If at first you fail, do it again later anyway.
Ruling the Stygian deep atop his throne, Mephisto, Lord of Evil, schemes to capture the immortal souls of men. His machinations have pitted him against some of the Marvel Universe's mightiest heroes and its most vile villains.
Mephisto was created by Stan Lee for Silver Surfer #3, apparently operating under the idea that if Galactus was God and Silver Surfer was Jesus, then it would only make sense for him to fight Satan. Basically, Mephisto hated the purity of spirit he could sense within Surfer, and knew the hero had the ability to inspire mortal beings across the cosmos to rise above his wicked schemes.
This is, obviously, the figure that was meant to come with the HasLab Ghost Driver, but because nobody in the world* cared enough about Robbie Reyes to spend $300 on what should have been a $50 car, the entire thing was cancelled, and so Mephisto went to limbo. Uh, metaphorical limbo, not Magik's Limbo. Although that Limbo does look like Hell, which would make Mephisto feel right at home. Since his dimension also looks like Hell, without actually being Hell.
This figure includes two heads, both with that classic
John Buscema style - you know, thin face, wild hair, all that. They're not actually based on Buscems's art, we're just saying it's the vintage Mephisto rather than, say, a John Romita Jr. Mephisto. Not only are the faces different sculpts - one smiling, one sneering - the hair on each is different as well: Sneery has Wolverine-style wings, while Smiley is swirling out all over. Sadly, they're not swappable, and neither of them has the severe widow's peak that actually defined this look.
The body is closer to the classic design, too.
It wasn't until 1989's Daredevil #266 that Mephisto stopped being a guy in red tights and booties, but Romita's design was more demonic than this, with wiry hairs sticking out all along the back of his torso and legs, hands that had three claws instead of fingers, and a ghoulish face. This figure best represents the way he's drawn these days, with bare skin revealing most of his body, save for what's covered by his baggy boots, forearm wraps, and tattered loincloth. If the smiling head is anything to go by, it's based on Ron Lim's variant cover for Infinity Entity #4.
Mephisto is one of those characters for whom a single, physical body has never been the right choice, so he's constantly changing size as often as he's changing shape. This figure is more than 7½" tall,
with his hair reaching different final heights depending on which head you're using at the time. That's a little weird, in that Mephisto is usually just normal human-sized when he's interacting with humans, but it's not what you'd call "wrong." He's got all the usual Marvel Legends articulation, including shin swivels. You can tell this was sculpted years ago and has just been waiting for a chance to be released! The set includes an alternate cape and loincloth in softgoods, rather than plastic, so he can sit down appropriately. I didn't realize at first he pulls apart at the wait: I thought that was a swivel joint, but no, it's how you switch belts. The collar on the cape is still plastic, so it can stand up accurately and plug into the figure's back, and it also has a clasp and gem that the normal plastic cape doesn't have.
Originally, Mephisto had pink skin - like, "bubble gum" pink, not "white people" pink. The modern way to depict him is to make all his skin red, which is why he no longer needs to wear tights. It's a nice, crimson red,
with his hair, fingernails, the details on his face, and his clothing being slightly darker. His PVC cape fades to black at the lower edge, something the softgoods cape could have done but chooses not to, instead having lighter slashes to suggest the sculpt of the regular cape.. His eyes look blank yellow, but they actually have a minor, minor difference between the sclera and pupil. That definitely doesn't stand out as much as the bright white teeth do!
Straight out of the box, the figure has open hands that are gesturing slightly, but they can be traded for a pair ready to hold accessories. If we don't count the alternate clothing, his only "accessory" accessory is a big sword... which is a bit of a problem.
If you look around online, you can find images of Mephisto wielding this exact sword, so that should be fine, right? Well, no: see, the Mephisto who uses that is not the 616 version; he's the Mephisto from Earth-9997, the reality of the alternate Earth X future, and this sword is the Earth-9997 version of Excalibur! Why include that, of all things? If they really wanted him to have a sword, how about the Sword of Demonicus, which he used to cut Zarathos out of Johhny Blaze? Or Eir-gram, the Asgaardian sword he kept for a while? Alternate-universe Excalibur is just a weird thing to include.
Less weird, though, is the giant piece of scenery that takes up more than half the space in the box. Assembled from two pieces, the seat and the base, Mephisto's Infernal Throne is a mix of artistic influences, and measures 6¼" wide, 5½" tall, and 7⅛" deep. It's molded from brown plastic, but gets a few paint apps to keep it from being boring.
The seat looks like stone, with large cracks and some kind of thick vines crawling along it. Four skulls are scattered around the feet, each with its own unique style: one has been sitting there so long one of the vines has grown through its foramen magnum, one is missing its lower jaw, one has sunken into the dirst, and one is demonic, with fangs and little horns on the forehead. A dark tentacle writhes up and around that demon skull.
The backrest portion of the seat is taken directly from the comics. Specifically, from a scene in Thanos #16 (as part of the origin of Cosmic Ghost Rider) . The curves,
the horns... it's a direct lift, and that's aweome work!
And then, in a super, super cool move, you can turn the enture throne around and find a gigantic skull taking up the entire back side. If you're a fan of heavy metal, you may recognize it as the skull from the Danzig logo. And if that's all you know about it, you may wonder how Hasbro could possibly get away with ripping it off for this toy. Are they counting on the fact it's on the back of the set and not shown on the box to protect them from Glenn Danzig's tiny, impotent wrath, just a cool Easter egg for metalheads to enjoy?
Well, no. See, Danzig's logo is not original: it was stolen from a piece of Michael Golden artwork. Specifically, the cover of Crystar #8. That's right, a Marvel comic. This set is using a skull Marvel owns free and clear, and Glenn can't say a word about it, or else he's opening himself up to a massive copyright infringement lawsuit.
There are more skulls on the ground back here, and chains, and even some gnarly insects. The Crystar skull is painted a dirty tan, with dark sockets, keeping it from blending in with the rest of the throne. There's also a single, loose skull accessory that can be placed around the set as you like, or held in Mephisto's hands, or tucked into a notch in the arm rest.
Son of Satan was in that "Strange Tales" ML series, Mephisto was a made-to-order Hasbro Pulse exclusive, and Ghost Pedestrian is going to be released in the upcoming Series 16. So of all the figures in the failed HasLab, that only leaves Goblyn Queen still looking for a release (and if she isn't at mass retail, they'd better not chicken out on the underboob like they did for the prototype). Mephisto is tons cooler with his throne than he would have been as a pointless part of the "Engine of Vengeance" set: not only does he get more accessories and alternate parts, that throne is just one of the coolest diorama pieces we've seen in a long time.
*in this case, "nobody" means "only 5,060 people"
-- 07/13/26
Do you think they'll do Goblyn Queen? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
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