The MCU Introduced Mephisto In <em>Ironheart</em>. But Does Anyone Care?

When no one was looking, Marvel made a deal with the devil. Four years after WandaVision made "Mephisto" the hottest search term Google had ever seen, Ironheart on Disney+ finally introduced the demonic villain Mephisto. He's Marvel's analogue to Satan, played Sacha Baron Cohen, who strike a deal with Dominique Thorne's Gen Z heroine with an Iron Man suit of her own.

Although Thunderbolts* injected some life back into the superhero genre back in April, the lethargic reception to Ironheart, which premiered June 24 on Disney+, revealed even more listlessness toward the once all-consuming Marvel Cinematic Universe. Based on a new interview with head writer Chinaka Hodge for Entertainment Weekly, it seems as if Marvel dropped its Mephisto-shaped nuclear bomb to recapture wayward fans. But if a bomb drops when no one is around, does it actually make a sound?

On July 1, Marvel's Ironheart released the second half of its six-episode first season, including the finale "The Past is the Past." At the end of the episode, Sacha Baron Cohen's recurring, unnamed character reveals himself as Mephisto, a sorcerer who rules over Hell. He strikes a deal with Riri to bring back her deceased friend Natalie (Lyric Ross). But no deals with the devil ever come without a catch, and Ironheart leaves things open for season 2.

In the comics, Mephisto is an enemy to heroes like Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, Silver Surfer, and even Spider-Man; Mephisto famously erased Spidey's marriage to Mary Jane from history, an event that persists in Marvel's status quo to this day. Also in the comics, Wanda—a.k.a. "Scarlet Witch"—used fragments of Mephisto's soul to spawn her children. This bit of lore was the sole driver to all that WandaVision speculation back in 2021.

Years after Marvel fans thought he’d be in WandaVision, Mephisto finally surfaced in Ironheart, played by Sacha Baron Cohen.

Despite his prominence in Marvel's comics, fans wondered if his role as Marvel's Satan might be too much for Disney productions. Whether such restrictions were ever present or not, it's all gone after Ironheart.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Hodge avoids saying who, exactly, decided that Mephisto would surface in Ironheart—though it appears to not be all her doing. "I wish I could answer it more plainly. It was not my decision alone," Hodge said. "I was empowered by Marvel to make that decision. I don't know what will happen next with the character or with Sacha in the MCU. But as a fan, I'm really hoping to see him make lots of appearances."

It's quite the confused answer by Hodge. Her phrasing ("empowered by Marvel") suggests Mephisto's inclusion in Ironheart was the result of some executive committee decision-making. And maybe it was. While Riri is a fun character with modest history in Marvel's comics—she made her debut less than a decade ago, in Invincible Iron Man #7 published in 2016—she's not so high profile to warrant significant interest in her solo Disney+ series. Thorne's debut as Riri in 2022's Black Panther: Wakanda Forever didn't make the character an overnight star either. Thus, inserting an in-demand villain with potentially problematic optics in a show where you least expect him to appear feels like a ploy, and a desperate one, to get eyeballs on something Marvel themselves didn't show much faith in from the start.

This is all speculation, to be clear. But it's darkly amusing how Marvel is pulling the trigger on something they should have been pulled years ago. If this were 2021, the Internet would have stopped to a halt over Mephisto's appearance. Now, it's barely a blip in the news cycle. The casting for the Street Fighter movie and leaks over Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey are both arguably making more noise than Mephisto's debut.

What Mephisto means for the MCU's future is unclear. For now, Marvel's deal with the devil is coming up short.