After years of speculation, the long-awaited Marvel villain Mephisto finally made his MCU debut in the Disney+ series Ironheart. British actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen played the role of Marvel’s devil with a slickness and an ever-present threat of danger in the finale episode of the show, seemingly making a deal with Riri Williams. Now, fans are just as enthusiastic and busy theorizing where the demon will pop up, and which Marvel character’s Mephisto will make a deal with next. At a recent roundtable for the MCU’s next release, Fantastic Four: First Steps, Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige confirmed that we’ll likely see more of Cohen as the character going forward.
Feige discussed his initial reluctance to include a cosmic being like Mephisto on screen before the creation of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying he didn’t know how to bring a character like Mephisto into the world of superheroes. “He’s the devil; how do you do that character?”
While he made his MCU debut in Ironheart, Mephisto made his first appearance in the comics in Silver Surfer #3 in 1968. Since then, Mephisto has played formative roles in the stories of many Marvel characters, including Ghost Rider, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and the Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom. However, it was Mephisto’s history with Scarlet Witch that led to fan theories about him appearing in WandaVision back in 2021, which did not go unnoticed by Feige.
“He was never part of WandaVision,” Feige was quick to say, reiterating similar sentiments shared by the creators behind WandaVision and subsequently its spinoff Agatha All Along. “But the enthusiasm with which he was theorized on that certainly was cool and was fun to watch.”
Feige Confirms More Mephisto in MCU
Feige answered with a firm “yes” as to whether there are plans to use Mephisto more; however, he remained tight-lipped on exactly how. “He was a big part of Thanos’ storyline in the comics. So again, now that he’s here, the potential is clear.”
While Thanos is dead in the MCU continuity, there’s a chance we may see Mephisto again as soon as next year in a Marvel project. The soonest could be in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, slated for release next summer. Mephisto, who considers Peter Parker and Mary Jane’s daughter the key to his undoing, heavily factored into the controversial “One More Day” storyline in the comics, in which Peter makes a bargain with Mephisto to save Aunt May in exchange for erasing his marriage to Mary Jane from existence and making his identity secret once more. Thus, if Peter and MJ aren’t together, they can’t give birth to Mephisto’s nemesis.
Mephisto could also tie into 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday, given that he made a deal with Victor von Doom’s mother, Cynthia, before he became the villain Doctor Doom. A skilled Romani sorceress, Cynthia made a bargain with Mephisto for the power to seek revenge against those who persecuted her clan. However, the demon neglected to mention that for every man she killed, she also took a child’s life, and though she was horrified and renounced her power, she was fatally stabbed. Victor eventually enlisted Doctor Strange to free Cynthia from Mephisto’s realm to a better afterlife in the classic 1989 Marvel graphic novel Doctor Strange and Doctor Doom: Triumph and Torment, widely considered one of the defining Doom stories. While he may not be a leading character in Avengers: Doomsday, Mephisto’s connection to Doctor Doom’s past could very much merit at least a cameo from Cohen in the upcoming film. And even if not, there are still countless ways the Mephisto could make his devilish return to the screen.
The Fantastic Four: First Steps hits theaters Friday, July 25th.
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