The supernatural universes often borrow inspiration from myths and lores, as well as concepts such as hell, heaven, and the afterlife. Many fictional characters are based on these beliefs regarding the existence of devils and angels. One such character is the Lord of the Hell Realm ‘Mephisto,’ who has plagued the Earth for centuries.
Written by Stan Lee and brought to life by the artist John Buscema, Mephisto was introduced in 1968 as Marvel’s version of the devil. He is a significant character in the Marvel Universe, whose presence is widespread across centuries of Marvel content.
Mephisto is essentially a demon lord who wishes to conquer Earth, and he often makes deals with humans to grant their wishes in exchange for their souls. He has been a significant part of various Marvel Comics, as well as movies such as the Ghost Riders. Let us take a dive into Mephisto’s origins and explore his powers, abilities, and comic appearances!
Mephisto and his intriguing presence in Ghost Rider and it’s sequel
Mephisto, also known as ‘Mephistopheles’, played a huge role in the Ghost Rider movie and its sequel. Played by none other than Peter Fonda, Mephisto was, in fact, the one responsible for turning ‘Johnny Blaze’ into the Ghost Rider.
In the first Ghost Rider movie released in 2007, Mephistopheles’s story begins with the ‘the contract of San Venganza.’ By owning this contract, he could control thousands of evil souls in this fictional town of ‘San Venganza’ and rule over them. He orders ‘Carter Slade’, who is the Ghost Rider at the time, to get the contract. The Ghost Riders were bounty hunters of the damned, and Carter Slade initially looked for the contract to bring it back to Mephisto. However, he soon realizes that this will unleash hell on Earth and the Ghost Rider escapes with the contract.
The scene soon shifts to the year 1986, where a 17-year-old ‘Johnny Blaze’ and his father ‘Barton’ are performing together at a carnival. After the performance, Johnny returns home and visits his father’s room. Here, he comes across his father’s medical reports that have a diagnosis of terminal cancer.
Johnny steps out to process this devastating news when Mephisto pays him a visit. The demon seems to know all about his father’s cancer, and he offers to help cure it. Johnny assumes that Mephisto is just messing around with him and asks him more about this offer. Mephisto claims that he can cure his father only if Johnny gives him his soul in return. Thinking that Mephisto is only joking, Johnny agrees to the deal and accepts the contract Mephisto hands him. However, he ends up cutting his finger while holding the contract, and the blood from Johnny’s finger binds the contract together.
Unaware of the fact that he just made a deal with the devil, Johnny returns home and falls asleep peacefully. He wakes up the next day to find that his father has made a full recovery and no longer has cancer. Barton even returns to the carnival to perform stunts, but it so happens that he gets into an accident while jumping through a ring of fire. Though Mephisto cured his cancer, he still made sure that the man died one way or another, and he watches from a distance as Johnny mourns his father.
Later on, Mephisto pays Johnny a visit and reminds him that he owns his soul. After a gap of around ten years, Mephisto returns to claim Johnny’s soul, who has now become a world-famous stuntman.
However, this time, Mephisto is facing problems due to his son ‘Blackheart.’ Blackheart wants to overpower Mephisto and become the Lord of the Hell Realm in his place. He has even discovered the power behind the ‘San Venganza’ contract and wants to find it to unleash the thousand evil souls and bring them under his control. Mephisto orders Johnny to capture Blackheart and bring him to hell alive. He transforms Johnny into a Ghost Rider, which gives him certain new powers as he becomes one of Hell’s bounty hunters.
After a lot of trouble, Johnny manages to capture BlackHeart, but it appears that he has already secured the contract of San Venganza. Blackheart had even absorbed all these evil souls within his body, making him a powerful entity known as ‘Legion’. Legion and Ghost Rider have a fierce battle, but Ghost Rider finally succeeds by using his penance stare. Legion transforms into BlackHeart and dies at the Ghost Rider’s hands.
Mephisto then appears at the scene, and he congratulates Johnny for being successful in his task. The devil Lord is relieved to have gotten rid of Blackheart and is even willing to free Johnny from the curse of being a Ghost Rider. However, Johnny now wants to continue having these powers, and he wishes to use them against evil beings such as Mephisto himself. Though Mephisto is annoyed by Johnny’s persistence to remain a ghost rider, he finally agrees. As the movie comes to an end, Mephisto returns to hell with BlackStar’s body.
In the sequel titled ‘Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance,’ Mephistopheles returns as the Lord of Hell, only this time he goes by the name ‘Roarke.’ Roarke had his eyes set on a young child called ‘Danny’ and has suspicions about Danny being his son. Mephisto then hires the infamous mercenary and agent of hell ‘Ray Carrigan’ to locate Danny and bring him to Roarke.
However, Ray Carrigan fails to capture Danny and even ends up in an accident as a cement wall crushes him and leaves him critical. Mephisto then uses his powers to save Carrigan’s life and transforms him into the ‘Blackout,’ a powerful shadow demon with the ability to kill anyone he comes in touch with. Mephisto then sends Blackout to capture Danny once again, but Ghost Rider ‘Johnny Blaze’ makes an appearance at the scene. Mephisto, as Roarke, also appears at the scene and is almost successful in kidnapping Danny and taking him away in his car.
Ghost Rider first fights against Blackout, and he ends up killing this shadow demon in combat. He then turns his attention to Roarke and chases after the car in which Roarke is escaping with Danny. Ghost Rider uses all his powers to defeat Roarke, who soon disintegrates into the Earth as Mephisto leaves his body and escapes.
The origins of this multi-dimensional demon
Since Mephisto is an immortal demon lord, multiple origin stories are written about him, and there is no way of knowing his exact origins.
One such origin claims that Mephisto was created along with the other demons Thog and Stannish after the death of the ‘Elder God Demogorge.’ When Demogorge killed all the members of his race to end their rule, it gave shape to dark energy that led to the creation of this demon.
Yet another story centers around ‘Nemesis,’ the first entity to be born in the universe of ‘First Cosmos.’ Nemesis used its powers to create some life forms in order to have some company, but unfortunately, they all turned out to be demons. Nemesis then destroyed these demons and committed suicide. After its deaths, the destroyed demons somehow returned to life, and of these demons was Mephisto.
Lilith, the ancient demonic figure, claims that it was Mephisto who had taken the form of the snake that lured Adam and Eve into eating the forbidden fruit that banished them from the Gardens of Eden. According to Lilith, Mephisto was a cunning demon who had an obsession with manipulating humans and collecting their souls to add to his collection of damned souls in the Hell Realm.
A million years B.C., Mephisto took the form of a snake to visit a young man whose tribe had been destroyed by the mythical monster ‘Wendigo.’ He offered the young man superpowers to avenge the death of his tribe and used the Spirit of Vengeance to create the very first Ghost Rider.
He wandered the earth looking for other beings to corrupt and once even offered some powers to ‘Fan Fie’ from the city of K’un-Lun. However, she refused his offer since he wanted her to use them to conquer the world. Mephisto then turned to the ‘Gorilla Clan’ who were against Fan Fie, and handed over the ‘Power Stone’ to them instead. He was also responsible for turning Thanos against the Avengers, as he convinced Thanos from a very young age to attack the Avengers.
Over the course of the next centuries, Mephisto pops up in places all over the universe as he spreads evil and creates chaos. In the sixth century, Mephisto let the sorceress ‘Morgan Le Fay’ seek shelter in his realm in exchange for a piece of the mystical sword of Excalibur. Then, it so happens that Doctor Doom captures Iron Man and travels to Mephisto’s realm in the past. Doom offers to hand over Iron Man to Mephisto in return for the sword of Excalibur and Morgan Le Fay. Mephisto decided to torture Iron Man, as he wanted to make a deal with this Avenger from the future.
However, Iron Man refuses to make any deals, and Mephisto then sends The Ape King of the Gorilla Clan to attack Iron Man. Mephisto even gets his hands on the Time Stone and uses its powers to turn into Howard Stark and appear in front of Tony Stark. Even though Iron Man’s suit is low on power and he begins to lose energy, he keeps his composure and turns down Mephisto’s deals. Mephisto tortures Stark by making him battle his demons, but the Avenger fights off all attacks and somehow manages to escape and return to the present.
Later on, in the tenth century, Mephisto convinces the super villain mutant ‘Apocalypse’ to launch a battle against the Avengers of that era. Once, he also makes a deal with a cult of seven members who wish to become immortal. In exchange for immortality, Mephisto orders the cult members to kill a number of humans over thousands of years and send their souls to Mephisto’s realm.
He then returned again in the year 1667 to allegedly inspire ‘John Milton’ to write the epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’. Traces of Mephisto’s existence have been spread across centuries all over the Marvel Universe, and he later even appears in the year 1775 to inspire ‘Johann Goette’ to write the play ‘Faust: The Tragedy.’
In the twentieth century, Mephisto made an appearance when a group of Nazi scientists had created a portal to his Hell Realm. However, this portal, known as Darkdoor, was not thoroughly tested as the project was soon abandoned and destroyed by the scientists.
Mephisto then manipulated one of the scientists, ‘Thule’, to open this Darkdoor by tricking him into thinking that the door led him to the planet of an alien species known as ‘Vril.’ Thule had to sacrifice many lives to be able to open the door, but he finally succeeded. Mephisto was thrilled to have this new means of transportation connecting his realm to Earth.
In the modern age, Mephisto has stirred up trouble for many superheroes such as Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, NightHawk, Black Panther, Thor, and even the X-Men. He had once peeked into his future and learned that though he conquers the Earth, he loses all of it in the end when Spider-Man defeats him. As a result, he always kept a keen eye on the happenings on Earth and often battled against superheroes in an attempt to prevent his downfall in the future.
Mephisto up against the Silver Surfer
Mephisto was first introduced in the Silver Surfer comics [issue 3], all the way back in 1968. He was introduced in the comic issue titled ‘The Power and the Prize’. The Silver Surfer was a superhero who devoted his life to taking care of humans in need and healing them with his cosmic powers. As the comic begins, he attempts to heal a severely injured woman but is constantly interrupted by the hospital staff and the authorities.
Silver Surfer saves her life despite being attacked by the police, who view him as a threat and have begun shooting lasers at him. As he leaves the hospital, Silver Surfer’s anger builds up as he ponders over how ungrateful humanity is to him. He wishes to get revenge and uses his powers to envelop the world in a series of ‘cosmic bursts.’ This causes the world to come to a standstill as power goes out everywhere, lights go out, and all sorts of machinery begin to malfunction.
This catastrophe catches Mephisto’s eye, as he considers the Earth to be one of his best bet’s to get human manpower and spread evil. He examines the cause of this crisis on Earth through his ‘mystic vapors’ and finds out that Silver Surfer is behind this. He is determined to put an end to this madness, and Mephisto departs for the planet of ‘Zenn-la.’ Here, he pays a visit to ‘Shalla-Bal,’ a lonely woman who is grieving the loss of her love ‘Norrin Radd’ that she has lost forever. We finally learn that Norrin Radd is the same person who is currently known as ‘Silver Surfer’
Mephisto visits Shalla-Bal and asks her to accompany him if she wishes to see Norrin Radd again. Without any hesitation, Shalla-Bal agrees to man a spaceship to Earth, and Mephisto sets off on his journey to teach Silver Surfer a lesson. In the meantime, Silver Surfer snaps out of his momentary rage and realizes the damage he is causing on Earth. He undoes the effects of his cosmic field, and things return to normal.
Just then, the Zenn-Lavian spaceship catches his eye, and Silver Surfer realizes that this must be Shalla-Bal visiting him. However, the Earth’s defenses attack the spaceship before Silver Surfer can even process anything, let alone act quickly to save it. The ship crashes on Earth, and Shalla-Bal is critically injured from the fall. Silver Surfer rushes to her side, and the two lovers are reunited briefly as the superhero uses his powers to heal her injuries.
However, they do not get much time as Mephisto makes an appearance and vanishes along with her to the underworld. Before leaving, he declares that as long as Silver Surfer is on Earth, Mephisto’s evil plans are in jeopardy and that he must die. However, Mephisto does not wish to kill Silver Surfer on Earth and announces that he will take his life in a place of his liking. Mephisto then uses his powers to vanish into thin air with Shalla-Bal, and takes her to his realm.
In the second part of this comic, titled ‘Duel in the Depths,’ Silver Surfer travels to the Hell Realm in order to save Shalla-Bal. Mephisto is a little surprised to see him appear so quickly, and he tries to convince Silver Surfer to give up on being a savior of the people and join his side instead. When Silver Surfer disagrees with becoming Mephisto’s slave, the devil lord uses his powers to attack him.
Mephisto even orders his creatures to attack Silver Surfer, but the superhero manages to defeat them all. Eventually, Mephisto uses his amoebic energy to physically restrict the Silver Surfer’s movements and defeat him. He then implants Silver Surfer’s soul into his mind, hoping to corrupt it and get the superhero to join his side. However, the Silver Surfer’s soul is too pure, and it starts to hurt Mephisto, who has no option but to release him.
With no other option, Mephisto uses Shalla-Bal as a means to get the Silver Surfer to obey him and become his slave. Though Shalla-Bal and Silver Surfer are desperate to be reunited, they give up on their love in order to ensure that Mephisto’s plans fail. Shall-Bal is content with returning to Zenn-La, while the Silver Surfer returns to Earth. Though Mephisto could not defeat Silver Surfer, he is still quite satisfied to know that his separation from Shalla-Bal must have caused great pain to the superhero. As the comic comes to an end, Mephisto vows to return one day and finally defeat Silver Surfer.
What makes him such a deadly force?
As the Lord of the demons, Mephisto possesses supernatural powers that make him quite a deadly force to reckon with. He is an immortal being who is immune to all forms of sicknesses and possesses superhuman durability. Along with superhuman strength and speed, Mephisto also possesses the ability to heal any injuries within seconds.
He can perform demonic magic, distort reality, and even manipulate energy. Mephisto had the ability to possess humans on Earth, and he used their bodies as a vessel to contain his demonic spirit. He had control over his powers even in a human body, but they greatly affected the vessel body and caused them to weaken.
As the devil, Mephisto could also make deals with humans and get rid of their problems in exchange for their souls and services. If a human enters his realm, he has the power to trap them here forever by using his physical force. He is an all-powerful entity with the ability to resurrect people and bring them back from the dead. Moreover, Mephisto can bestow powers upon humans and other beings. One such example is Johnny Blaze, who is given the power of being the Ghost Rider by Mephisto.
Mephisto has tainted the Earth for many years and amassed an army of followers at his disposal. He also has a great number of weapons, resources, and monetary funds at his disposal and is a virtually undefeatable being. He even has the ability of ‘pre recognition’ that enables him to look into the past and the future of other beings, as well as his future.
Conclusion
To sum it up, Mephisto is quite an intriguing character, with a fascinating history and many terrorizing story arcs. He has caught the audience’s attention in the Ghost Rider movies, and it would be pretty awesome to see more of him in shows and movies. Especially since many of his cool versions are being incorporated into the current comic books, one can expect to see a lot more of him in upcoming Marvel media!