With Mephisto Finally in the MCU, the Young Avengers Could Be in Big Trouble

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been subtly and steadily, laying the groundwork for the arrival of the Young Avengers for years now. From Wanda’s creation of her twins Billy (Wiccan) and Tommy (Speed) in WandaVision to the solo adventures of Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan), Ironheart (Riri Williams), and Kate Bishop’s Hawkeye and even Yelena Belova in the Disney+ series Hawkeye, the stage is set for a new generation of heroes to assemble. Other key players like America Chavez, Patriot (Eli Bradley in Captain America and the Winter Soldier), Stature (Cassie Lang), and even Kid Loki (in Loki) have also been brought into the fold, signaling a significant shift in the MCU’s heroic landscape. However, the longstanding whispers, redherrings, rampant speculation, and eventual confirmation of Mephisto’s (Sacha Baron Cohen) long-awaited debut in the Ironheart, casts a chilling shadow over these young heroes. For those unfamiliar with the demon’s comic book history, particularly his nefarious dealings with the younger heroes of the Marvel Universe, this introduction spells out a future fraught with peril, betrayal, and most likely heavy sacrifices.

Mephisto’s addition to the MCU brings with it a comic legacy of manipulation and suffering, hinting at a very dark road ahead for the Young Avengers.

Mephisto’s Shadow Falls Upon the Champions of Tomorrow

Mephisto’s impending arrival in the MCU, particularly within a series centered on one of the Young Avengers, carries significant weight for the entire team. In the comics, Mephisto has a long and disturbing history of targeting young heroes, often exploiting their vulnerabilities or their greatest desires for his own malevolent purposes. One notable storyline that MCU fans should take note of is his entanglement with the Champions– a variation of the Young Avengers. While the MCU’s budding Young Avengers roster doesn’t perfectly mirror the comic book Champions, the thematic parallel is undeniable: a powerful, ancient evil preying on a diverse group of vulnerable and inexperienced heroes. What’s worse ist hat Mephisto’s son, Blackheart, is also inexplicably connected to the Champions, thrwarting and manipulating them at every turn.

Mephisto’s methods are rarely direct; he prefers to sow discord, make Faustian bargains, and manipulate events from the shadows. His appearances often involve the distortion of reality, the extraction of souls, or the granting of wishes with terrible, unforeseen consequences. For the likes of Ironheart, who is still finding her footing as a hero, encountering such a manipulative force early in her career is set to have devastating effects, not just on her, but on the entire potential team she represents.

Understanding his past movements against young teams in the comics provides a crucial lens through which to view his MCU introduction, suggesting that his role will be far more insidious than a simple villainous threat. Mephisto is not Agatha Harkness or Lady Death; he is something way worse and more dangerous. He represents a moral and existential challenge, one that could force the Young Avengers to confront the true cost of heroism and the very nature of good versus evil in a way they are wholly unprepared for. His presence in Ironheart is not merely a long awaited response to fan expectations; it’s a statement of intent, signaling that a new, more psychological, and deeply unsettling brand of villainy is about to grip the MCU.

Mephisto Spells Disaster for the (Probable) Return of Wanda Maximoff and her Sons

While Mephisto’s general threat to young heroes is always a cause for concern, his introduction takes on a far more specific and potentially catastrophic direction when considering the rumored imminent return of Wanda Maximoff to the MCU. This is where the comic book arc Avengers: The Children’s Crusade becomes not just relevant, but critically important for MCU fans to understand. This storyline directly links Mephisto to the very existence of Billy and Tommy Maximoff, Wanda’s children, and his ultimate re-introduction into the MCU could be the catalyst for a storyline that mirrors the comic’s devastating events.

In the comics, it is revealed that Billy and Tommy were, in essence, fragments of Mephisto’s soul that Wanda unknowingly used to create her children with her chaos magic. When they were reabsorbed by the demon, it caused Wanda crippling grief and instability, leading to some of her most destructive actions as seen in the House of M storyline that features Wanda famously uttering the words “no more mutants,” thus eliminating all mutantkind.

The Children’s Crusade sees the Young Avengers, particularly Wiccan and Speed, embark on a desperate quest to find their mother, Wanda, who has vanished after the events of House of M. At this point, Wanda is still unaware that her twins’ souls were not actually destroyed by Mephisto, but were reincarnated into two teens- Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd. The boys’ journey is fraught with peril, bringing them into conflict with various heroes and villains of the Marvel universe who either fear Wanda’s power, believe she is dangerous, or seek to exploit her. The culmination of this quest brings them face-to-face with the truth of their origins and, inevitably, with Mephisto himself.

The MCU has already established Billy and Tommy’s existence through Wanda’s reality-bending abilities in WandaVision, and their disappearance at the end of the series left a gaping void in Wanda’s heart; so much so that she turned to the cursed Darkhold for help. Wanda’s descent into the Scarlet Witch and her actions in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness showed the depths of her power on a level that had never been seen in the MCU before, all due to her deep-seated grief and desire to get her children back.

If Mephisto’s arrival is indeed tied to her return in the MCU, it suggests a horrifying possibility: that the twins’ creation or their reappearance that was confirmed during the events of Agatha All Along could be directly linked to him, and not Death’s (Aubrey Plaza) explaination that the boys’ souls simply inhabited empty vessels. This could set the stage for an MCU Children’s Crusade, with Billy and Tommy, now older and with developing powers, seeking to reunite with their mother in the main Marvel Universe. The irony is that Wanda believed her sons did not exist in the main universe, thus sending her on her destructive quest through the multiverse. Mephisto, seeing an opportunity to exploit Wanda’s grief and power, could use the twins as pawns to further his own agenda. But with the second most powerful witch in the universe, Agatha Harkness protecting Billy (and searching for Tommy to do the same), Wanda Maximoff’s new identity and power as the Scarlet Witch, and Billy’s astronomical cosmic and magical powers, the stakes have never been higher.

The emotional core of Avengers: The Children’s Crusade– the unwavering bond between a mother and her children -would be tragically twisted by Mephisto’s manipulative influence. The stakes for Billy, Tommy, and Wanda, and by extension the entire MCU, could not be higher as Mephisto finally steps into the light after decades of destruction in the comics.

Marvel’s Kevin Feige Addresses Mephisto Finally Making His MCU Debut, And What’s Next For Him