It’s that time of the year when the MCU’s most nauseating recurring rumor returns to the top of the pile

No franchise in motion picture history has ever generated quite as much rumor-mongering and half-truths as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but there’s one speculative line of inquiry that comfortably stands out from the pack.

As tiresome as it is for the Fantastic Four scuttlebutt to continue throwing up new developments years after the reboot was first announced, Marvel’s First Family don’t have a thing on Mephisto, the devilish comic book incarnation of Satan himself who tends to be rumored for virtually every project that has even the most tenuous supernatural tie.

We’ve been through this many times before, with WandaVision, Loki, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness all touted as potential destinations for Mephisto to debut at long last, only for every single one of them to come up empty-handed. Ironheart has been pinpointed as the latest candidate, with Sacha Baron Cohen rumored for the role, and now a new report claims that it’ll even tie up a long-running MCU mystery for good measure.

According to The Cosmic Circus, Mephisto will be revealed in Ironheart as the mysterious benefactor who purchased Avengers Tower from Tony Stark over a decade ago, with the identity of the building’s current owner leading to plenty of theorizing in and of itself. At this point, the fearsome villain should arrive sooner rather than later simply to put an end to the nauseating procession of rumors, but whether or not it really happens this time in the upcoming Disney Plus series remains entirely up for debate.