Warning! Spoilers for Avengers #50 by Marvel Comics
In a surprise return in the current Avengers series, Mephisto's latest scheme to form his own Multiversal Ant-Avengers team has been revealed. In Avengers #50, Marvel's devil approaches Doctor Doom Supreme, where he makes quite the cunning proposal: to build their own team that's capable of taking down both the Avengers and conquering the Multiverse. Doom is intrigued and teams up with the sinister villain to create one of the scariest superteams ever.
In the Marvel Comics Universe, Mephisto has been laying low after he tried to take over the 616-reality. In the Heroes Reborn arc, he teamed up with Phil Coulson and used a reality-changing Pandemonium Cube to warp the world in his own image. In Mephisto's reality, the Squadron Supreme replaced the Avengers as the most powerful heroes on Earth. Meanwhile, Coulson became the President of the United States, while Mephisto was worshipped as God. After the Avengers foiled Coulson and Mephisto's takeover, Marvel revealed the devil brought together 615 Mephisto's from across the Multiverse together as part of the Council of Red. Now, Mephisto is trying to take over the Multiverse with help from the vilest villains from different realities.
In Avengers #50 by Jason Aaron, Aaron Kuder, Javier Garron, Rafael Fonteriz, Ed McGuinness, Carlos Pacheco, David Curiel, Alex Sinclair, Matt Hollingsworth, Rachelle Rosenberg, David Baldeon, and Israel Silva, Mephisto encounters the Doctor Doom Supreme. After watching the Avengers of 1,000,000 BCE stop Kid Thanos' attack, Mephisto (in snake-form) approaches the time-traveling villain. Mephisto tells Doom he's a "fan" but that not even he could stop the different Avengers. Mephisto proposes a deal of making their own team. Doom begrudgingly accepts.
Doom hand-picks his team from across the Multiverse to take down the Avengers in each timeline. His selections include Dark Phoenix and her pet Berserker, young Thanos, King Killmonger, Ghost Goblin, and the Black Skull. As a team, they become known as the Multiversal Masters of Evil - and immediately kill the Avengers of Earth-818 in a fiery battle. Avengers #50 ends with the villains ending up on Earth-616.
Mephisto is no stranger to striking deals with heroes and villains to achieve power, but by assembling the Multiversal Masters of Evil, he's taking his biggest swing at controlling the Multiverse ever. Mephisto is boldly pulling the strings behind the scenes as the Masters of Evil take down the Avengers across different realities. But, can his new powerful team succeed? Readers will learn more soon. Avengers #50 is in comic book stores now.