Editing Spectre (DC Comics character) (section)

===''Day of Vengeance''===
[[Image:Dov3.jpg|right|thumb|Promotional art for ''Day of Vengeance'' #3 (Aug. 2005) featuring the Spectre fighting Captain Marvel, art by [[Walt Simonson]]]]
Without a human host, the Spectre-Force becomes unstable and goes on a vengeance-fueled rampage. Not only is it killing murderers, it also kills people for minor crimes, such as petty theft. Its lack of a human host deprives it of the ability to effectively judge the sins in their appropriate context. As detailed in the miniseries ''[[Day of Vengeance]]'', [[Jean Loring]] is transformed into the new [[Eclipso]]. She goes after the Spectre and seduces him into removing all magic in the DC Universe. Eclipso explains to the Spectre that all things that follow the rules of the physical universe follow God's law. Anything that breaks those rules thus breaks God's law and is therefore evil. Consequently, as magic breaks the rules of the physical universe, it is an originating source of tremendous evil (this line of logic makes sense to the unstable Spectre-Force). The Spectre destroys magical constructs, institutions that teach magic and magical dimensions. In one such dimension, his acts include the mass murder of over 700 battle-hardened magicians. His actions cause havoc to other very powerful magic-based characters:

* The [[Phantom Stranger]] – The Spectre turns him into a mouse.
* [[Black Adam]] – He fights the Spectre when the spirit invades his kingdom of [[Kahndaq]] and causes plagues of destruction.
* [[Hector Hall|Doctor Fate]] – He is imprisoned in a dimension inside his helmet.
* [[Madame Xanadu]] – Her eyes are destroyed (and made incapable of restoration through magic) by the Spectre to prevent her from reading her magical [[tarot cards]].
* [[Raven (DC Comics)|Raven]] – She can no longer properly control her powers.
* The wizard [[Shazam (wizard)|Shazam]] – Despite the intervention of his champion [[Captain Marvel (DC Comics)|Captain Marvel]], Shazam is killed by the Spectre.

The Spectre also destroys the magic-fueled kingdom of [[Atlantis (DC Comics)|Atlantis]] (the home of [[Aquaman]]) during his rampage.

In ''Day of Vengeance: Infinite Crisis Special'' #1, the Spectre kills Nabu, the last of the Great Lords of the Ninth Age and the Presence's attention is finally drawn into action. The Spectre is once again forced into a human host, stopping his mad rampage. Nabu reveals before dying that originally he and the other Lords had been working towards forming the perfect host for the Spectre, but those plans are cut short.

The text of the story is unclear on who the Great Lords were. Nabu (introduced in 1942 as the powerful entity responsible for Kent Nelson becoming [[Doctor Fate]]) was one of the [[Lords of Chaos and Order|Lords of Order]]. The Spectre had apparently killed the others, along with their counterparts the Lords of Chaos, with the exception of [[Mordru]] and [[Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld|Amethyst]] (whom he battled on Gemworld). Amethyst is among those gathered by the Phantom Stranger to aid in rebuilding the Rock of Eternity, and survives into the Tenth Age.

[[Alexander Luthor Jr.|Alexander Luthor]] also revealed that he was indirectly responsible for the Spectre's actions in ''Day of Vengeance''. Under Alexander Luthor's orders, the [[Psycho-Pirate]] gave Eclipso's diamond to Jean Loring, making her manipulate the Spectre-Force so that magic could be undone and used as fuel for Luthor's Multiverse tower.