Introduced as a recurring adversary of the Silver Surfer and Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze), Mephisto has also endured as one of Spider-Man's most prominent adversaries, being responsible for Norman and Harry Osborn's respective transformations into the Green Goblin and Kindred; and for the superhero's loss of his marriage to Mary Jane Watson, considering their future daughter Spider-Girl his archenemy.

The character has also appeared in associated Marvel merchandise, including animated television series, feature film, toys, trading cards, and video games.

He was later revealed to be the being to whom Johnny Blaze had sold his soul to and thus had been cursed to become the Ghost Rider,[12] in a retcon that placed him in the role originally played by Satan.

In Daredevil #266 (May 1989), penciler John Romita, Jr. redesigned the character, reimagining him as a bloated, naked creature with short, vaguely frog-like legs and a demonic-looking head.

[19] He witnessed the Celestial known as the Progenitor succumbing to the Horde on Earth, with Mephisto, still young in the form of a fly, taking this opportunity to give birth to his maggots.

[22] Mephisto later manipulates the sorcerer Master Pandemonium into gathering the five scattered fragments of his soul that were lost in an ill-fated encounter with the aforementioned Franklin Richards.

[23][24] When the Scarlet Witch attempts to use magic to conceive children with her husband, the android Vision, she unknowingly summons two of Pandemonium's soul fragments, which are born as her infant twins.

However, his resulting banishment back to Earth-616 seemed to restore him as a tangible physical threat, though without his elevated place of Hellish power, and he would torment heroes for some years to come, like Nighthawk,[31] the Black Panther,[32] the Slingers,[33] the Hellcat[34] and Magik.

[35] Mephisto heals May Parker in exchange for changing the personal timelines of Peter Parker (Spider-Man) and Mary Jane Watson so that they never married, claiming he did so only because he hated their happiness (also adding that he has no interest in taking Spider-Man's soul because such a deal would result in him tormenting a soul that is willing to accept the punishment because its sacrifice saved another, a righteousness which disgusts him).

[38] Mephisto had bartered part of his realm to the Asgardian death goddess Hela for 1,001 years in exchange for control for 101 days of the 13 surviving Dísir, dangerous evil predecessors to the Valkyries that were created by Odin's father Bor.

[volume & issue needed] This troubles the minions who had previously lived in this territory, and part of Siege Aftermath shows the "last stand of the perfidious diaspora" in what seems to have been a revolt.

The Dísir leader Brün tries to negotiate with Mephisto because she wishes to invade Hela's realm of Hel and feast on the souls of the Asgardian dead.

[39] Thor, trying to defend Hel and its dead, enters Mephisto's domain to find the Eir-gram, a magical sword that can cut the otherwise insubstantial Dísir.

[44] Mephisto briefly appears to assist Deadpool in destroying one of his demon lieutenants,[45] before taking a major part in the Hell on Earth War,[46] where he apparently gived deathly visions of the future to the former X-Factor member Darwin and appears before him as an adult man named Tier, who claims that he is the son of Rahne Sinclair and he was to bring about the apocalypse.

[50] Mephisto finds out that Doctor Strange has restored the lives of the Las Vegas citizens that were killed during when HYDRA bombed an attack during the organization's takeover of the United States.

It also had an effect on the Black Panther, Captain Marvel, the Falcon, Hawkeye, and Jane Foster's Thor form where they were all turned into Ghost Rider-like creatures.

As Doctor Strange, the Avengers, and the Midnight Sons left upon Las Vegas returning to normal, Wong remained behind to keep an eye on Hotel Inferno's casino.

[55] In an alternate future where Thanos conquered the universe, Frank Castle signs a demonic deal with Mephisto to become a Ghost Rider,[56] becoming known as the Cosmic Ghost Rider after being bestowed with the Power Cosmic by Galactus, before coming to serve Thanos after spending countless years on a lifeless Earth after Mephisto's eventual silence, and going insane.

[61] After acquiring the Pandemonium Cube, Coulson uses it to rewrite reality in Mephisto's name, erasing the Avengers from existence and making himself the President of the United States.

[63] Doctor Strange later visited Mephisto at the Hotel Inferno asking about what was wrong with Peter Parker's soul as well as how Harry Osborn was seemingly revived as Kindred.

[64] It was during this confrontation that Mephisto confesses his true motivations for erasing the marriage of the Parkers, as at some undisclosed point in the future he finally seizes control of Earth, only for his reign to be ended by either Spider-Man or his daughter.

Striking a deal with Peter to affect his soul and erasing both his marriage with Mary Jane and their daughter was Mephisto's way of ensuring that that future would never come to pass in either scenario.

Mephisto is also revealed as the one responsible for the torment and creation of the Kindred Twins (the souls of Sarah and Gabriel, clones previously created by a temporarily insane Harry when he was alive and a posthumous A.I.

After each of the attacks from the Multiversal Masters of Evil, Doom Supreme and Kid Thanos meet up with the Iron Inquisitor and Mephisto in the form of a dog as he nears the corpse of the Orb.

[68] As Mephisto returns to Earth-616 during prehistoric times, a recuperated Kid Thanos informs him that Ghost Goblin and King Killmonger are dead, Black Skull was stripped of his Symbiote, and Doom Supreme and Dark Phoenix have fled.

After Doom Supreme is turned to stone by the sample of the ancient Multiverse's energy, Iron Man and Ant-Man of Earth-818 plan to deal with Mephisto.

As the reconstructed Doom the Living Planet and the Mjolnir variants work to clog the breach, Mephisto claims that they can't hold back the entrophy as he is punched by Nighthawk and Agamotto does a special punishment for him.

[72] 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.

Mephisto was a key figure in The Infinity Gauntlet, constantly whispering Iago like in Thanos' ear and is the very symbol of corruption in the Marvel Universe.

[96] In the Earth X sequel, Universe X, Mephisto is the force behind Pope Immortus (secretly Kang) and his extermination of Reed Richards' Human Torch to assume mutant dominance.