List of cultural references to Mephistopheles

This article lists cultural references to Mephistopheles, the fictional devil from Faust and Doctor Faustus. The name Mephistopheles has been used countless times in literature, film, comics and music. More often than not it doesn't so much as refer to the character of Mephistopheles as presented in the original "Faust" tragedies, but rather any generic devil figure.

Drama

* 1604 - Christopher Marlowe's "The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus"

Opera

* 1846 - Mephistopheles appears in the "Légende dramatique" entitled "The Damnation of Faust" ("La Damnation de Faust") by Hector Berlioz.
* 1868 - March 5, Milan; Arrigo Boito's only opera "Mefistofele" premieres.

Music

* Satanic death metal band Deicide wrote a song "Mephistopheles" for their first album.
* Horror Punk band Samhain have a song called 'Mephisto Waltz' (often incorrectly credited to The Misfits due to its accidental inclusion in their boxed set of work)
* "...Mephistopheles, who came for my soul" in the B-Side 'Then the Clouds Will Open For Me' by Placebo
* Dimmu Borgir, a Norwegian black metal band, has a song entitled "The Maelstrom Mephisto". Their vocalist, Shagrath also features in the song and video for Kamelot's March of Mephisto, in which he performs the role of Mephisto.
* Megadeth reference Mephistopheles in the songs 'Vortex' ("Mephistophelian transaction/A virgin soul the price is paid") and 'The Conjuring' ("Come join me in my infernal depths/ Mephisto's hall of fame/I've got your soul")
* On Beethoven's Last Night, a concept album from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Mephistopheles represents the devil himself.
* Depeche Mode has created an instrumental song "Memphisto", which according to Martin Gore is the name of an imaginary film with Elvis as the devil. "Memphisto" is therefore acombination of Mephisto and Memphis.
* Mephistopheles is referenced in "Wrapped Around Your Finger" from the album Synchronicity by The Police. The lyric says "Mephistopheles is not your name, but I know what you're up to just the same." The song itself is about the mythical Scholomance, a school of black magic run by The Devil. In the context of the song, Mephistopheles and The Devil are the same entity.
* The concept album Epica by progressive metal band Kamelot tells the story of Faust, which is continued by its sequel, The Black Halo. The Black Halo also features the single March of Mephisto, with Shagrath of Dimmu Borgir performing the death metal vocals of Mephisto.
* "The Sins of Memphisto" by folk singer John Prine came about as a result of an incorrect blending of the names Memphis, Egypt and Mephistopheles.
* The R&B group Spooks referenced Mephisto in their song "Karma Hotel", in a verse which warned of the dangers of casual sex.
* Japanese Rock and Gothic metal band Moi dix Mois's album 'Nocturnal Opera' contains a song named "Mephisto Waltz" which is referred to as a melody of sorrow, and is probably dedicated to the deceased drummer Kami of the former project leaded by the guitarrist Mana (musician) : MALICE MIZER.
* On Stephen Lynch's song "Beelz" about Satan from his album The Craig Machine he says the line: "Mephistopheles to some!"
* In 1993, Bono, the lead singer of the Irish rock band U2, creates an alter-ego character for their "Zoo TV" tour show called “Mr. McPhisto”; which is an irony involving The Devil, Consumerism, Globalization and Stardom.
*The first stanza of Radiohead's 2007 song, "Videotape" is, "When I'm at the pearly gates/This will be on my videotape/my videotape/Mephistopheles is just beneath/and he's reaching up to grab me."
*There is an electronic band named Mephisto Odyssey who have collaborated with everyone from country singer Paula Frazer to Static-X.
*Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire's song "Ides of Swing" from the album "Thrills" contains the line "Swooning to the charms of Mephisto's waltz, that's when you know you've got some schmaltz."
*From Cradle of Filth's 2004 album, Nymphetamine, a song entitled "Absinthe With Faust" uses this stanza: Let us drink on the giddying brink, Of pools of excrement, All manner of shit for the glamour and glitz, Mephistopheles lent
* Gothic Metal band Moonspell have a song entitled "Mephisto" on their 1996 album Irreligious.
* In the album "A Posteriori" by ENIGMA, there is a song called "Dancing with Mephisto"
* Death Metal band Arch Enemy's album "Stigmata" from 1998 Contains a song named "Sinister Mephisto"
* American punk band Strung Out's album The Element of Sonic Defiance contains a song named "Mephisto"
* Jedi Mind Tricks Song off of the Album Violent By Design- War Ensemble "For my esophagus breathes evil that just demolishes / Abolishes, to the darkness of Mephastophales" Ikon the Hologram aka. Vinnie Paz
* The Ska band Streetlight Manifesto has a song on its album Somewhere In The Between called "Down, Down, Down To Mephisto's Cafe"
* The group Swollen Members makes reference to Mephistopheles in the song "Torture" from the 2006 album Black Magic ; "...flames on the flesh burn, meet Mephistopheles, heat makes it hard to breath..."
* The Third Wave Ska Band Mephiskapheles, a portmanteau of Mephistopheles and Ska.
*The group Marcy Playground refers to Mephistopheles in the song "Deadly Handsome Man." "My real name is Mephistopheles, but you can call me baby..."

Film

* In Yevgeny Zamyatin's "We", the resistance group rebelling against the One State is called the Mephi.
* In the 1981 movie "Mephisto", which won an Oscar in 1982 for Best Foreign Film, actor Klaus Maria Brandauer plays a German stage actor who "sells his soul" to achieve fame.
* In the 1987 film "Angel Heart", Mickey Rourke figures out that the Satan character "Louis Cyphere" is actually "Lucifer," and Satan's (Robert De Niro) response is "'Mephistopheles' is such a mouthful in Manhattan, Johnny."
* In the 2005 film "Batman Begins", Arrigo Boito's opera "Mefistofele" is being performed prior to the murder of Bruce Wayne's parents.
* In the 2006 film "Thank You for Smoking", the central character, a spokesman for Big Tobacco with a questionable sense of morals, is once referred to as a "yuppie Mephistopheles."
* Mephistopheles is the name of the character in the 2007 movie "Ghost Rider" who turns Johnny Blaze into the Ghost Rider.

Comics

*Mephisto (comics) is a character who acts as the version of the devil in the Marvel Universe. Among other feats, he is responsible for turning Johnny Blaze into the Ghost Rider, fathers Damien Hellstorm and Blackheart, and imprisons the soul of Doctor Doom's mother. More recently, Mephisto played a large part in the limited series, saving Spider-Man's Aunt May, for the price of his marriage, to Mary Jane Watson.
* A DC Comics villain named Doctor Mephistopheles made several comic appearances in the 1940s and has recently been featured in "Blue Beetle" #28.
*In the Manga Shaman King, Faust VIII's over soul is Mephistopheles E.

Television

* In , Mephastophilis is the original ruler of Hell. He is then replaced by the angel Lucifer after Xena kills him.
* In the Japanese anime show Shaman King, one of the main characters is named Faust and is supposedly a descendant of the legendary Doctor Faust, and his oversoul is called "Mephisto E."
* In the television series South Park, Dr. Mephesto is the name of a mad scientist who lives on an ominous hill outside of town.
* In the second series of Sky One's "Hex", Mephistopheles (played by Ronan Vibert) takes an active part in guiding the son of Azazeal towards his destiny, to bring about the end of days. In the end he turns against evil and helps the 'good side' as he believes the only thing truly worth fighting for is love.
* As a recurring character of Jon Lovitz on "Saturday Night Live".
* In the Australian ABC TV show Double the Fist as Mephisto.
* A 1970s made-for-TV horror film by 20th Century Fox, "The Mephisto Waltz", stars Alan Alda, Curt Jurgens and Jacqueline Bisset in a satanistic soul-switching plot.
* In the Japanese anime, Digimon Tamers, Mephistomon is an Ultimate Level Dark Animal Digimon born from the remains of Apocalymon.
* In an episode of Family Guy, Brian reads Faust to Stewie, who complains, "You're supposed to do Mephistopheles in a scary voice!"
* Mephistopheles appears in two episodes of the Adult Swim series Squidbillies. In which, he is depicted as a giant squid w/ a head of fire and talking snakes for tentacles. These snakes appears to whisper temptations in Mephistopheles' ear and are the source of his evil ways.
* Mephistopheles appears briefly at the end of an episode of Metalocalypse, another Adult Swim series. A Satanic Priest summons the four demons of the Apocalypse. The four demons, Mephistopheles, Belial, Beelzebub and Lucifer, destroy the Church of Satan in which they were summoned after Dethklok leaves to go to a bar. He also appears in an episode where Dethklok wishes to gain blues fame, only to find that the last step to being a famous blues artist is to sell your soul to the devil. However, their own experience of handling contracts causes Mephistopheles to think twice, after he gets the raw end of the deal.

Literature

* In "Heart of Darkness" by Joseph Conrad, the book's protagonist, Charlie Marlow, describes a man who claims to be a brickmaker as a "papier-mache Mephistopheles", meaning that while he seems to be solid, he is really hollow.
* In Marvel Comics, Mephisto is a prominent demon who controls an aspect of Hell and has at times claimed to also be the Biblical Satan.
* In T. S. Eliot's poetry book "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" and Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running musical stage adaptation, "Cats", there is a cat named The Magical Mr. Mistoffelees.
* In Ayn Rand's "The Fountainhead", newspaper mogul Gail Wynand is said to have a face that belonged "to Ancient Rome," and he is asked to sit for a painting of Mephistopheles; he laughs and denies the offer, and the painter believes that the laugh made him look even better for it.
* In "Jack Faust" by Michael Swanwick, the book's main character, Johannes Faustus, gives himself up for knowledge of the truth, becoming Jack Faust, led by the alien being Mephistopheles.
* In "Cuckoo" by Andrew Young (poet) in which he describes the cuckoo bird up in the trees annoying singing Mephistopheles.

Video and board games

* In Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, Mephistopheles is an archdevil, one of the nine rulers of the plane of Baator, also called the Nine Hells. His domain is Cania, the eighth level of Baator, a frigid wasteland. In this role, he is the primary villain in the PC game "Hordes of the Underdark", an expansion pack to "Neverwinter Nights".
* Mephisto is one of the three 'Prime Evils' in Blizzard Entertainment's "Diablo" series. In "Diablo II", Mephisto, the Lord of Hatred, is one of the primary bosses.
* Mephisto is the core villain of a cluster of maps in "Heroes of Might" and "Magic IV".
* In the Xbox game "Phantom Dust", the skill Mephisto's Pact is named after the demon.
* In the "" card game, there is a card called 'Chains of Mephistopheles'.
* In the Pencil and Paper RPG Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM), Cold Hands, Dark Hearts (CHDH, a gothic-horror installment) Mephisto is one of the Seven ruling Daemons created by the Djinn at the beginning of time. Each of the seven ruling Daemons seemed to be linked to one of the Seven major racial additions in the book. Mephisto was linked to the Oni, half-human half-Daemon hybrids.
* In the Yu-Gi-Oh card game, there is a card called Mefist the Infernal General (in Japanese "Hellish General Mephisto") that is a Fiend (Japanese: Demon).
* In the horror adventure game "7 Days a Skeptic", Mephistopheles is the name of the ship the events of the game take place in.

* In Animamundi, Mephistopheles is the devil that negotiates with the main character to save his sister's life in exchange for his soul.
* In "Baten Kaitos", Mephistopheles Cloak is a Magnus.
* In Tides of Blood, a common user-created map for Blizzard's "", Mephistopheles is a playable hero character.
* In Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, one of the villains of the game is a demonic character name "Mephiles" who is able to manipulate time. He eventually merged with another demonic character named Iblis to form the Sungod Solaris. He was defeated and his existence was erased throughout time.
*In the video game "Devil May Cry 4", there is an enemy called the Mephisto, which as the game's guide suggests, is "A floating demon wrapped in a black cape of special gas that allows it to pass through objects. Mephisto appears to its foes as a demon of death; however, its true physical form is nothing but a tiny coward."
*Mephistomon and Phelesmon are both ultimate level Digimon in the Digimon Collectible Card Game

Other

* Mephistopheles' Stout is also a brew made by Avery Brewing company in Boulder, CO.
* Mephisto is the name of a CMLL's Wrestler.
* Mephisto is the brand name of a footwear company. Their webpage can be found at www.mephisto.com