With Mephisto finally making an appearance in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it raises many questions about the events that have transpired in the movies up to this point. This is because Mephisto (played by Sacha Baron Cohen) told Riri Williams in Ironheart that he had made a deal with numerous people throughout time when offering her a deal.
This has happened more than once in the comics, where Mephisto and his bad deals have ruined more than one person's life. Of course, this started with Johnny Blaze's Ghost Rider, who accepted a contract with the evil demon. It even played out in the Nicolas Cage movie, with Mephisto played by Peter Fonda. However, Johnny Blaze was never incorporated into the MCU, as other characters, such as Blade and Elektra, arrived.
There was a Ghost Rider in the MCU, with Robbie Reyes appearing in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. However, in the comics, Robbie didn't make a deal with Mephisto to gain his powers and was instead cursed by his estranged uncle, a Satanic serial killer named Eli Morrow.
Even when dismissing the Ghost Rider characters, the MCU has many characters who made a deal with Marvel's devil Mephisto in the comics.
MCU Characters Who Made A Deal With Mephisto
Spider-Man
One of the most notorious moments of a Marvel hero making a deal with Mephisto came in the pages of The Amazing Spider-Man. This occurred during Marvel's Civil War storyline, following Tony Stark's convincing of Spider-Man to reveal his secret identity to the world as part of the Superhero Registration Act.
For Iron Man, this was a way for Spider-Man to show that he was falling in line, hoping to convince other heroes to do the same. However, Stark had no idea what damage he was causing because Spider-Man's announcement that he was Peter Parker meant every villain who hated him now knew about his loved ones, including Mary Jane Watson and Aunt May.
Soon, an assassin shot Aunt May, putting her on the edge of death. That is when Mephisto showed up and offered Spider-Man a deal. While Peter wasn't sure about it, Mary Jane Watson devised an idea. She offered something in exchange, so Spider-Man and Mary Jane agreed to end their relationship and have Mephisto alter the timeline so that they never fell in love and got married, while also having the world forget that Spider-Man and Peter Parker were the same person.
This marked the beginning of the Brand New Day storyline, which rebooted Spider-Man's story. Ultimately, it turned out that Mephisto made this deal to keep Peter and Mary Jane from having a baby (Mayday Parker), which Mephisto foresaw would one day bring about his downfall.
Ironically, this is also what lies next for Spider-Man in the MCU, albeit thanks to Doctor Strange, rather than Mephisto.
Scarlet Witch
There were rumors running wild that Mephisto was going to appear in WandaVision. It got so big that, when he didn't, Marvel at least name-dropped him in Agatha All Along. However, fans thought Mephisto was coming to the first Disney+ Marvel series because of how Wanda created her children in the comics.
In WandaVision, she created them with magic, which was about it. However, in the comics, Wanda unknowingly used Mephisto's soul to create her two children, Billy and Tommy. She then made herself forget what happened and believed they were real children.
While this wasn't a traditional deal with Mephisto, it caused problems when he came for her children. This trend has continued, as seen in the pages of Avengers Academy this year, where Mephisto sent his son, Blackheart, to retrieve alternate Earth versions of Billy and Tommy.
Howard Stark
There are some thoughts that the MCU's Tony Stark might have made a deal with Mephisto based on what the demon told Riri Williams in Ironheart. However, in the comics, it wasn't Tony who made a deal with the devil; it was his father, Howard Stark. At least, it was a Howard Stark from Earth-4111 who made his way to Earth-616.
This Howard variant traded his family for success and the exchange of not growing old. He arrived on Earth-616 as the Iron Inquisitor in Avengers (Vol. 8) #50 with orders from Mephisto to destroy this world's Tony Stark.
It took a while before the comics revealed that he was an alternate Earth's Howard Stark, not Tony's father, back from the dead. However, before his time ended, he had helped Mephisto claim several souls who owed him debts.
Howard Stark, played by Dominic Cooper and John Slattery in the MCU, was very successful. He helped create SHIELD and built a massive empire before the Winter Soldier killed him. It is curious whether he ever made a deal with Mephisto to achieve his success.
Agent Phil Coulson
Agent Coulson is one of the MCU's most beloved and respected characters. Played by Clark Gregg, he got his start in Iron Man and then seemingly died heroically in The Avengers. However, he returned from the dead in Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. He had crossovers with the MCU until later seasons, when Coulson and his team ended up on an alternate Earth to help resolve continuity issues with the MCU.
Coulson also died in the Marvel Comics universe, but it was at the hands of someone very different. Just like in the movies, Agent Coulson was a huge Captain America fan and supporter on Earth-616. That made it tragic when he blindly followed the fascist Captain America from HYDRA during Secret Empire. When Coulson learned the truth, he tried to do something about it, but Cap had Deadpool kill him to stop him from revealing the truth.
After he died, Phil Coulson felt betrayed by superheroes and made a deal with Mephisto from Hell. In Heroes Reborn, Mephisto remade a reality in which the Avengers never formed and Coulson became President of the United States, creating the Squadron Supreme of America as the country's heroes.
However, things didn't go well when Blade realized something was wrong and soon gathered other heroes, including a newly thawed Captain America and Echo-Phoenix, to bring down Coulson.
Green Goblin & Doctor Octopus
Both Norman Osborn and Otto Octavius were part of the Sony Marvel world, but once Spider-Man: No Way Home brought them over to the MCU, they officially became part of the new world as well. Interestingly, both men have made deals with Mephisto in their lives.
For Norman, it happened many years ago and is almost identical to what Howard Stark did. Norman made a deal with Mephisto, offering him business success in exchange for the soul of his son, Harry. This worked, and Norman became a massive success, eventually becoming the head of Oscorp. Of course, this also led to Norman losing his grip on sanity and becoming the Green Goblin, while Mephisto's grasp on Harry made his life just as bad when he grew up.
For Doc Ock, it was even more tragic. After forcibly switching places with Peter Parker right before Otto died, the villain became The Superior Spider-Man in Peter's body. Even after Peter regains possession of his body, Doc Ock remains in a version of Peter's body and continues to be a hero, even finding love along the way.
However, in Spider-Geddon (2018), Superior Spider-Man faced an alternate version of Norman Osborn and realized he couldn't win without help. He makes a deal with Mephisto to return to his life as Doctor Octopus in exchange for a power boost to defeat Osborn, and his life as a hero ends.
Loki
Loki never needed to make a deal with someone like Mephisto, but he did anyway during the Siege crossover event in 2009. In this series, Loki played both sides of the war between Norman Osborn and Marvel's greatest heroes.
During the Dark Avengers' attack on Asgard (which Loki manipulated), he went to capture the Disir, who are the undead Valkyries who feed on the gods. He then made a deal to trade the Disir to Mephisto for his name being erased from the Book of Hel, meaning that Loki now had freedom to do anything in the afterlife.
This led to some interesting moments for Loki. He sacrificed himself at the end of the Siege and then returned as Kid Loki upon reincarnation. This also prompted Loki to finally turn his back on his evil ways and become more of an antihero, which is what he remains to this day. It was a rare instance where Mephisto's deal hadn't come back to bite Loki, at least yet.
