{"id":3517,"date":"2021-08-24T17:52:28","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T15:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1329826"},"modified":"2021-08-24T18:08:12","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T16:08:12","slug":"is-mephisto-the-true-villain-of-spider-man-no-way-home","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/is-mephisto-the-true-villain-of-spider-man-no-way-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Mephisto the true villain of Spider-Man: No Way Home?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Forget the failed WandaVision theories \u2013 there’s something very wrong with Doctor Strange in this movie. <\/p>

By Huw Fullerton\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 24 August 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Hey, remember when the internet was mad for Mephisto? Almost until the final moments of Marvel\u2019s first Disney Plus show WandaVision<\/a> plenty of fans were convinced that the classic comic-book villain would be behind the whole Westview thing, poring over apparent clues (and Wanda\u2019s comic-book history) to make a castle of sand that trickled away when it turned out that it truly was just \u201cAgatha All Along\u201d.<\/p>\n

But what if fans weren\u2019t wrong about Mephisto turning up as a surprise Marvel villain? What if instead they just made their guess too early?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the question in many fans\u2019 minds after the debut of the first Spider-Man: No Way Home<\/a> trailer, which sees Tom Holland\u2019s Peter Parker team up with Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) to cast a spell that will remove his secret identity from the minds of the world. As we see, the spell goes wrong and reality goes kablooey, apparently also drawing in Spider-Man villains from other universes (hello to you too, Otto) and causing all sorts of problems.<\/p>\n\n

So what\u2019s any of this got to do with Mephisto? Well, the rumours began when some fans questioned the motives of Doctor Strange, whose devil-may-care (sorry) approach to magic in this trailer seems at odds with how we\u2019ve seen him portrayed in other films.<\/p>\n

Basically, it seems a little out of character for Doctor Strange to mess with millions of minds and the nature of reality to service a teenager\u2019s whim, no matter how many Mad Titans they battled together. Add this to scenes later in the trailer of a cloakless Strange apparently battling Peter, and some began to wonder if this was an imposter version of Cumberbatch\u2019s Sorceror Supreme who\u2019s unmasked later in the movie.<\/p>\n

If that were the case, though, why Mephisto? For that answer we have to go back to the Spider-Man comics, specifically the One More Day storyline, which No Way Home seems to be drawing some inspiration from. In that story, Peter similarly has his identity removed from public knowledge by magic \u2013 but in this version, it\u2019s a side effect of a deal he made with, you guessed it, Mephisto himself.<\/p>\n

\""Mephisto"\"<\/div>
Mephisto<\/span><\/figcaption> Marvel<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

A demon or mystical being who\u2019s essentially the Marvel version of the devil, in the comics Mephisto trades the life of Spidey\u2019s Aunt May (who was shot by a sniper) for the existence of Peter and Mary Jane\u2019s then-marriage, with MJ adding the proviso that Peter\u2019s other life also be wiped from memories.<\/p>\n

Clearly there are plenty of parallels here, right down to MCU-Peter\u2019s worry that he\u2019ll lose MJ in this deal \u2013 is it such a strange idea (sorry again) that director Jon Watts would borrow the comic-book storyline\u2019s villain along with the story beats?<\/p>\n

We get it \u2013 you\u2019re still not convinced. You\u2019ve been burned before by \u201cdevil in the detail\u201d lines in WandaVision, and the theories everyone had that Agatha\u2019s bunny rabbit was the lord of hell.<\/p>\n

\""Spider-Man"\"<\/div>
Tom Holland as Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Far From Home (Sony)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

But even in the short two minutes or so of No Way Home\u2019s teaser trailer there are other clues that Mephisto could be behind everything. Check out this placard in the back of a protest scene, reading \u201cdevil in disguise\u201d \u2013 given all the other clues, it\u2019s easy to imagine this as a cheeky wink towards Mephisto\u2019s involvement. Some have even speculated that the icy appearance of Strange\u2019s Sanctum Santorum is a hint, harking back to the frozen ninth circle of hell (the circle where Satan lives) in Dante\u2019s Inferno.<\/p>\n

It could add up to one big twist \u2013 or it could add up to nothing, as fans so painfully learned during WandaVision. Still, this time we have hope. If we learned one thing from Jonathan Majors\u2019 surprise appearance in Loki<\/a> it\u2019s that sometimes, the unlikely comic-book baddie pulling strings behind the scenes really is<\/em> the big twist, and not just a misdirection.<\/p>\n

And like we said, Mephisto feels due for his Marvel debut at last. Fingers crossed that this<\/em> time, we\u2019ve all guessed right.<\/p>\n

Spider-Man: No Way Home is in cinemas from the 17th December. For more, check out our dedicated Movies<\/a> page or our full TV Guide<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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