Warning: Contains spoilers for Avengers #58
The demon lord Mephisto has stolen a page from Kang the Conqueror's playbook to defeat the Avengers. Just like how Kang uses his time-traveling technology to gather vast armies of the best warriors in history, Mephisto is picking up his minions across time in his attempt to get rid of the Avengers once and for all.
Kang is one of the Avengers' earliest and most iconic foes. A time-traveling warlord from the 30th century, Kang lives for the thrill of conquest and to defeat worthy adversaries. He found the worthiest of them in Marvel's modern age of heroes when he clashed for the first time with the Avengers. Impressed (and defeated), Kang would then obsess over conquering that timeline and besting the Avengers. One of Kang's favorite tactics is to extract the strongest and bravest warriors from the timelines he visits, drafting them into his army. Now, the Prince of Lies Mephisto is using a similar strategy to disrupt the Avengers' attempt to stop him from conquering the Multiverse.
In Avengers #58 by Jason Aaron, Javier Garròn, and David Curiel, the Earth's Mightiest Heroes are traveling across time and dimensions to try to get ahold of Mephisto and his Council of Reds before their nefarious plans for the Multiverse come to fruition. In Edo period Japan, Mephisto's goons are attempting to kill the Ghost Ronin, the Ghost Rider of that era. First, Mephisto sends a group of demon-possessed bikers, and then an entire raiding ship full of bloodthirsty Vikings. Finally, the demon lord sends futuristic assassins with high-tech weapons. However, all these warriors are easily dispatched by the Ghost Ronin, who proves to be one of the strongest versions of the character who's ever appeared.
In the issue, the Phoenix (Maya Lopez) clearly states that Mephisto's minions are plucked from the timestream, proving that the villain is using Kang's same recruiting tactics. However, while Kang usually augments his warriors with futuristic weapons, Mephisto is using some sort of demonic possession to do that, putting fiendish spirits inside his minions. The use of these tactics proves that the demon lord has really changed his methods recently. Mephisto used to be a master of deceit and temptation, who used the dark arts to manipulate mortals and steal their souls. Now, he is wholly focused on mastering the complex architecture of the Multiverse to his own advantage, which includes traveling not just between different universes, but also through time.
It's unclear if Mephisto will completely take over Kang's role as Marvel's time-traveling villain, but it would be a real shame if both characters lost their unique identity and methods. While Mephisto's plans for the Multiverse keep developing, readers will have to wait and see if stealing a page from Kang the Conqueror will help the demon lord defeat the Avengers.
Avengers #58 is available now from Marvel Comics.