Marvel’s Ironheart has wrapped up its run, and the finale, Episode 6 “The Past Is the Past”, proved to be a major milestone moment for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As many fans theorized, Parker Robbins/The Hood (Anthony Ramos) turned out to have the supernatural backing of none other than Mephisto, one of the demon lords of the underworld. There’s been a multi-year rumor that Borat star Sacha Baron Cohen was joining the MCU in the role of Mephisto, and now (much to the delight of a lot of fans) that’s turned out to be the case. However, while Ironheart‘s finale made the most of Cohen’s physical presence and performance to depict a devil at work, there was one moment that gave ode to Mephisto true (and comic accurate) form. Did you catch it?
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Ironheart Confirms A Comic-Accurate Look For MCU Mephisto
In the climatic battle of Ironheart, Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) levels-up her armor design and infuses it with some dark magic in order to defeat The Hood. Riri strips Parker of his mystical hooded cloak and tries to leave his hideout. However, when Riri gets downstairs she finds herself in locked into a mystical meet-and-greet with Mephisto. The demon lord comes looking to recruit Riri as his human disciple and a replacement for Parker. While Mephisto stages the conversation as a nonchalant chat over pizza, there’s one moment that betrays the demonic figure’s true form.
If you looks closely, there’s one moment where Mephisto is stirring his coffee in that slow, hypnotic way Jordan Peele made famous in Get Out; Mephisto’s reflection appears in the spoon during its rotation, and we clearly see that his true form. It’s pretty comic-accurate: red skin, scraggly hair, yellow eyes and fangs. The brief glimpse is likely all we could get on a TV miniseries budget; however, one has to think that Cohen will go into the makeup chair for the necessary hours if/when it’s tie for Mephisto to make his presence felt on the big screen.
Where Will Mephisto Show Up Next in The MCU?
Right now there’s a lot of excited theorizing and speculation about why Marvel Studios revealed Mephisto in this way (the Ironheart miniseries) and where we could see him next. One unexpected-but-exciting place would seeing Mephisto pop up in Spider-Man: Brand New Day. The final events of No Way Home (Doctor Strange’s spell to erase knowledge of Peter Parker/Spider-Man from the MCU) were a play on the comic storyline “One More Day,” in which Peter Parkre and Mary Jane brokered a deal with Mephisto to bring back the late Aunt May in exchange for having all memory of their romance and marriage erased. Well, Brand New Day could offer Peter a slightly tweaked Faustian bargain to restore his Aunt’s life, and the memories of those close to him. That would be an exciting arc to see play out, especially if Riri Williams shows up with some cautionary guidance for Peter, and/or competitive concerns about Mephisto replacing her.
The Wonder Man MCU miniseries is also on deck; that show will introduce Simon Williams/Wonder Man (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a hero whose story includes death and resurrection, as does the arc of his brother, Eric (Demetrius Grosse), who becomes the death-themed villain, Grim Reaper. There’s a lot of wiggle room for Marvel Studios to once again create actual franchise continuity by having Mephisto there to affect the path of Simon and/or Eric’s transformation.
Then there’s the larger question of whether or not Mephisto’s debut means much at all in the face of the impending universe-alterating events that are Avengers: Endgame and Avengers: Secret Wars. It would be a major franchise misstep if this big twist in Ironheart doesn’t lead to something more substantial; in fact, we’d go so far as to say that Cohen (in true Mephisto form) should be the big bad who’s lurking in the shadows of the rebooted MCU that’s established at the end of Secret Wars.
Ironheart is now streaming on Disney+.
