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Quote1 Welcome, Christians. You can't know how long I have wanted to say that. Quote2
Mephisto[src]

History

Origins[]

The creature known as Mephisto began his life as a proto-Deviant, humans whose genetics were manipulated by the Celestials. Mephisto's mutation soon entered the third tier, meaning that he was shaped by the beliefs of others. As others grew to believe that Mephisto was the devil, that is essentially what Mephisto became, assuming his current form.[2]

For millennia, Mephisto played the part of devil to humanity, scheming and manipulating them to lure them into sin and misery, now completely oblivious to the truth of his origins. Unable to do bodily harm to his victims, due to the limitations his role imposed on him, he dedicated himself to the corruption of their souls.[3] He came to believe that there would be a final day of judgement, when God would punish him for his own sins.[4] Mephisto also learned a great deal of the mysteries of the universe. He learned of the Celestials manipulation of other lifeforms, and learned how to mutate the seeds they imbued with humans himself, and after encountering the future human Prince Wayfinder, also learned the secrets of time-travel.[4][5]

He also learned of the Realm of the Dead, where the Elders of the Universe were gathering the souls of the dead as part of their plan to reconstruct their lost universe. Encountering Death, Mephisto came to consider her a daughter.[6]

In an effort to escape the coming divine judgement, Mephisto began taking steps towards creating alternate realities. At the end of time, Mephisto created the Time-Keepers who would work to ensure that time would not be linear. Mephisto eagerly shared his knowledge of time-travel, knowing that every time a time-machine was used, an alternate reality would be created. Each reality he created gave him a new refuge to which he could escape the coming day of judgement.[4] Every time a time-machine was used, Limbo grew, and as Mephisto held the key to Limbo, so did his power.[7] Fearing that the pure knowledge and perspective granted by knowing the future might change him, he sought a steward for Limbo.[4]

Using his ability to mutate other humans, he set his underlings to rule in the alternate realities he helped create. In almost every case, he allowed these new mutated beings to believe themselves to be the true devil, leaving them unaware of how he had manipulated them, in order to prevent them from ever trying to rebel against him. One of these "underlings" was Merlyn, whose Captain Britain Corps he gave the ability to travel between alternate realities.[4]

One of these realities presumably became Mephisto's own realm, which bore great similarities to human perceptions of Hell.

When the alien Asgardians, aliens who had reached the third tier of mutation, appeared on Earth, making landfall at a Norse village, Mephisto appeared before Donnerson, a crippled story-teller residing in the village. Mephisto explained the nature of the creatures, and told Donnerson that he could will them into the gods he worshipped, and assume his place among them as Odin, father of the gods. In return for his aid, Mephisto asked for a small plot of land in what would become Asgard, as well as the ability to see Asgard through the eye of Odin. On this plot, Mephisto planted Yggdrasill, a world tree with a map of the multiverse at its core, allowing Mephisto to navigate the many timelines he brought about.[8]

Modern Age[]

As the population of Earth began to mutate more rapidly, Mephisto's manipulations would be acutely felt by its superhuman populace. Mephisto made a deal with the young Roma woman Cynthia von Doom, ensuring that her son would become a man of great importance in exchange for her soul. Her son grew up to become Doctor Doom, the brilliant but tyrannical ruler of Latveria. In his adulthood, Doom would desperately seek to free his mother's soul, and made a deal of his own with Mephisto in exchange for the secrets of time-travel, unaware that its use was serving Mephisto's purposes.[9]

As mankind was the only race in the universe to have discovered the secrets of time manipulation, Mephisto feared that the rest of the universe would attempt to undo their fumblings with time. In need of a safeguard, he made a deal with the Supreme Intelligence of the Kree Empire. The Supremor would ensure humanity's survival, and in exchange, it would absorb the minds of every dead Kree in each new alternate reality.[10]

Following Kree hero Mar-Vell's death, Mephisto stole the piece of the cosmic consciousness that Mar-Vell had possessed in life. Mephisto feared using it himself, as he might learn compassion and nobility through it, along with everything else, pieces of knowledge he feared dearly. Disguised as an angel, he bequeathed it to the hero known as Nighthawk, hoping to use it through him instead.[11][12]

Over the coming years, Mephisto manipulated many heroes and villains, such as the Silver Surfer, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, Doctor Doom, Ghost Rider and many more, hoping to drive his victims into such despair that they would be compelled to use time-travel to escape their problems. Mephisto's control over these conflicts was so vast that even his defeats were feigned.[4]

Mutation of Humanity[]

After Nightcrawler was beaten and left for dead after he inadvertently turned into a human while teleporting, Mephisto found and brainwashed him into believing that he was in fact the demonic Belasco, ruler of Limbo. Freezing him in a block of ice, Mephisto stored him in Limbo for future use.[6]

After the mutation of Doctor Strange's servant Wong caused him to develop a second, malevolent persona, Mephisto manipulated him and secured his allegiances. On his behalf, Wong goaded Strange's disciple Clea into betraying him before eventually forming the Tong of Creel, which sought to reassemble the Absorbing Man, so that he could be unleashed upon the world.[10]

Universe X[]

After the defeat of the Final Host of Celestials, Mephisto launched his plans in earnest. Disguising himself as the innocuous "Mr. Church", Mephisto became an advisor to Immortus and his church. Immortus believed that it was the mutated mankind's fate to conquer the stars, and believed that Reed Richards was wrong to try and reverse the mutations.[7]

As Mr. Church, Mephisto approached the Gargoyle. He offered to restore the Gargoyle's much missed ability to touch and feel in return for access to the visions of Kyle Richmond, which the Gargoyle had taken to recording for posterity. Believing Church to be a second rate mystic, the Gargoyle accepted.[7][12]

When a reborn Mar-Vell, guarded by Captain America, set out on his quest to destroy Death, Mephisto sought to stop him. When the pair travelled to Limbo in search of Anti-Metal, he attempted to tempt Captain America to make use of Mephisto's control of time to travel back to the past. Rogers refused, and played into Mephisto's hands, by inadvertently sending the frozen Belasco into the past, where he would wreak havoc upon the Savage Land and the X-Men, and fulfill his role as Mephisto's proxy in Limbo.[7]

When Immortus began to mutate due to the Terrigen Mist in Earth's atmosphere, he retired from public appearances and asked "Mr. Church" to speak to their followers on his behalf.[13] Mephisto marshalled their followers into launching full-scale attacks on the Human Torch in New York City, causing massive pandemonium in the city.[12] When Gargoyle finally learned the truth of Church's identity, he attempted to make Mephisto take back his gift. The attempt was in vain, as Mephisto merely scoffed at him, as his "gift" quickly cost the Gargoyle his life.[12]

With the world in chaos, Mephisto hoped to doom the planet entirely, and prompt Immortus to once again use the time-machine to escape, creating yet more alternate realities. However, Mephisto slipped up, accidentally calling Immortus "Kang", prompting him to realize he had been manipulated, and causing him to destroy the time-machine.[10]

Kyle Richmond, having learned the truth from the eyes Mephisto had given him, revealed Mephisto's origins as a deviant to him, telling him that his attempts to escape the non-existent day of judgement were meaningless. An angry Mephisto refused to believe him, and escaped.[14] He returned to the Realm of the Dead, where he witnessed Mar-Vell's army falling apart. He secured Mar-Vell's body and brought it before his "daughter" and her servant Thanos. Taunting the astral form of Doctor Strange, and the newly deceased and confused Gargoyle, Mephisto prepared to tear out the heart of his foe Mar-Vell, only for the Kree hero's plots in the realm of the living to finally bear fruit, allowing him to complete the cosmic consciousness. With his newfound powers, Mar-Vell forced Mephisto to accept the truth of his origins and banished him from the Realm of the Dead, before killing Death.[2]

Paradise X[]

Despite his defeat at the hands of Mar-Vell, Mephisto did not give up his schemes to become a god. While the realisation that he had been living a lie shook him, it also freed him from his self-imposed limits, such as his inability to do bodily harm to his victims. After Mar-Vell's destruction of Death, none on Earth were able to die. As revenge, Mephisto began inflicting mortal wounds on people, knowing that they would be doomed to suffer forever.[3]

With Thor and Loki having realized that their lives, too, had been lies, they made preparations to defeat "Odin", and free their people from his stories. This threatened Mephisto's access to the multiverse, and so he visited Odin to warn him.[15] The warning was futile, however. The two "brothers" succeeded in overthrowing Odin, prompting Mephisto to abandon him. Before undoing his story they cut down Yggdrasil, ensuring Mephisto would be trapped on Earth-9997.[16]

Undeterred, Mephisto carried on his scheme. He attended King Britain and Queen Medusa's wedding disguised as Banshee. When Scott Summers, who knew Banshee was dead, attacked him, Mephisto slipped away and transformed into the Grey Gargoyle. Mimicking the Grey Gargoyle's abilities, Mephisto freed the petrified Excalibur, chief among them King Britain's petrified queen, Meggan, throwing the court into chaos.[17][9]

Next, he travelled to Latveria, disguising himself as one of the many Daredevil dupes roaming the castle. When Reed Richards and several of the brightest minds of the planet engineered the capture of Jude the Entropic Man as a way of creating their own Death, Mephisto appeared before him, offering his guidance and promising that he would free Jude if Jude agreed only to kill all those who had cheated death.[18] While Jude was uninterested in Mephisto's charades, he agreed, if only to have the chance to give the gift of death to those who he believed needed it. As such, when Mephisto finally freed him, Jude laid waste to the dying in Castle Doom.[5]

Setting his eyes on the Siege Perilous to regain access to the multiverse, he offered to transport Jude to England so that he may bring the island his gift. While Jude correctly surmised the reasons for Mephisto's bringing him to England, it did not matter in the end, as Jude was glad to simply be able to bring death to humanity.[19] At the hand of an army of Deviants, Mephisto attacked Buckingham Palace, stealing Excalibur so that he would have a means of controlling Jude.[20][21]

Despite seemingly claiming victory and assassinating King Britain, Mephisto was in fact tricked. The heroes of England rallied and defeated him. With Excalibur reclaimed, the true King Britain killed Mephisto, ending his evil once and for all.[22]

Attributes

Powers

It was originally believed that Mephisto's power was derived from magic and demonic sources, however it has been proven that this is inaccurate as Mephisto has been revealed to be one of the first Deviant's manipulated by the Celestials millions of years ago. As such a being he has entered the third tier of mutation in which his abilities are defined by the beliefs of his environment. As such his abilities and powers are only appear to be from magical or demonic sources because others (as well as Mephisto himself) believed him to be capable of these abilities. These abilities in question are on par with his Earth-616 counterpart. Among these abilities Mephisto can shape-shift, travel time and space, alter a being through manipulation of the Celestial seed implanted in them (originally believed to be the use of magic to change their properties.) He was also able to travel to the Realm of the Dead even though he was really a living being.[citation needed]

Later when his true nature was revealed, Mephisto retained many of his abilities, however since he did not travel through space or time or to other realms thereafter it is possible that the diminished of the idea that he was really the devil may have weakened many of his abilities.[citation needed]

Paraphernalia

Equipment

Mephisto relied on the world Ash-Tree as a map that allowed him to navigate from place to place through time and dimension without creating divergent realities. However, when the tree was chopped down and the cross-section was taken into custody by X-51, it was stated that Mephisto was trapped on Earth-9997 because he had no reference to find his way to alternate worlds. How much truth there is to this statement is unknown. Additionally, Mephisto also stole the cloak once belonging to the costumed hero Cloak, which for unrevealed reasons gained it's long dead masters abilities to teleport. Finally Mephisto wielded Excalibur, due to the swords unique properties it was able to kill a living being and send their soul to the Realm of the Dead even when Death was killed by Mar-Vell and humans could not die by natural means.[citation needed]

See Also

Links and References

References

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