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Mephisto
Publisher Marvel Comics First appearance Silver Surfer vol. 1, #3 (December 1968) Created by Stan Lee John Buscema
Characteristics Team affiliations Six-Fingered Hand Notable aliases Satan, Mephistopheles, Lord of Evil, Prince of Devils, Lord of the Lower Depths Abilities Magical powers Immortality Can take possession of souls that are willingly offered

Mephisto is a fictional character, a supervillain in the Marvel Universe. Created by Stan Lee and John Buscema, the character first appears in Silver Surfer vol. 1, #3 (December 1968).

Contents 1 Fictional character biography 2 Powers and abilities 3 In other media 3.1 Television 3.2 Film 3.3 Video games 4 References 5 External links

An entity of pure evil, Mephisto is commonly mistaken for - and sometimes poses as - the biblical version of Satan. He cultivates this interpretation for the influence it gives him over humans who believe in the teachings of Christianity; however, Mephisto has never been shown beyond a doubt to be either devil or demon, and whether the entity Satan actually exists in the fictional Marvel universe remains unestablished. Although one of Mephisto's rival hell lords is named Lucifer and has the same "Fall from Heaven" backstory. Also, given the lying and deceptive nature of both the comic book Mephisto and the Biblical Satan, it is unknown if anyone can truly trust Mephisto's claims that he is or is not actually Satan.

Given that deceit and obfuscation are Mephisto's stock in trade, anything he himself has presented regarding his origin can be untrue, but one theory proposed in the comics^[1] is that Mephisto and many other "Hell Lords" were created from the primeval concentration of evil energy left in the wake of the fleeing Elder Gods when they were driven from the Earth by the entity Atum millions of years ago. ^[2]

One particular trait - collecting the souls of the dead - brings him into repeated conflict with the heroes of the Marvel Universe. Both the Silver Surfer and the Thunder God Thor would become perennial foes for Mephisto, who detests the fact that they are shining examples of what mankind could one day become. ^[3]

Mephisto causes long-term problems for other characters, including:

• Capturing and holding the soul of Cynthia Von Doom - the mother of Doctor Doom - until Doctor Strange and Doom free her to ascend to heaven. ^[4]

• Creating the Ghost Rider by bonding the demon Zarathos to Johnny Blaze. As "Satan," Mephisto plagues Blaze for years. ^[5]

• Manipulating the sorcerer Master Pandemonium into gathering scattered fragments of Mephisto's soul. When attempting to use magic to conceive children with her husband, the android Vision, the Scarlet Witch unknowingly summons two of the soul fragments which are born as her infant twins. The revelation of her children's origin, followed by their loss when reabsorbed into Mephisto, later drives the Scarlet Witch insane. ^[6]

• Abducting Mr. Fantastic and trapping the Fantastic Four in Hell. The team, however, manage to escape. ^[7]

• Manipulating and then trying to destroy the Avenger Hawkeye when he enters Hell to try and save the soul of his deceased wife, Mockingbird. Hawkeye rescues Patsy Walker, but fails to see Mockingbird. ^[8]

Mephisto, as a demonic being of the highest order, is pure evil and possesses virtually unlimited supernatural powers as well as incredible intelligence. ^[9] Mephisto has the ability to take possession of living souls, but he only has claim over said souls if some form of pact is involved: he cannot indiscriminately abduct souls at will. ^[10] Mephisto almost never engages in physical combat, as he prefers manipulation and deceit over brute force. On those rare occasions when Mephisto does chose to fight he is a formidable opponent, and has displayed a range of abilities including super strength, size shifting, illusion generation, ^[11] energy projection and memory manipualtion. ^[12] Mephisto and his realm are also symbiotically linked, and as such he is virtually invulnerable to conventional harm. ^[13] If Mephisto is destroyed, he will reform as soon as enough evil souls enter his realm. ^[14]

• Mephisto makes a cameo appearance in Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends in "The Prison Plot" as one of the illusions shown by Mastermind.
• Mephisto was due to appear in the second season of The Silver Surfer, with his demonic nature toned down and made acceptable for children.^[15] He makes a cameo at the end of episode 21, Down To Earth, Part 3. ^[16]

• Actor Peter Fonda plays Mephisto (as Mephistopheles) as one of the two main villains alongside Blackheart in the 2007 film Ghost Rider. He has expressed interest in returning to portray him again for Ghost Rider 2.^[17]

• Mephisto also appears in the Silver Surfer video game for the NES.
• Mephisto's voice is heard in a bonus mission in the 2005 Fantastic Four video game.
• Mephisto appears as a boss in the game Marvel: Ultimate Alliance voiced by Fred Tatasciore.
• Mephisto is the final boss in the Gameboy Advance version of the Ghost Rider video game.
• Mephisto can be seen in the Thanos´s arena in Marvel Super Heroes (arcade game) version.
• Mephisto also appears as a secret character in the game Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter as a palette swap of Blackheart.

• Marvel.com: Mephisto
• Mephisto at Marvel Directory
• Profile of Mephisto
• Mephisto at Marvel Appendix