Mephisto (Marvel Comics)

Mephisto is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character made his first appearance in Silver Surfer volume 1, #3 in 1968. Stan Lee and John Buscema created the character and is based on Mephistopheles: a demon character from the Faust legend, who has sometimes been referred to as Mephisto.

Depicted as a sadistic, cruel, and dangerous extra-dimensional demon with unknown origins, Mephisto is incredibly powerful and is known for stealing souls and torturing them in his hell-like dimension. He is one of the many Hell-Lords in the Marvel Universe. He serves as the main antagonist of the Ghost Rider franchise, a major antagonist in the Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange and Avengers series and one of the two overarching antagonists (alongside Albert Malik) of the Spider-Man franchise. He's the arch-nemesis of Ghost Rider, and a major enemy of Silver Surfer, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Hulk, the Avengers, and Doctor Doom.

Mephisto is an extremely powerful immortal demonic entity possessing abilities used by manipulating the forces of magic. Mephisto can employ his power for a variety of uses, including superhuman physical attributes, shape and sizeshifting, projecting illusions, manipulating memories, and altering time and reality.

Debuting in the Silver Age of comic books, the character has appeared in over five decades of Marvel continuity. The character has also appeared in associated Marvel merchandise, including animated television series, feature movies, toys, trading cards, and video games.

Mephisto has been described as one of Marvel's most notable and powerful supervillains.

Peter Fonda portrayed the character in the 2007 movie Ghost Rider, and Ciaran Hinds portrayed him in its 2012 sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, voiced by Keith David in the second season of Hit-Monkey (2024), and portrayed by Sacha Baron Cohen in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) Disney+ miniseries Ironheart (2025).