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More Mephisto Than Ever. Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)

Mephisto one more time! Remember our post on last week's final issue of Heroes Reborn, Heroes Reborn #7, preceding today's pone-shot finale Heroes Return #1? It included this scene with the Mephisto dog talking to President Phil Coulson.

Heroes Reborn
Heroes Reborn #7

We asked "A council? A council of hell? A council of Mephisto? He is large, he contains multitudes? Today, we got an answer in Heroes Reborn #1. Which is full of everything from Phoenix and Star Brand being subconsciously aware of their prehistoric past.

More Mephisto Than Ever As Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)
More Mephisto Than Ever As Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)

Blade making the anti-Batman argument to Nighgthawk that recalls Batman: The Killing Joke

More Mephisto Than Ever As Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)
More Mephisto Than Ever As Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)

But the revelation that all this was reality twisting and reforming was a trial run for something else. Something that Mephisto has been planning for some time.

More Mephisto Than Ever As Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)
More Mephisto Than Ever As Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)

And turning it into a Mephisto franchise, so that everyone gets a Mephisto.

More Mephisto Than Ever As Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)
More Mephisto Than Ever As Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)

There are then, in total, 616 Mephistos. 616 is the dimensional nomenclature for the Marvel Universe, as first invented by Dave Thorpe for Captain Britain, first used for the Marvel Comics timeline by Alan Moore, and then popularised by Chris Claremont on Excalibur. Dave Thorpe told Bleeding Cool where 616 came from. And, yes, there is a link to the number of the beast.

616 was the worst of the parallel Earths that was holding the others back from achieving the shift forward to the next evolutionary stage, which is why Saturnyne turned up to administer the evolutionary fluid to its population. 666 = number of the beast (Crowley). It would have been too obvious to use that. I chose 616 = 666 – 50. Why 50? a nice round number, but the school in the world's coldest town in Siberia closes when the temperature reaches -61.6 degrees Fahrenheit. It's an extreme tipping point.

From the coldest town in Siberia to Hell. And now we have Mephistos from all those realities, so maybe there was one in WandaVision or Loki after all. Nevertheless, this is what Jason Aaron's Avengers run has been leading up to.

More Mephisto Than Ever As Heroes Return From Heroes Reborn (Spoiler)

One of those Mephistos may need to cover up a little before he comes back though. I know, I know, it's just the fold of a cape…

HEROES RETURN #1
MARVEL COMICS
APR210712
(W) Jason Aaron (A) Ed McGuinness (CA) Leinil Francis Yu
An epic, oversize slugfest between the Squadron Supreme and an otherworldly group of Avengers for the final fate of the whacked-out world of HEROES REBORN.
56 PGS./ONE-SHOT/Rated T+In Shops: Jun 23, 2021
SRP: $5.99


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Rich JohnstonAbout Rich Johnston

Founder of Bleeding Cool. The longest-serving digital news reporter in the world, since 1992. Author of The Flying Friar, Holed Up, The Avengefuls, Doctor Who: Room With A Deja Vu, The Many Murders Of Miss Cranbourne, Chase Variant. Lives in South-West London, works from Blacks on Dean Street, shops at Piranha Comics. Father of two. Political cartoonist.
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