When Mephisto secretly orchestrated the near-defeat of the entire Marvel Universe, Adam Warlock made sure to rob him of one of his greatest powers when reality was eventually restored: taking away his ability to speak. In the final chapter of The Infinity Finale, Warlock returned Mephisto to his throne in Hell but opted to remove his mouth so it would limit the amount of mischief the supervillain could stir up in the future.
In The Infinity Entity storyline, Warlock, who came from an alternate universe but struggled to remember his past and immense cosmic powers, discovered Annihilus was attempting to take over the Marvel Universe. Annihilus was aided by an alien scientist, Doctor Bultar, who helped capture Warlock. But, when Warlock rediscovered his powers, Bultar revealed himself to be Mephisto in disguise. Mephisto recalls how he'd experimented with magic before stealing powerful tech from the Shi'ar and Gyrea empires. Once he mastered the tech, he took up the disguise of the universe's most sought-after scientist and teamed up with Annihilus to siphon Warlock's powers and kill billions across the galaxy. It's quite the layered plan.
In Infinity Finale - by Jim Starlin, Ron Lim, Andy Smith, Guru-eFX, and Clayton Cowles - Mephisto's plan is ultimately a success, as Annihilus proves to be an indestructible force who kills a number of the greatest heroes and villains across the galaxy. However, when Warlock is awoken once again and accidentally erases reality, Thanos - who actually heroically assists him in the arc - convinces him to become the Living Tribunal in exchange for the universe being restored. As Mephisto tries to escape once Annihilus is killed, Warlock captures him. While Mephisto begs for his life, Warlock admits he's needed for cosmic balance but returns him to Hell with one big difference: he has no mouth.
Removing Mephisto's mouth might seem like a silly punishment, but as Warlock mentions, without the ability to speak, he's severely limiting the ruler of Hell from causing more mischief. Being able to speak and cause chaos is one of Mephisto's greatest strengths, and, without a mouth, he's obviously very seriously hampered in being able to do so.
Since Warlock wasn't prepared to kill Mephisto - as Thanos suggested - after he helped nearly destroy the Marvel Universe alongside Annihilus, taking his mouth away from him was a smart solution to prevent him from spreading more destruction going forward. In this storyline, Mephisto was lucky he was a crucial part of cosmic balance in the universe, otherwise, like Annihilus, Thanos would not have hesitated in killing him after reality was fully restored. Perhaps, if Mephisto ends up in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, heroes would be wise to borrow from Adam Warlock's playbook.
from ScreenRant - Feed https://ift.tt/3eMpQ8x
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