Mephisto

Real Name
Mephisto

Occupation
Lord of a realm of Hell

Citizenship
Hell

Place of Birth
Unknown

Known Relatives
Blackheart (son), Mephista (daughter); presumptive relationship to other Hell-lords; quasi-paternal relationship to Mikal Drakonmegas (Hellfire) and Daimon (Hellstorm) and Satana Hellstrom; formerly engaged to unidentified demoness

Group Affiliation
Hell-lords, Lords of the Splinter Realms; formerly manipulator of the Six-Fingered Hand

Education
Extensively self-taught

Height
unrevealed

Weight
unrevealed

Eyes
unrevealed

Hair
unrevealed

Powers
An immensely powerful supernatural entity, Mephisto wields mystical energy for effects such as force blasts, matter manipulation, astral projection, interdimensional portals, illusion-casting and shape-shifting (his true form is unknown). Mephisto can capture the souls of recently deceased humans, though this usually applies only to beings who bargain away their souls to him. Mephisto can mystically trap living beings in his realm, but he cannot feed off these beings and rarely chooses to do this. A portion of his power seems to be tied to his realm and the number of souls trapped within it, meaning that prolonged absences from Hades weaken him. Mephisto does not need to eat, sleep or breathe, and is immune to aging and conventional disease.

Other Info
A Class Two Demon, or Hell-lord, Mephisto rules a fiery nether realm that he refers to as Hell or Hades (even though it isn't the Biblical Hell or Pluto's Olympian Hades). Mephisto's realm includes the Arena of Tainted Souls where tainted souls are forced to engage in eternal combat for his amusement. Mephisto also enjoys impersonating the Biblical Satan. He often strikes deceptive bargains with the living. Mephisto takes particular interest in the souls of extremely powerful or exceptionally pure beings. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn more about the characters, places, and titles.)

Long ago, Mephisto entered a rivalry with the demonic Zarathos. He struck a bargain with the young prince who eventually became Centurious, the Soulless Man. Together, they brought down Zarathos, and Mephisto began a long process of tormenting Zarathos by bonding him with mortals. Knowing Zarathos was connected to the ancient Spirits of Vengeance, Mephisto became obsessed with controlling the Medallion of Power (a mystic talisman housing the essences of the Spirits of Vengence). This led Mephisto to the Kale family, who bore shards of the Medallion within their souls. In the 18th century, Mephisto bargained with Pastor Kale, hoping to gain the soul of the Pastor's son, Noble. This eventually led to the creation of the Dan Ketch (aka one of the many Ghost Riders to come). (To learn more about the characters and items above, just click on their names.)

In recent years, Mephisto has been fascinated by Earth's super-beings, especially the Silver Surfer due to his pure spirit. Mephisto tried to tempt the Surfer with power and physical pleasure, even offering up the Surfer's beloved Shalla-Bal, but the Surfer resisted. However, this did not stop Mephisto; he has repeatedly threatened the Surfer, along with others including Thor and Daredevil. (Click on the characters' names above to learn more about them.)

When Noble Kale's descendant, Naomi Kale, tried to undo the Kale family curse, she offered Mephisto her soul in exchange for his promise that the curse would not plague her firstborn son: John Blaze. She hoped this might break the curse forever, but Mephisto taunted her with assurances that even if her son John could not become "the" Ghost Rider, he could certainly become "a" Ghost Rider. Years later, when Johnny Blaze turned to the occult in an attempt to save the life of his adopted father, Mephisto appeared to him in the guise of Satan. Claiming Blaze's soul, Mephisto bonded the human with the captured Zarathos as a new Ghost Rider (This is the famous Ghost Rider that most people know, and the movie Ghost Rider is based off). (To learn about Ghost Rider, or his mother, just click on their names above.)

Mephisto's power over the soul of Doctor Doom's mother led him into several conflicts with the Latverian monarch; they battled each other every Halloween. Along with Dr. Doom, Mephisto has menaced the Fantastic Four on several occasions, including one involving the demonologist Elspeth Cromwell who mistakenly invoked him, allowing him to capture Reed and Susan Richards and their son Franklin. However, later on, Mephisto was temporarily destroyed by Franklin Richards (Click on the highlighted names to learn more about those characters.)

After sometime, Mephisto re-formed, missing five fragments of his essence. He tricked the villain Master Pandemonium into gathering these fragments (Master Pandemonium believed that these pieces were of his own lost soul), and Mephisto was eventually restored to full strength. (Click on the highlighted name above to learn more about him. Note: Beware of one of the few characters on the bio page are shown in a revealing outfit.)

Later on, a rivalry developed between Mephisto and the Asgardian death goddess Hela (she had stolen several souls that Mephisto considered his). Scheming to force Thor to oppose Hela, Mephisto temporarily stole the souls of several heroes, including the Invisible Woman, Jean Grey and Rogue, before finally claiming the one he wanted all along: Thor's. After a series of confrontations with the Fantastic Four, X-Factor, the X-Men, and the Avengers, Mephisto freed Thor's soul, but his plot succeeded. Having seen the horrors in store should the realm of death ever expand to engulf the living, Thor vowed to stand against Hela's advances forevermore. (To learn about the above characters or teams, just click on their highlighted names. Note: Beware of the skin-tight outfit on Jean Grey's bio page and the revealing outfit on Hela's bio page.)

At one point, Mephisto tricked the herald of Galactus, Nova, into becoming more bloodthirsty in her duties, which led to the Silver Surfer and Galactus both opposing the demon. Galactus and Mephisto engaged in a cosmos-shaking battle that left the Hell-Lord badly beaten. (Click on the above characters' names to learn more about them. Note: Beware of the skin-tight outfit on Nova's bio page.)

One time, Mephisto stole the soul of Odin (while he was in his Odinsleep), and Loki possessed Odin's form. However, Odin ultimately reclaimed his body and Mephisto took Loki's soul (his true goal all along). But, after a few months, Loki's spirit eventually escaped. (Click on the highlighted names above to learn more about Odin and/or Loki. Note: Beware of the revealing outfit on one of the pictures on Loki's bio page.)

Appreciating the strength mortals drew from family and friendships, Mephisto mystically created two children for himself: a son named Blackheart (whom he deemed worthy of being his heir) and a daughter named Mephista. Mephista would wage war upon Doctor Strange, but Blackheart targeted first Daredevil and later the Dan Ketch Ghost Rider. Mephisto wanted to teach his son the ways of ruling Hell; however, Blackheart instead began to rebel against his Mephisto. At one point, Blackheart even temporarily overthrew his father and claimed the throne of Hell. But, Blackheart eventually lost it to Noble Kale, who was in turn cast out by a renewed Mephisto. (To learn more about the above highlighted characters, just click on their names. Note: Beware of Mephista's revealing outfit on her bio page.)

After reclaiming his throne, Mephisto once more began focusing on acquiring more souls for his realm. His efforts to claim the Black Panther (T'Challa) were thwarted when he was nearly overwhelmed by all of the Black Panther spirits throughout history. (Click on the above name to learn more about the Black Panther.)

Recently, Mephisto took advantage of Spider-Man's desperation to save his Aunt May's life after she was shot by one of the Kingpin's snipers. In exchange for her restored health, Spider-Man had to sacrifice his marriage to Mary Jane Watson. Peter and Mary Jane agreed, and Mephisto altered time such that the Parkers never exchanged wedding vows, the knowledge of Spider-Man's secret identity was removed from the world, and Harry Osborn was somehow restored to life.

To learn more about Mephisto, click on the following link, http://marvel.com/universe/Mephisto.

The actor Peter Fonda plays Mephisto (as Mephistopheles) in the film Ghost Rider. In Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, Mephisto (played by Ciarán Hinds) went by the name of "Roarke" instead.