Avengers: Doomsday director Joe Russo may have secretly confirmed that Mephisto will have a role in the film, and could potentially directly impact Doctor Doom’s character arc. Mephisto ruled the MCU theory realm for what seemed like an eternity, especially back in the WandaVision era. Marvel finally gave fans what they wanted in Ironheart by introducing the character, played by Sacha Baron Cohen. Now, the demonic entity could directly affect the franchise’s upcoming Avengers flick.
In a recent interview with Empire Magazine, Avengers: Doomsday director Joe Russo gave away a bit of information regarding Robert Downey Jr.’s role as Doctor Doom in the upcoming film, and in the process, may have teased that Mephisto could be involved. Specifically, Russo mentioned Doom’s line in the trailer where the villain talks about Hell, and included a few seemingly intentional words that alluded to Mephisto’s involvement.
The Doomsday director used the words “dark magic,” and the fact that Doom is “not above selling his soul to get what he wants:”
"He says, 'Hell answers to me,' and he's not kidding. He's a very powerful character with some very dark magic, and he's not above selling his soul to get what he wants."
The most notable parts of this quote are the mention that Hell truly does answer to Doom, and that he would be willing to “sell his soul.” In the comics, Doom is directly tied to Mephisto, as Doom’s mother sells her soul to Mephisto for power. Now, that is a pretty major change, as Doom himself doesn't sell his soul, but Marvel Studios could absolutely make that change where it is Doom himself selling his soul to Mephisto instead of his mother.
In fact, at a different point in the comics, Doom even confronts Mephisto, who thinks Doom is there to give the demon his soul. However, Doom being the fearless character he is, punches Mephisto. Therefore, as mentioned, it would be a rather major departure from the comics to have Doom sell his soul to Mephisto. If Kevin Feige and the Russos think that would best benefit the story, though, that is what will happen.
It is important to remember that Mephisto hasn't totally been fleshed out in the MCU yet. He only popped up in one project, and it was fairly brief compared to the way other characters have been handled. However, connecting him to Doom and making the character have an impact on Doomsday’s story could be an effective way to bring him back and establish himself as a truly evil figure.
Why Would Doom Sell His Soul to Mephisto?
Obviously, if Doctor Doom did in fact sell his souls to Mephisto prior to the events of Avengers: Doomsday, the biggest question would be what led him to do so. Technically, there is an infinite amount of possibilities and answers to that question, but the most likely has to do with Doom’s family.
In multiple pieces of marketing for Doomsday, an interesting piece of art that is tied to Doom has been showcased. Specifically, a tapestry has been shown on a wall that depicts what looks like a woman and a young child. Some assumed that this was Doom and his mother, Cynthia, but a better theory is that the tapestry features Doom’s wife and child.
If that is the case, and Doom’s wife and child are dead during Doomsday, that would be as good a reason as any for him to sell his soul to someone like Mephisto in order to gain immense power, especially if he blamed the Avengers (or, more specifically, Steve Rogers) for their deaths.
Joe Russo’s words could simply mean nothing. After all, the Russos are pretty good at keeping secrets, so it is hard to believe he would let something like that slip unless it was completely intentional. While that is possible, Marvel would likely want to save Mephisto as a surprise for Doomsday.
