Johnny's true mother would return to watch over him, pleased to discover that he was growing up happily while also remaining afraid that the Kale family curse would affect him. Johnny grew up happy among the Simpson family and grew ever closer to his foster sister Roxanne, leading to their relationship growing beyond a familial sibling bond as they fell in love. The couple hoped to hide the truth of Johnny's painful past from him and instead fabricated a less tragic backstory for him, including that his mother 'Clara Blaze' had died. Shortly after the loss of his mother, Johnny would also lose his father Barton to a stun accident and came to be adopted by their friend Crash and his wife Mona Simpson. Johnny was deeply affected by the abandonment of his mother to the point that it caused him to repress many memories he had of both her and his siblings. Naomi was aware of her family curse and was afraid of the suffering that would come to Johnny as it had to her, she chose to leave him and to place his siblings into the care of Francis Ketch whose name they would take. This life seemed idyllic for a time, until Blaze's mother left him and took his siblings Barbara and Daniel with her and left him behind. Both of Blaze's parents starred alongside Craig 'Crash' Simpson in a motorcycle show. Johnny Blaze was born the son of Barton Blaze and Naomi Kale and spent his formative years growing up among the Quentin Carnival. Mephisto tried and failed to corrupt Noble and set his sights on rest of the Kale clan, watching them from then on the firstborn Noble of every generation manifest their power. The Kale family were one of these bloodlines who drew the attention of Mephisto in the 18th century after the shard of the medallion within Noble Kale transformed him into a Spirit of Vengeance known as the Ghost Rider. This medallion had become embedded into the spiritual bloodline of two families after it was broken. The torture of Zarathos combined with Mephisto's search for a mystical artifact, known as the Medallion of Power which had been crafted by another of Zarathos' foes, the Blood, to house the essences of the original Spirits of Vengeance. Because of these conflicts, and Mephisto's belief about their rivalry, he tricked Zarathos and enslaved him, trapping him in the bodies of various mortals throughout the years while keeping him amnesiac.

Zarathos had a penchant for human souls which led him into many conflicts, including against the Blood cult and his fellow demon Mephisto, who felt that Zarathos was one of his rivals.

Zarathos the demon had built a power base for himself many years ago.

Ghost rider punisher