Murphy's Multiverse

Blog

  • Marvel Studios Multiverse: Who is Mephisto?

    Marvel Studios Multiverse: Who is Mephisto?

    The Lord of Lies. Master of the Realm of Lost Souls. Hell-lord. Simply put, Mephisto is one of the most relevant villains in all of Marvel Comics history and pretty much Evil Incarnate. Mephisto is a being from another dimension and its ruler. “Mephisto’s Realm” poses as a sort of “hell”, or another realm of the dead so to speak. He often tends to pose as Satan but he’s not really “the devil” that people often tend to think, so try not to get those confused.

     

    A little backstory

    Mephisto has existed for nearly hundreds of millions of years and his power rivals and goes beyond that of any magic-user in the comics. He has the ability to alter space and time, possess the souls of those who hand over them willingly, godlike strength and durability, and unlimited ability in the mystic arts. His most unique trait is that Mephisto is known for cutting deals with many of our Marvel heroes. He tends to strike deceptive bargains with beings whose souls are either extremely powerful or exceptionally pure. Those deals usually tend to backfire or hurt the heroes in some shape or form, even binding someone’s soul to another demon to create the hellish Ghost Rider.

     

    His ultimate desire is to capture as many living souls as possible to dominate the world. His most famous rivalry is that with the Silver Surfer, as he considers his soul the purest of them all and has repeatedly tried to claim it. He’s also gone toe to toe in the comics with the likes of Thor, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Scarlet Witch, and so on.

    Mephisto is surely bound to make his appearance in the MCU at some point. The question is when?

    Rumors and speculations of Mephisto appearing in the MCU have grown over the past few days, with the appearance of a devil creature in a stained glass window, and many suspect that it may be Mephisto being depicted on that glass design. While I believe that Marvel could be teasing the character in this shot, I suspect that Mephisto may play a bigger role than we realize in this phase of the MCU, particularly an arc of this phase which I dubbed “the Multiverse Arc.” Now, I’ll be explaining later on in another article what I suspect Multiverse Arc to be, but simply put, a character with such an interesting backstory, powers, and repertoire such as Mephisto has to take his time to be built up, so I suspect that Mephisto might be appearing in a number of Phase 4 projects and a lot of these projects have very deep ties to Mephisto.

     

    WandaVision (2021)

    WandaVision definitely could have the seeds for Mephisto’s first appearance in the MCU. In the comics, Wanda aka The Scarlet Witch used fragments of Mephisto’s soul so she could conceive her children; Billy and Tommy aka Wiccan and Speed. When Mephisto came to reclaim the fragments of his soul (and by consequence, remove her kids from existence), Wanda went insane, which resulted in her altering all reality. The events of this comic precede those of House of M, a storyline that is very well known and is expected to be adapted in WandaVision. Our very own Joseph Aberl actually presented the theory that we may have already gotten our first look at Mephisto in the WandaVision trailer, in the form of a certain ominous beekeeper. So check that out if you haven’t already.

     

    Loki (2021)

    The idea of the God of Mischief facing off against the Lord of Lies definitely is an interesting one, to say the least. Both of these characters have such similar qualities that in the end, the only thing that could differentiate them is their morals, where Loki may indeed have a set of beliefs while Mephisto has none. There are a lot of fans who speculate Mephisto could make his appearance in the upcoming Disney+ series. This is due to the tease of a devil creature in a stained glass window that we saw earlier in the article. There is a connection to the comics between Loki and Mephisto where Loki intervened with Sigurd the Everglorious to avoid having him be trapped in Mephisto’s Realm forever, so it’s interesting to see whether we’ll see that play out or if we’re setting up something else entirely.

    Spider-Man 3 (2021)

    Once again, Joseph Aberl presented another potential way for Mephisto to make his presence known in the MCU, and that’s through a loose adaptation of One More Day. To quote Joseph on what exactly happened during that comic; “One More Day may play a small part in the story. Plus, the whole point of the original was that Mephisto made a deal with Peter. He took off his mask in front of the world during the Civil War storyline. It ended up getting Aunt May shot in the process. It came at the cost of his marriage to Mary Jane. MJ also makes sure that Peter’s identity would remain a secret.” We all know that Spider-Man’s identity was pretty much exposed at the end of Far From Home and with everything confirmed and rumored to be happening in this film, adding in Mephisto seems like a bit of a stretch, but it’s entirely possible to have the dealmaker appear for a short cameo in the series and offer Peter the opportunity to fix everything, but Strange may advise against it due to the nature of Mephisto.

     

    Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

    Stephen Strange and Mephisto have gone tow to toe many times in the comics. Both are incredibly powerful in the mystic arts and their abilities rival each other. The most recent encounter was in Doctor Strange: Damnation, where Doctor Strange travels to Las Vegas to resurrect the people that died there during the events of Secret Empire, but Mephisto had already gotten there first and took many of those souls, including some heroes’ souls and turned them into Ghost-Rider like creatures. Seeing Mephisto take on Doctor Strange in this film would truly be an antagonist worthy of the Multiverse scale this film is trying to set up and a worthy successor to Dormammu’s appearance in Doctor Strange (2016).

     

    Would you like to see Marvel’s Devil make his appearance in the MCU?

  • SCOOP: Marvel Studios Developing A ‘NOMAD’ Project

    SCOOP: Marvel Studios Developing A ‘NOMAD’ Project

    Marvel Studios unveiled a handful of new properties at last week’s Disney Investor day with Secret Invasion, Ironheart and Armor Wars but it seems they left at least one out of the impressive presentation: Nomad. The company has trademarked “Marvel Studios Nomad” along with several of the properties announced last week.

    How Nomad Really Factors Into Avengers: Infinity War, According To The Russo Brothers - CINEMABLEND

    In Captain America #180, Steve Rogers changed up his look and took on the mantle of Nomad after learning the U.S. Government to which he has devoted his life is run by the Secret Empire. An adaptation of this version of Rogers appeared in Avengers: Infinity War. Over the years, several other characters went by the name of Nomad, including the character Jack Monroe who went on to appear in dozens of issues of Captain America, lead his own solo title and join the Thunderbolts.

    At this time, it is unclear what the nature of this project is. It’s possible that it could be a series spinning out of the events of The Falcon and The Winter Solider following either Wyatt Russell’s John Walker, Sebastian Stan’s Bucky or another character we have yet to meet. I suppose it’s possible, though it seems unlikely, that it could be either an animated or live-action project that follows Steve Rogers during the time between Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War but Chris Evans seems to be happy to walk away from the role at this time. It’s also possible, given all the crazy multiversal hijinks headed our way, the series could tell the story of alternate universe character Rikki Barnes, the granddaughter of Bucky or even some version of Ian Rogers, the adopted son of Steve from the Rick Remender run.

    While this seems like something perfectly suited for Disney Plus, we must also leave open the possibility that they are simply trademarking the character because he will be introduced in the series; however, given the way they’ve trademarked projects in the past, this certainly seems MUCH more likely to be one of those.

    We will update this story as we learn more!

  • Hawkeye Could be ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Tracer

    Hawkeye Could be ‘Marvel’s Avengers’ Tracer

    Ever get that feeling of déjà-vu? Well, some have that fear with Marvel’s Avengers’ current DLC plans. There have been many reveals to their decision to kick-off their long-term DLC plans with two archers back-to-back. There was the question of how they would make them unique enough to distinguish their playstyles. Well, our first deep dive on Kate Bishop revealed she has a unique ability based on Quantum technology she stole from AIM. It added a great flair and visual design to make her stand-out, but it did open one question, will they do something similar to Hawkeye?

     

    If you haven’t finished Marvel’s Avengers Taking AIM storyline and want to remain spoiler-free, only continue at your own risk.

     

    Hawkeye is pretty much the original archer, so there is no necessity to add any unique abilities. Yet, the Taking AIM storyline ends on a note that may set-up a potential for Clint Barton to stand-out. His return to the game’s main timeline came at a cost, as he suddenly started to distort. We see him shifting what may be between different times after visiting the future, which will be the focus for his DLC. You can even still find him in his bed trying to recover, as we all wait for the DLC to release in early 2021. Until then, we can only speculate which effect the Time Gate has on the ex-Avenger.

    There is a chance that Clint might suffer through the effects of his time on the other side of the Time Gate. To save his life, Tony and Bruce might try to develop a way to contain the Tachyon energy that is most likely causing his distortion. It may not just act as a cure, but he might also use it to his advantage. Clint can harness the Tachyon energy to alter time in small doses, such as returning to an earlier point in time similar to Overwatch‘s Tracer. 

     

     

    It would offer a unique approach to Clint’s repertoire, as Kate is more focused on getting around fast with her Quantum-based abilities. So, to make her former mentor stand out, he is more focused on laying down traps and keeping his distance. The rewind is the perfect opportunity to set an explosive before bowing out and raining down arrows to ensure it takes everyone out. He could even have a unique arrow, which can stop an enemy from being able to move. They get trapped at that moment in time so a group can stack damage before they are unfrozen and receive it all at once. It would be quite a helpful ability when facing challenging bosses, especially Future Imperfect‘s Maestro.

    The ability could support a unique build, and it would make sense from a story perspective. The Avengers also have scientist Lyle Getz, who can unwillingly help them develop the technology to harness Tachyon energy. What also supports this theory is that Hawkeye’s iconic darker shade of purple seems to be a similar color to that is used with Tachyon Rifts. It may just be a coincidence, but it is an interesting visual parallel. In a way, Clint is such an established character that he does not necessarily require an energy-based ability of any kind, but the set-up seems too perfect to add that little something special to make him stand-out from his protégé. 

  • ‘WandaVision’ Could Set Up a ‘One More Day’ Storyline in ‘Spider-Man 3’

    ‘WandaVision’ Could Set Up a ‘One More Day’ Storyline in ‘Spider-Man 3’

    So, yesterday I was trying to figure out who the strange Beekeeper might be in the latest WandaVision trailer. There I stated that I believe the main antagonist might end up being Mephisto. So far, we haven’t explored the character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also has much potential connection to other franchises, such as his cameo in Loki‘s trailer. There, we can see a devil-like person in a stained-glass window in the background. So, it seemed like a good guess that these shows might be connected. Yet, it started to make me wonder if he’ll have a major role throughout the series.

    To some degree, I think Nightmare and Mephisto will become one character. He might serve as the primary antagonist in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Now, he may also jump from this film into another, the still-untitled Spider-Man 3. Now, why is it noteworthy connecting Spider-Man with Mephisto? Most might have already realized it the moment the webhead was mentioned, as he was featured in the storyline One More Day. It is one of the most unpopular stories told in comic history, but the set-up might already exist for it.

     

     

    Now, they won’t be adapting the story one-for-one. WandaVision seems inspired by multiple storylines, such as House of M, Vision, and the Scarlet Witch, as well as the suburban storyline of Vision. So, One More Day may play a small part in the story. Plus, the whole point of the original was that Mephisto made a deal with Peter. He took off his mask in front of the world during the Civil War storyline. It ended up getting Aunt May shot in the process. It came at the cost of his marriage to Mary Jane. MJ also makes sure that Peter’s identity would remain a secret. Now, I believe if they adapt aspects of One More Day, they will only focus on two things: his secret identity and a deal with the devil.

    So, how would the story come together? Mephisto was free the moments the Infinity Stones got destroyed by Thanos. Without a body and waiting for those that inherited their powers to return, he remained in hiding. Now that Wanda was brought back through the Blip, he was able to enact his plan. She inherited the abilities of the Mind Stone, so she would also be connected to her other half, Vision. He manipulates her, which leads to the events of WandaVision. He manages to regain a physical body and his strength, so he enacts his plan. He aims to let horrors from the multiverse infiltrate the mainline universe, which ends up as the main plot for Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Yet, his actions also create a Spider-Verse event that forces Peter to face an onslaught of enemies from different universes.

     

     

    Peter reaches his breaking point. After having faced various enemies, he ends up coming across Mephisto. So, in his desperation for a normal life, he made a deal with the devil. He wakes up in his bed. Aunt May and Ned are all here, but something feels off. The radio talks about incidents that he can’t seem to recall. Spider-Man is still called a menace by J. Jonah Jameson, but no one mentions his real name anymore. He comes to realize that no one has ever heard of Tony Stark or the Avengers. The deal he made came at a price. He was in a completely different universe that was similar to his own. Now, he either had to accept his new reality or try to find a way back to the place he once called home. The movie ends with a fitting title: Spider-Man: Home One Day.

  • RUMOR: Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror To Appear in ‘Loki’

    RUMOR: Jonathan Majors’ Kang the Conqueror To Appear in ‘Loki’

    A while back, we got the announcement that Lovecraft Country‘s Jonathan Majors was cast as Kang the Conqueror. Now, the interesting thing was that he was set to appear in Ant-Man & the Wasp sequel, which now has the subtitle Quantumania. It was a bit strange that they announced his casting this early, which had many people speculate if he may show up early on. Well, it looks like our theories might’ve been right as the latest podcast @PostCredPod featuring DisInsider’s EIC Skyler Shuler may have confirmed he will show up in the upcoming Disney+ show Loki.

    His potential appearance makes absolute sense with the Time Variance Authority’s heavy involvement. We’ve seen some visuals that already led to a theory that he may have some kind of role in their foundation, which you can check out here. Loki might only introduce the character, so we shouldn’t expect him to appear in multiple episodes anytime soon. We just recently also heard rumblings of Jaimie Alexander‘s Sif returning in the upcoming show, so it’ll be interesting to see who else might show up throughout the show’s series.

    The recent trailer gave us an overall better glimpse of the Disney+ show’s story. We will see Loki mess around throughout history while working together with the TVA. The first trailer alone promises a visual spectacle that will dive into some aspect of the multiverse. So, the series builds upon the multiversal throughline in Phase 4 and could even have some influence over the events. After the Avengers played around with time in Endgame, he might be here to correct what they may have screwed up.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Fortnite’ Leaks Reveal Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Green Arrow & More

    ‘Fortnite’ Leaks Reveal Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Green Arrow & More

    Looks like the current season is taking skins from all over the multiverse, as recent leaks for Fornite have revealed a variety of new skins joining this season. During the Game Awards, they revealed Halo‘s Master Chief and two characters from The Walking Dead were joining. Many wondered if we would also see more skins from Marvel after they took over the last season. Well, it looks like they weren’t quite done yet, as a group of well-known Fortnite hackers took to Twitter to share a variety of new skins showing off Black Panther, Captain Marvel, and even a comic-accurate Taskmaster.

    That is not all, as we also got the reveal for a DC skin based on the popular CW show Arrow will be included in the game based on Stephen Amell‘s iconic rendition. We also get a good look at the entire set, which reveals the character’s iconic punching arrow and a quiver.

    https://twitter.com/HYPEX/status/1338820848707317760

    Fornite has been turning into a center for pop culture. This season also saw the addition of Kratos and The Mandalorian‘s Din. So, we can expect a lot more appearances throughout this season. Nintendo fans are hoping for the potential addition of Samus Aran from Metroid. She would make complete sense within the wacky Battle Royale world, and it seems there are no limits on who they might include at this point. So, whoever had their fantasy of having Stephen Amell‘s Green Arrow take on Deadpool can do so now. Now that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate announced Sephiroth as their next DLC character, could we see Sora end up on Fornite?

    Source: Twitter (BP & CM), Twitter (TM), Twitter (Arrow)

  • Marvel Studios Reveals New “Legends” Disney+ Series

    Marvel Studios Reveals New “Legends” Disney+ Series

    Looks like Marvel isn’t done just yet.

     

    Fresh off their massive panel from Disney’s Investor Day last Thursday, with dozens of new shows and projects in development, it looks like we’re also getting one more additional new series for Disney+. In an official tweet, they revealed Marvel Studios: Legends, which will recap the most iconic moments from various character’s history in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We can also expect the show to be added soon, as it is slated for a January 8th release with two episodes.

    Based on the description, it seems that this is going to be a highlight reel for the MCU characters. It could also showcase their comics origins, the MCU adaptation, their journey across the Infinity Saga thus far, and what the future might hold for them. Since the first two episodes are about Wanda and Vision just a few days before the premiere of WandaVision, Marvel’s strategy for this could be that it acts as a quick recap for those catching up on the franchise’s 10+ year history.

    So, there is a good chance that we can expect the next episodes to focus on Falcon, Winter Soldier, Black Widow, Loki, and Hawkeye. They could also use this to highlight characters connected to newer introductions, such as Carol Danvers getting featured shortly before Ms. Marvel airs. We have no exact info on the format or length of these episodes, but they probably are kept short going over the character’s biggest moments. We will find out more once the first two episodes air next year on January 8th.

    Source: Twitter

  • ‘Loki’ Trailer May Have Confirmed the Identity of ‘WandaVision’s Mysterious Beekeeper

    ‘Loki’ Trailer May Have Confirmed the Identity of ‘WandaVision’s Mysterious Beekeeper

    Disney Investor’s Day has finally given us some brand new trailers for 2021’s Disney+ releases. It also finally gave us a look at Falcon and the Winter Soldier, as well as Loki. Not just that, we also finally got a second WandaVision trailer that included some more hints about the series’ overarching plot. The biggest reveal may have come in the form when a radio transmission broke Wanda’s fake reality and may have teased the true mastermind behind the Westview incident. For a few seconds, we were introduced to a mysterious man in a Beekeeper outfit. His face is obscured by shadows, so we can only speculate on who exactly this character may end up being. Actually, perhaps the Loki trailer has confirmed who the mysterious Beekeeper truly is.

    Now, it is easy to make the assumption that a beekeeper could be an obvious play on AIM’s involvement. There were hints and rumors that they may make their return, especially with a brief sequence in a Black Widow trailer seeming to include a small part of the logo. Yet, their involvement with something supernatural seems out-of-place. If you rewatch the Loki trailer, we get a brief sequence in what seems to be a church within the TVA facility. There is one thing that sticks out immediately, the stain-glass window in the background depicts a figure that seems to match Marvel’s variation of Mephisto.

     

     

    In the comics, Mephisto was well-known for toying with humans. The WandaVision trailer shows us that Wanda might not have created this pocket dimension on purpose but rather someone is trying to get their hands on something. We briefly saw a teaser of the Mind Stone once again getting destroyed, which was the cause of Vision’s death. There is a chance that the Infinity Stones live on in the individual’s that harnessed their ability within the main timeline. So, Mephisto might be trying to manipulate Wanda to revive Vision, so he can access the latent abilities. Why is he only getting active now? Well, he might not have a physical form and that made it difficult to access them in the main MCU timeline.

    Now that they were physically destroyed and those that were gifted their abilities have returned, such as Wanda who was snapped out of existence, he can finally enact his master plan. We always assumed Kang was going to be the major villain for the next Saga but he might be a red herring. He will have a major role later down the line but right now, Mephisto might be the reason the Multiverse ends up in shambles and affects various upcoming storylines. They might combine Mephisto with the character of Nightmare, who might be the main antagonist in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Though, this also opens up the question if he makes a deal to hide his real identity just like One More Day in the still untitled Spider-Man 3.

  • Warner Bros.’ ‘Mortal Kombat’ Reboot Delayed Until April

    Warner Bros.’ ‘Mortal Kombat’ Reboot Delayed Until April

    Warner Bros. has caused quite a stir with the reveal that their entire 2021 film slate would premiere simultaneously via HBO Max and theaters. Wonder Woman 1984 was going to kick-off this new direction in a few weeks. Now, the odd thing was that the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot was slated for January, but we never got an official trailer or first look at the film. There was even a brief tease by producer Todd Garner a week ago that wasn’t followed upon. We were anxiously waiting for the latest adaptation of the iconic franchise yet there was only radio silence. Luckily, the producer took to Twitter once more to finally give us some information on the film.

    https://twitter.com/Todd_Garner/status/1338619892770041856

    Looks like the wait for Mortal Kombat was extended by a few more months. I think this was a good move, as without any real marketing behind it the film wasn’t really given much attention to really warrant a January release. Plus, they also give themselves more time in case the pandemic drags out. I do believe this means we are getting a trailer in the coming weeks, as we still know nothing about the project outside of its casting. It was surprisingly absent during The Game Awards, which would’ve been the perfect time to reveal  I will say that I love the golden logo. Even the release date font seems strongly inspired by the font used by Mortal Kombat 11, which is a great touch. Makes you wonder if we will get the iconic theme song from the original 1995 film.

    Source: Twitter, IMDb

  • RUMOR: Willem Dafoe and Thomas Haden Church in Talks to Return for ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’

    RUMOR: Willem Dafoe and Thomas Haden Church in Talks to Return for ‘SPIDER-MAN 3’

    Just in this past month, the cast of Spider-Man 3 has grown exponentially, with reports of actors such as Andrew Garfield, Kirsten Dunst, Alfred Molina and even Charlie Cox set to reprise their respective roles from Marvel’s past, exciting fans across all social media platforms. It was recently announced by the man himself, Kevin Feige, that Spider-Man 3 would tie directly into what transpires in the events of WandaVision and Doctor Strange in The Multiverse Of Madness, so it seems incredibly likely that the multiverse plays a key role in the story of this third film. Basically, all plot details have been kept under lock and key, with the film noticeably absent from the Disney Investor presentation, likely because of the ties the film has to Sony. It seems some old dogs may be jumping back into the fray, with a few more Raimi era characters rumored to be on their way.

    It’s being reported that Spider-Man and stars Willem Dafoe and Thomas Haden Church are currently in talks to reprise their roles from the original films that saw Tobey Maguire star as the titular character. The two played the previous antagonists of the web-slinger films with Dafoe making an iconic performance as Norman Osborn and Church playing the role of Sandman in the third and final installment in the franchise. Both characters met their fate at the end of their respective films so it’ll be interesting to see if they’re indeed from the multiverse or will be in a similar situation to that of J.K.  Simmons, who reprised his iconic role of J Jonah Jameson for Spider-Man: Far From Home.

    Spider-Man 3 will be directed Jon Watts and will feature the return of Tom Holland as Peter Parker who’s presumably on the run considering how we last left him in Far From Home. Peter won’t be alone however as Benedict Cumberbatch will lend a hand to peter in his time of need. Spider-Man 3 is set to release on December 17th, 2021 however most dates set these days should be taken with a grain of salt considering the current state of the industry.

    SOURCE: Illuminderi