Marvel: 7 things we need from the MCU’s Mephisto
By Mark Lynch
6. Evil
The sympathetic villain has become a popular trope. Previous comic book movies have tried to make audiences feel for Killmonger, Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker, Thanos and many others in order to portray them as more motivated and compelling villains. But that shouldn’t be the case with Mephisto.
Mephisto isn’t Netflix’s Lucifer. He shouldn’t be a sympathetic villain. In this case, we can have an evil character and that’s more than okay. Sometimes, having someone to root against makes things better.
Mephisto has done awful things during his time in Marvel Comics and if Marvel Studios wants the evil entity to be as formidable in the MCU, the same thing must happen there. The way that the Lord of Hell manipulates things is masterfully immoral. However, he doesn’t lie. He may bend the truth a bit and possibly fabricate, but he never lies to his “clients” (more on that later).
Regardless of that, evil is what he does.
5. Genderfluid
Mephisto may have been portrayed as a male in the comics, but that isn’t necessary for his debut on the big screen. This is a situation where the character doesn’t need to identify as male or female. They can be genderfluid – someone who doesn’t feel the need to identify through gender normatives.
Having a genderfluid character as central to the story of a Marvel movie as Mephisto would be another big step in Marvel’s journey towards representation and equality and it would open the role up to a host of deserving actors capable of bringing Mephisto to life.