[Editor’s note: The following article contains spoilers for Marvel‘s “Ironheart” finale.]
Where were you when you first learned about Mephisto?
I was at my parents’ house during COVID, when Marvel began its erratic foray into television with the powerful “WandaVision.” In Marvel Comics, Mephisto is literally the devil; he crops up with various heroes and villains across the comics under thin aliases (Beelzebub? who could that be?), leaving his mark on the lives of everyone from Spider-Man to Doctor Strange, and more. He’s connected to Scarlet Witch through her sons, who were introduced in Jac Schaeffer’s Emmy-winning series.
And as the world Wanda (Elisabeth Olsen) built around herself started to fracture, fans thought the devil was in the details — but he never broke through. Eager theorists tabled their disappointment (easy to do when Kathryn Hahn is the one guiding you into the unknown) with the hope that Mephisto would pop up in the upcoming slate of films and shows.
But he didn’t.
There were whispers around “Loki” and “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Surely he’d appear in “The Multiverse of Madness,” which brought Scarlet Witch face-to-face with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). By then, however, the villain of the phase had been introduced as Kang (Jonathan Majors), with pieces falling into place for an epic battle against him, leaving little room for a second big bad.
As someone who was scrambling for Mephisto crumbs during “WandaVision,” I’ve been saddened by my growing distance from the MCU since then. But between “Thunderbolts” and “Ironheart,” I feel something stirring that has been dormant since the days of lockdown.
For one thing, I was removed enough to miss the whispers that Mephisto would debut in “Ironheart,” and if I did catch this news item blowing the entire reveal over two years ago, I simply forgot! Watching the screeners all at once meant no week-to-week theorizing, so by the time Sacha Baron Cohen arrived on screen I was too absorbed in stunt casting to even consider who he was playing. It wasn’t until a few lines before the character identifies himself that I remembered a name I had long forgotten — and realized that not only could this be him, but it had to be.
“You can call me Mephisto,” he said. To my own surprise, I shrieked. Mephisto is the one who gave Parker (Anthony Ramos) his hood as part of a sinister “deal,” and he’s the devil who will offer Riri (Dominique Thorne) what she most desires in exchange for what’s sure to be a deadly price. The shriek was less of shock than disbelief — or maybe I’ve been holding it in for years? Finally, we got there — so where do we go next?
This character and “Ironheart” took a long time to reach our screens (that 2022 leak was from the set), but seeing Baron Cohen eat up the role was immensely satisfying, regardless of the wait. Not only is it a departure from the actor’s usual repertoire (I couldn’t ID him with full confidence with the American accent), but it instantly stood out from the slew of gratuitous and garish MCU cameos in the past few years. (Harry Styles and Brett Goldstein come to mind.)
Mephisto has presence and purpose, and his powers remain a mystery to the audience because they’re a mystery to our protagonist. Their deal slightly betrays Riri’s journey with grief throughout the season, but that’s the kind of character heel turn that indicates a larger plan within the franchise.
The MCU has struggled with memorable villains (remember Malekith? of course you don’t) enough to approach them more thoughtfully over time; crafting a good one is hard enough, and more than one at a time would dilute their overall impression. With Kang out of the picture, there was a brief an opening for HBIC (Head Beelzebub in Charge, if you will), but that role got reworked into Doctor Doom (Robert Downey Jr.), whos scheduled to be the central villain of 2026’s “Avengers: Doomsday.”
“Ironheart” was originally filmed before Marvel cut ties with Majors, so there was at least a plan for Mephisto to coexist with Kang, if not others upon his introduction. There’s always the chance that this is a long game and Mephisto will work in the shadows throughout the events leading up to and following “Doomsday,” stepping into the spotlight during Phase… 7?? Admittedly, that’s not as enticing as imagining him in “Fantastic Four: The First Steps” later this month, given his overlap with those characters, and it’s also entirely possible that this character missed his window and joined the party too late.
But one way or another, Mephisto has finally entered the MCU, and the timing is such that I’m less concerned about the path forward than the road it took to get here. Through two Phases, 16 shows, and 13 movies, I finally got to release that scream, and I might just dare to get excited about what the future might bring.
All episodes of “Ironheart” are now streaming on Disney+.