Loki’s Mephisto Fan Theory Explained (& Who The Devil Really Was)

A devilish stained glass in Loki season 1 had some thinking of Mephisto, but the the real Devil ended up being someone else. Essentially Marvel Comics’ equivalent of Satan, Mephisto is one of the most intimidating Marvel villains, so it’s no wonder that MCU fans would like to see him appear on screen sooner rather than later. After all, Mephisto has been teased throughout the MCU’s latest releases, but all the supposed clues at his appearance have been nothing but bluffs.

Many had thought Mephisto might make his presence known in WandaVision, Marvel’s first Disney+ show, partly due to how weird and off-kilter it was, and partly due to Mephisto’s well-documented comic past with Scarlet Witch. Alas, he never showed up, leaving Agatha Harkness to function as the series’ final boss. Then, Loki featured a stained glass window sporting an image far closer to Hell than Heaven. However, the show focused on Loki’s variants, the Time Variance Authority, and the start of the MCU’s multiverse — all with no further reference to any kind of demon. Now, many fans believe that the Spider-Man: No Way Home trailer is concealing the identity of Mephisto as the real villain, who could be the one behind Doctor Strange’s failed memory-wiping spell.

Related: Doctor Strange’s Spider-Man: No Way Home Mistake Was Set-Up In Infinity War

The biggest surprise appearance in Loki was that of a major villain, but it wasn’t the Devil. He Who Remains, played by Jonathan Majors, explained the concept of the multiverse to Loki and Sylvie, and his death signaled the destruction of the Sacred Timeline. Although the possibility of Mephisto’s debut in Loki is a thing of the past, the presence of a Devil figure in Loki is somewhat true, but only symbolically.

How An MCU Fan Theory Explained Loki’s Devilish Window

As laid out by a Redditor called Twigryph on a subreddit dedicated to Loki before the show premiered, the stained glass window in Loki episode 1 pointed to Asgard’s resident trickster himself. The fan deduced this by carefully examining the details of the window, and made a pretty compelling case. First, while the horns on the figure in the window certainly look devilish, they also resemble the horns worn on Loki’s signature helmet. The figure also wears green and gold, a pair of colors associated with Loki in the MCU. Furthermore, the Satan-esque figure sports shoulder-length black hair, bears the same Kaunaz rune shape on the neck, and sits on a throne similar to the Asgardian throne that Loki once held.

The figure, which the fan contended was Loki, is also surrounded by fire, which this theory claimed was forewarning that Loki will one day destroy the world. The window is designed to resemble one at a Christian church, and the theory further asserts that Christian interpretations of Norse mythology led Loki to be seen as more of an evil adversary than a mere trickster. This, the said, was pointing toward an apocalypse caused by Loki that serves to combine the Norse Ragnarok myth with the Christian Bible’s Book of Revelation.

Loki’s Mephisto Hints Also Turned Out To Be Fan Baiting

Indeed, Director Kate Herron herself debunked the theory that this figure was Marvel’s Mephisto, and explained “the horns, he was cast out of heaven, that’s what it’s a reference to”, therefore confirming Twigryph’s fan theory. Looking back at Loki‘s six episodes, the Devil in the window clearly represented Loki’s inevitable role as the biggest harbinger of chaos throughout the multiverse. The 2012 Loki variant that stars in the show goes through a crash course in the concept of fate, as he realizes that he’s destined to bring pain everywhere he goes. In fact, it’s his failed invasion of New York that assembles the Avengers for the first time, making Loki’s failure a necessary element of the Sacred Timeline’s stability. All Lokis are designed to be seen as the Devil by the rest of the world — something further underscored by Sylvie, a Loki variant, actually unleashing a multiversal apocalypse in the Loki finale.

Related: What Mobius & Sylvie In Doctor Strange 2 Mean For Multiverse of Madness

The mystery of the Time-Keepers had only furthered speculation about the real identity of whoever was running the TVA, and the Devil tease only kindled the flames before He Who Remains made his debut. Mephisto as the ruler of the Sacred Timeline actually made sense, as he’s often interested in controlling other dimensions in the comics. Just as Disney+ was releasing Loki, Marvel released Heroes Return Vol 1 #1, where various different Mephistos across the multiverse congregated to form the “Council of Red”. However, Loki doubled down on keeping the Devil as a symbol rather than a literal character.

Marvel’s Continued Fan Baiting Of Mephisto Mean’s He’ll Never Be In The MCU

While many fan theories tend to go overboard with possible storylines, twists, and cameos — and while theorizing about Mephisto’s debut has become a running joke precisely because of that — a surprise appearance from Marvel’s Devil was actually a reasonable possibility since the beginning of Phase 4. WandaVision introduced Billy and Tommy Maximoff, whose souls come from a part of Mephisto’s life essence in the comics. Loki‘s introduction of multiversal variants opened the possibility of the aforementioned Council of Red appearing, perhaps in the Void. And Spider-Man: No Way Home is clearly based on Spider-Man: One More Day, where Peter Parker asks the same favor to regain his secret identity, but to Mephisto instead of Doctor Strange.

But the fact that Marvel has overlooked so many opportunities to introduce Mephisto means that they have made an active decision to ignore him. WandaVision, Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness are building towards something big, but Mephisto is clearly not playing any role in it, at least for now. Otherwise, there would have been more solid setups that foreshadowed his actual debut. It seems that Loki‘s symbolic Devil is the closest fans will be getting to Mephisto for the time being.

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