The Ironheart Finale Introduced an MCU Villain We’ve Waited 13 Years For

This article contains spoilers for the Ironheart finale.

A devilish new arrival has just joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

After fans were fooled one too many times before, Ironheart has finally brought a major addition to the world’s highest-grossing franchise via another Hollywood megastar. While Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams led Ironheart as something of a throwback to the Iron Man movies, the inclusion of Anthony Ramos’ Parker Robbins teased that we’d be delving into the darker magical side of the MCU. Although the rumor mill had gone into overdrive that Sacha Baron Cohen would be playing the maleficent Mephisto, fans would have to wait until the show’s sixth (and final) episode to see him revealed as the one pulling the strings after he was first mentioned 13 years ago (yes, really).

Ironheart was littered with references to Mephisto and deals with the Devil, including an early inclusion of a disembodied voice asking The Hood about his darkest desires. The Ironheart finale then fleshed out the backstory of Robbins, revealing that Mephisto rescued him during a heist and offered to make him more powerful than the father who abandoned him. Those up on their Marvel Comics will know that Mephisto’s Faustian bargains are something of a Monkey’s Paw situation, and although Robbins gets his cloak, he’ll be inflicted with much pain and haunting voices when he’s without it. When strutting around as The Hood, he’s easier to control and is addicted to his power. Mephisto confirms Robbins wasn’t the first to make a deal, name-dropping everyone from William Shakespeare, to Forbes’ Top 100 richest people, to three popes, to even Ringo Starr.

There’s no word on a potential second season of Ironheart, and with it billed as a limited series alongside the likes of Agatha All Along and Secret Invasion, its cliffhanger ending will likely have to be picked up elsewhere. What consequences Riri will face remain unclear, and although she’s got her BFF back, we don’t imagine Aubrey Plaza’s Death will be too happy that Lyric Ross’ Natalie is back in the land of the living. 

Speaking of Death, she was notably introduced in Agatha All Along, which is when Mephisto last got a wink in the MCU. This came after fans relentlessly theorized the demon’s arrival in WandaVision. In reality, Mephisto was first canonized in the MCU way back in 2012’s The Avengers. Although not a direct mention, that film referenced how Mephisto had been aiding S.H.I.E.L.D. while dabbling with the Tesseract. After Mephisto was considered as a potential Deadpool & Wolverine villain before Hugh Jackman suggested Cassandra Nova, the bargaining Beelzebub has been a long time coming.

Introduced in 1968’s Silver Surfer #3, Mephisto has had run-ins with everyone from Spider-Man to Doctor Strange. He was notably responsible for turning Harry and Norman Osborn, Otto Octavius, and even Phil Coulson into villains, also being involved in Wanda Maximoff’s descent into madness when he absorbed the souls of her children before “House of M.” This meant many expected him to pop up in both WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Elsewhere in the comics, original Ghost Rider Johnny Blaze got his powers by striking a deal with the horned menace, which is why he appeared in both the Nicolas Cage-led Ghost Rider movies – played by Peter Fonda in the first movie and Ciarán Hinds in 2011’s Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Finally, his love of bargaining saw him strike a deal with Peter Parker’s Spider-Man to save Aunt May at the cost of his marriage to Mary Jane Watson in the controversial “One More Day” arc. 

It seems as though MCU is giving us its own take on Mephisto this with the Ironheart finale, although a more traditional version of the character’s origin could still play out in the upcoming Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Early reports suggested Tom Holland’s fourth Spidey outing would be a street-level affair with Vincent D’Onofrio’s Wilson Fisk/Kingpin as its big bad, until wild rumors claimed it would be a more magical outing with Mephisto and Ghost Rider. 

An already stacked cast for Avengers: Doomsday suggests there might not be room for someone like Mephisto as the Multiverse deals with the threat of Robert Downey Jr.’s Doctor Doom, but assuming the MCU isn’t reset, Mephisto could be a solid antagonist for something like the long-rumored Midnight Sons project or cause Riri more headaches in a Young Avengers outing. It just so happens there’s a Champions arc where he strikes a deal with various young heroes, while his son, Blackheart, possesses Riri.

Even though some are worried we won’t see Mephisto again for a while, his potential to be a Thanos-level big bad means he’s more than worth the wait.

All six episodes of Ironheart are available to stream on Disney+ now.