MEPHISTA

Real Name: Mephista

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Hell) demon (Type II)

Occupation: Demon

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: Darwin, Isolationist (Josef Huber), Strong Guy (Guido Carosella), Tier, X-Factor Investigations (Havok/Alex Summers, Longshot, M/Monet St. Croix, Layla Miller, Multiple Man, Polaris/Lorna Dane, Rictor, Shatterstar, Siryn);
    formerly Doctor Strange, Dykkors, Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch/Noble Kale), Mephisto, the Morrigan, Victor Strange, Topaz, Werewolf (Jack Russell)

Enemies: Asmodeus, Baron Mordo (Karl Mordo), Branwenn, Doctor Strange, Mephisto, the Morrigan, Pluto, Possessors, Rintrah, Satana, Satannish, Victor Strange, Topaz, Zodiak;
formerly Tier

Known Relatives: Mephisto (father), unidentified mother, Blackheart (brother);
    possible direct or indirect relationship to Asmodeus, Beelzeboul, Marduk Kurios (Satan), Lucifer, Satannish, Thog, and allegedly Dormammu ("uncles");
    Mikal Drakonmegas (Hellfire), Hellstorm, Satana Hellstrom (alleged quasi-half-siblings)

Aliases: Jezebel, Daughter of Above and Below, Daughter of Mephisto;
    impersonated Ullikumis

Base of Operations: Mephisto's branch of Hell

First Appearance: Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#6 (August, 1989)

Powers/Abilities: As the daughter of an arch-demon, Mephista is very powerful, though she is still a relative novice. She is superhumanly strong (Class 50?) and durable, immune to most physical and many mystical assaults. Her tail is semi-prehensile and can strike with lethal force. She can turn aside some of Dr. Strange's spells, and she can cast a number of spells, such as the Shackles of Sheol and teleportation. She can shoot Hellfire from her eyes and grow wings capable of flight. She can possess and manipulate others, open portals between Earth and Mephisto's Hell, and presumably much more.

Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Eyes: Red
Hair: Red

History:

(X-Factor III#253 (fb) - BTS) - Mephista is the daughter of Mephisto and a mortal (presumably a human woman from Earth).

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#6) - When Baron Mordo promised his soul to both Mephisto and Satannish, Mephisto sent Mephista (her first outing on his behalf) to Dr. Strange's sanctum to retrieve Mordo's soul (as it was held in Strange's sphere of containment (along with Sara Wolfe's soul). Mephista confronted Strange and made her demand, easily casting off Strange's Crimson Bands of Cyttorak. She refused Strange's delaying tactic of explaining her origins, but found she could not penetrate the the sphere surrounding Mordo. Satannish himself then arrived to claim Mordo. Realizing she could not stand against Satannish by herself, Mephista joined forces with Strange against Satannish. Despite their efforts, however, Satannish took the sphere of containment to his realm to crack it open. Followed by Strange, Mephista returned to her father's realm empty-handed. Mephisto was furious at Satannish's actions. Refusing to let his rival get the better of him, Mephisto prepared to journey to Satannish's realm, ignoring Strange's warnings about having to cross the Earthly plane to reach Satannish's realm, which might result in a battle on Earth that could destroy the planet. Mephisto imprisoned Strange within a mystic sphere and then took Mephista with him.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#7) - Having difficulty forcing his way into Satannish's domain, Mephisto wished he had destroyed Strange for letting Satannish escape with Mordo. Having become infatuated with Strange, Mephista was glad her father had not destroyed him. Satannish then arrived to confront them, and Mephisto stood on her giant father's shoulder as the two prepared to do battle on the Earthly plane.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#8) - Mephista traveled to Strange's sanctum, intending to destroy the soulless bodies of Mordo and Sara Wolfe so that their souls could have no place to return to. Strange's apprentice Rintrah and the empath Topaz tried to stop her, but Mephista flattened them with a single blow each. Strange returned in time to stop her. This time--backed by his magical talismans that Agamotto had returned to him--his spells proved powerful enough to affect her, and he trapped her within the Crimson Ruby of Cyttorak and forced her to sleep. Strange and Topaz combined their powers, drawing imagery of a primieval concentration of evil that divided to form what would become Satannish and Mephisto. Using this idea, Strange cast a spell that threatened to merge Mephisto and Satannish back together, and the two arch-demons fled back to their own realms and relinquished their claims on Mordo's soul to avoid losing their individuality.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#8 - BTS / Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#30 (fb)) - Mephista was missing from Strange's sanctum upon his return and he assumed that she had been drawn back to her father's realm via the vortex Mephisto had created. However, having failed her sire on her first mission, Mephista craved a chance to prove she deserved to sit at his honored left hand, and so she possessed Topaz. Mephista mystically prevented Topaz from sensing the possession, and the exhausted Strange failed to notice either.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#30 (fb) - BTS) - Unbeknownst to Mephista, Satannish took up residence within her shadow, intending to use her to gain access to Mephisto's realm.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#9 - BTS) - The possessed Topaz stood by as Strange raged upon learning that Morgana Blessing had written a tell-all book about him. She complemented Rintrah on his spell that cloaked Strange in his full costume.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#30 (fb)) - Mephista influenced Topaz to travel to Europe to avoid Strange.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#10 - BTS) - Imei Chang informed Strange that Topaz had left for Europe.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#30 (fb)) - Mephista found that she had so deeply imbedded herself in Topaz' psyche that only a certain spell spoken by Strange could free her. While Topaz was in Spain, Mephista caused her to believe that she had just become possessed by another demon.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#26 - BTS / Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#30 (fb) - BTS) - Topaz returned to the USA, met with Strange, and told him how she had been possessed by the demon Ullikumis while exploring a Spanish Castle. She further told him how mystic research had told her that three magical items were required for a spell to exorcise the demon: fire from a demon, the talon of a vampire in its bat form, and the fur of a werewolf. Strange scanned Topaz, learning that some of her memories were falsified.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#26 - BTS) - Following up on reported Werewolf sightings, Strange brought Topaz and Rintrah to Colorado, where they encountered the Werewolf Jack Russell before being captured by the Possessors.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#27 - BTS) - Topaz' possession enabled her to resist the Possessors' influence, but she was retained as a prisoner. Ultimately Strange led the defeat of the Possessors, and Topaz retrieved a handful of fur from the Werewolf (which she had grabbed when they first encountered him).

(Ghost Rider III#12 - BTS) - Topaz, Strange, and Rintrah confronted the Ghost Rider (Dan Ketch) to obtain the fire from a demon they needed, but found they could not obtain such a thing from the Ghost Rider. They joined Ghost Rider against Zodiak, freeing a number of intended sacrifice victims.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#28 - BTS) - Topaz and Strange again attempted to get the demon fire from Ghost Rider, only to suffer severe feedback every time they referred to him as a demon. The feedback affected Topaz, causing a manifestation of "Ullikumis," who warned Strange to cease his efforts against him. Strange later saved Topaz from an attack by Zodiak, and he showed her the true demon flame that he had obtained from the race of demons known as the Dykkors (allies of Zodiak that he and Ghost Rider had fought).

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#29) - Affected by her possession, Topaz laid a big, fat kiss on Strange, who rebuffed her, and she regained her wits. They soon obtained the talon of a vampire in bat form from Strange's brother,, Victor, aka Baron Blood. Strange then performed the spell, though he then announced that the true possessor was Mephista, which he had realized early on. Mephista emerged from Topaz and told Strange and Rintrah that she intended to kill them all and bring their souls to Mephisto as homecoming gifts.

(Doctor Strange: Sorcerer Supreme#30) - Mephista hurled the unconscious Topaz into Rintrah, striking his recently injured chest (at the hands of Zodiak) and knocking him out. As Mephista reviewed how she had possessed Topaz, Strange commented on the length of her shadow. Strange recognized that Satannish was hiding within Mephista and realized his intent, but chose to allow things to proceed in order to take the battle away from Earth. Mephista then announced that Mephisto never loved her, instead preferring his son, Blackheart, and that she intended to get in his good graces by slaying Strange, Topaz, and Rintrah and giving him their souls. Victor Strange dove forward to attack her, but Mephista swatted him back with her tail. She then mystically bound Strange in the Shackles of Sheol and brought him to the gateway to Mephisto's Hell, at which point Satannish emerged from within her shadow. Mephista reluctantly agreed to again join forces with Strange against Satannish, though their assaults proved futile against him. Mephisto then arrived (his attention draw by their magical force, as Strange had intended) and attacked Satannish directly. Strange formed a Seraphimic Shield to protect them from the forces the two arch-demons were unleashing, forces which also began to overflow into the Earth dimension. Seeking to put a stop to the conflict to save Earth, Strange convinced Mephista to add her mystic power to his, and he cast a spell that turned each of the demons' attacks back on each other. Realizing further conflict was pointless, Satannish returned to his home realm.
    Mephista feared her father's punishment for bringing Satannish to his realm, but he instead told her that he had known of her entrapment within Topaz and her possession by Satannish but that he had known if he had tried to help her, in fighting back Satannish would have torn her asunder. He expressed his pride and love for her before thanking Strange and then heading back into his domain. Mephista bid Strange farewell, telling him that she might one day return to Earth to seek out his hand--and all that was attached to it. Mephisto told Strange that if Mephista did ever seek him out, that she should make sure that he was elsewhere.

(X-Factor III#253 (fb) - BTS) - Mephista started calling herself Jezebel.

(X-Factor III#233) - Mephisto's daughter travelled on a Hellhound sled to Josef Huber's Antarctic fortress where he tried to stay isolated from humanity due to his overwhelming telepathic powers he had copied from mutants. He shot at her before asking what she was. After telling him she was not a mutant she showed him her demonic appearance. She then revealed the Hell-lords' plan to cause the apocalypse and that they needed all mutants to be gone, which would help Huber as well (he would be able to return to humanity because without mutants he wouldn't copy their powers anymore). Huber liked the idea.