Attack on Robbie and Gabe Reyes

"When I was thrown from the car... I begged God, I begged the universe, I begged anyone who would listen, that you be spared. I swore that I'd give anything to save you. Then I hit the street... and I died. And there's nothing. It's just darkness. Then I heard a voice. It was asking me if I wanted a second chance, did I want to punish those who hurt my brother, did I want to avenge my own death? I answered, "Yes. More than anything, yes." And I was alive again. And you're right. There was someone there when I came to. But it wasn't a Good Samaritan. It was the Devil."

- Robbie Reyes

The Attack on Robbie and Gabe Reyes was a hit intended for Eli Morrow and executed by the Fifth Street Locos, who were hired by Joseph Bauer.

Background
Joseph and Lucy Bauer became obsessed with the Darkhold, a book containing endless knowledge. The two decided to create an experiment where they could create matter from nothing. Eli Morrow grew greedy and sought out to obtain the Darkhold for himself. In order to prevent him from doing so, Joseph hired the Fifth Street Locos to kill him.

Attack
"He blames himself that I'm in the chair." "Cause it's my fault." "It was bad luck." "There's no such thing as luck. There's decisions and consequences. And I made a whole lot of bad decisions that night."

- Gabe Reyes and Robbie Reyes

One night, Robbie Reyes sought to win a street race in Los Angeles against a Fifth Street Locos gang member. in Eli Morrow's car. He was caught stealing the vehicle by his brother Gabe Reyes, but managed to convince him to accompany him in the car. As they drove off, a van with Fifth Street Locos gangsters followed them. While driving, Robbie and Gabe began discussing that Morrow wasn't himself due to difficulties at work, saying that his boss was insane, while also making remarks about how confident Robbie was in the upcoming street race. The same van drove past them and stopped in front of them at a red light. The Fifth Street Locos members revealed themselves and set the car on fire.

Robbie managed to drive away from the van and remove the fire. A second car chased them, pulled alongside them and shot both Robbie and Gabe. Robbie lost control of the car and crashed in the middle of the freeway. During the crash, Robbie was flung out of the vehicle and died upon impact to the street, while Gabe had lost the use of his legs. When Robbie was flung, he had silently prayed to anyone that could have been listening that Gabe be spared. A voice had heard him and replied to his prayers. The same person had arrived on a motorcycle, pulled Gabe out of the car and resurrected Robbie back to life, but imbuing him with the ability to transform into a flaming, demonic skeleton-like being known as the Ghost Rider.

Aftermath
The day following Robbie's transformation into Ghost Rider, a furious Reyes killed all the members of the Fifth Street Locos.

It was later revealed that Joseph Bauer, along with his wife Lucy and Pasadena Momentum Laboratory employees Frederick, Hugo and Vincent were all, through Joseph's experiment transformed into spiritual entities after Eli Morrow attempted to kill them, leading to his arrest.

During the South Ridge Penitentiary Riot where S.H.I.E.L.D. and Reyes broke out Morrow, Reyes found Santino Noguera, the sole surviving member of the now defunct Fifth Street Locos. Reyes took it upon himself to unleash the Ghost Rider, who - wanting vengeance for Gabe's paralysis - then incinerated him in his cell. Robbie later confessed the origins of how he became the Ghost Rider to Gabe, telling him of how Johnny Blaze resurrected him from the dead.