Madison Square Garden is a large sports arena located in New York City. Years ago, motorcycle stunt rider Crash Simpson scheduled a venue at the Garden where he was going to break the World Record for long-distance cycle jumping. Simpson had recently beaten advanced stages of cancer and felt that he could accomplish anything. What he didn't realize, was that his foster son Johnny Blaze, had sold his soul to Satan to cure Simpson's illness. Although the Devil saved Crash from terminal illness, he was not obligated to make sure that he stayed alive. Crash attempted the stunt, but couldn't bridge the distance and was killed. Johnny Blaze, in a fit of anguish and fury, hopped onto his own motorcycle, and executed the maneuver, thus breaking the World Record. Blaze's life would soon change forever, as he paid the price for his bargain with the devil by becoming the Ghost Rider. ^[1]

Sometime later, the crazed serial killer known as Carnage abducted Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson and brought him to Madison Square Garden where he interrupted a heavy metal concert in order to publicly execute Jameson. Spider-Man arrived as well as his temporary partner Venom in order to fight Carnage. They succeeded in liberating Jameson and chased Carnage below the stadium into Penn Station. ^[2]

More Recently, Madison Square Garden has been converted into a gulag to house super-heroes during an event that the Front Line staff has dubbed "World War Hulk". The Hulk took control of the arena after forcing everyone to evacuate the city following a twenty-four hour deadline. Imprisoned inside of arena were two heroes whom the Hulk personally felt were responsible for the death of his wife and child - Iron Man and Mister Fantastic. An undercover SHIELD detachment dubbed the Renegades broke into Madison Square Garden to survey the situation, and if possible, defeat the Hulk. The Hulk's young friend, Amadeus Cho, sought to resolve the Hulk's bitterness, but failed to convince him to release the other heroes.

Notes

As Madison Square Garden is an actual sports arena, it is reasonable to assume that it also exists in every parallel reality where New York City exists.