It's that time of the year again. Yes, that one, when everyone is seeing Mephisto everywhere. Thanks to the third episode of Agatha All Along, "Through Many Miles of Tricks and Trials," the Marvel demon got his first-ever mention in the MCU. Yes, it was the first. No, it wasn't in WandaVision -- that was just your overly eager imagination seeing things. The world can't handle another Mephisto conspiracy wave, though. You know we are only getting disappointed again!
In 'WandaVision,' People Saw Mephisto Everywhere
It all started in WandaVision Episode 2, "Don't Touch That Dial." At the end of that episode, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) mysteriously becomes pregnant but has no time to celebrate with Vision (Paul Bettany) because of a loud noise coming from the street. When the happy couple step outside their idyllic suburban home, a man dressed as a beekeeper climbs out from the sewer hole. He ominously stares at them but has no time to do anything because Wanda literally "nopes out."
Since Wanda's children are created from figments of Mephisto's soul in the comics, people immediately jumped to conclusions. Wanda is pregnant and there is a mysterious beekeeper? That's Mephisto literally climbing up from hell! And, then, when the season was ending, that was explained as merely a SWORD employee being changed by Wanda's spell when he enters the hex she put on Westview.
Later, in Episode 5, "On a Very Special Episode...," Pietro Maximoff (Evan Peters) comes back from the dead at Wanda's doorstep. Now that has to be Mephisto, he took on another form to terrorize her! He even calls her children "demon spawn" in the following episode! There are also countless references to demons and the number of the beast, hexes everywhere... But no. Turns out "Pietro" was actually a dude called Ralph Bohner, hired by Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) to infiltrate Wanda's house. It was that simple.
Related Marvel's Mephisto Was Already Brought to the Screen by an Iconic Actor
Nicolas Cage dealt with the devil before the MCU could.
1 Mephisto-Mania in 'WandaVision' Was Bound for Heartbreak From the Start Close
WandaVision ended without a single mention of Mephisto, leaving thousands of eager fans everywhere disappointed. Everything we thought was Mephisto was actually just Agatha all along. And now that Agatha All Along has namedropped the demon, here we go again. The thing is, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment at this point. With expectations so high, there's no way for Mephisto to casually enter into the MCU unnoticed. It has to be with a bang.
While fans were theorizing and making memes about Mephisto, WandaVision and Agatha All Along showrunner Jac Schaeffer literally had no idea what we were talking about; she just didn't know Mephisto. All those wild theories came from our collective imagination, just like the Hex came from Wanda's. Fake Pietro calling Wanda's children "demon spawn" was just an Easter egg, really, and the kids really were rascals. The same goes for the other "undeniable signs" everyone was seeing. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, Freud would tell us.
Sometimes, our imagination sounds cooler than what could exist on the page, but can you imagine if it had been Mephisto all along? What would happen to iconic lines like, "What is grief, if not love persevering?" We got a much better story without him. And honestly, "Mephisto All Along" just doesn't have the same ring or alliteration as Agatha All Along.
Why Would 'Agatha All Along' Namedrop Mephisto Now?
To be fair, we don't know Teen's (Joe Locke) identity, but he sure as hell ain't Mephisto. Agatha's lost son, Nicholas Scratch, may be "an agent of Mephisto," but that doesn't mean Mephisto is behind everything. Similarly, Aubrey Plaza's Rio Vidal might just be Blackheart, a Marvel villain who is the daughter of Mephisto, but that doesn't mean her dad is involved. Agatha All Along doesn't work as just a vehicle to introduce Mephisto. There's clearly something deeper at play as Agatha struggles with bonding with her coven and the memory of a lost son. She is finally getting some time in the spotlight in the MCU, so please, let's not make this about he-who-must-not-be-named again. No devil is pulling her strings; if anyone's doing the puppetting, it's Agatha.
New episodes of Agatha All Along stream weekly on Wednesdays on Disney+.
Agatha All Along TV-14ActionSuperheroComedyAdventure
Agatha Harkness, following the events of "WandaVision," embarks on a quest to reclaim her lost powers. Teaming up with unlikely allies, including the son of her former enemy, she faces new mystical threats while navigating a complex world of magic and intrigue.
Release Date September 18, 2024 Cast Kathryn Hahn , Joe Locke , Sasheer Zamata , Ali Ahn , Okwui Okpokwasili , Debra Jo Rupp , Patti LuPone , Aubrey Plaza , David Payton , Emma Caulfield Ford , David Lengel , Asif Ali , Amos Glick , Elaine Valdes , Paria Akbarshahi , Chau Naumova , Bethany Curry , Athena Perample , Alicia Vela-Bailey , Britta Grant , Marina Mazepa Main Genre Adventure Seasons 1 Number of Episodes 9 Showrunner Jac Schaeffer Expand
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