unsure about the Spirit of Vengeance's origins,
he remained nearby in order to kill the demon if necessary.  Blaze 
was not alone.  Michael Badilino of the NYPD believed the new Ghost
Rider to be the same demon that had destroyed his family.  He led 
a task force to destroy Ghost Rider, but failed repeatedly to do so.
In frustration he turned to Mephisto, trading his soul in exchange 
for the power to destroy the Ghost Rider.  Mephisto made the deal, 
but only unlocked Badilino's inner strength: the Medallion of Power.
As Vengeance, Badilino clashed repeatedly with John Blaze and the 
Ghost Rider.  

Recieving a prophetic vision of the return of Lilith, mother of 
demons, Ghost Rider gathered The Nine, which included himself, John 
Blaze, Morbius, the Nightstalkers and the Darkhold Redeemers.  The 
Nine managed to defeat Lilith for a time, but were forced to gather 
together again when she resurfaced alongside her dark beloved, the 
dread knight Zarathos.  Several of the Nine perished, but the 
remainder defeated Zarathos, the Fallen, Lilith, the Linin and other
foes with the help of Caretaker, one of the Blood.  In the 
aftermath of such a victory, the Midnight Sons were reborn with 
Ghost Rider, Blaze, Vengeance, Morbius, Blade, Hannibal King, and 
Strange as the Sons.