20 best superhero comics to read after Infinity War

14. Thanos vs. Mephisto

Despite the fact that this match occurs in Silver Surfer #45, the titular character is unconscious for practically the entire issue. As a result, Thanos is our main guy, taking over another character’s series in a pretty satisfying way.

It all starts when the Silver Surfer and Drax the Destroyer confront Thanos. The only problem is that Thanos has recently acquired the full complement of Infinity Stones. Thus, he has a powered Infinity Gauntlet. Drax and the Silver Surfer’s souls are promptly taken by Thanos and stored in the Soul Gem on the Infinity Gauntlet. So much for that, then.

However, that’s just the start of the issue. When Thanos heads back to his ship, he discovers that space pirate and his maybe-relative Nebula is still alive, but badly wounded. If that’s not a bad enough Monday for Thanos, he then has to deal with the sudden appearance of Mephisto.

So far, Mephisto has not shown up in the MCU, and so might not be familiar to all fans. Basically, he’s a demon who rules over an extra-dimensional pocket us puny humans call “Hell.” It’s not the actual Christian Hell, or indeed the hell of any other religion, but it’s close enough to make anyone uncomfortable. Anyway, Mephisto finds it useful to pretend it’s an actual hell in order to gain a bit of power over scared mortals.

When he’s not busy trying to break the will of the Silver Surfer, Mephisto is also trying to mess with Thanos. In this issue, he attempts to persuade Thanos that everything’s fine now and that he only wants to serve the newly powerful Thanos. When Mephisto rather predictably tries to steal the Infinity Gauntlet, he’s in for a rough surprise.