Mephisto - Silver Surfer: Judgment Day Mephisto's scheming got him more than he bargained for in this instance. After his latest plan to ensnare the Silver Surfer failed, Mephisto turned his attentions to the Surfer's friend Nova, who was Galactus' herald at the time. Mephisto captured Nova, caused her to fall in love with her master, Galactus, and set her free with no memory of what had occurred. In order to please her love, Nova redoubled her efforts to find planets for him to devour. She even led him to worlds which contained civilizations – something she had previously avoided doing. The Silver Surfer eventually noticed her actions and hastened to confront her about it. Mephisto's spell had blinded her to the wrongfulness of what she was doing, so they ended up fighting on a world she was scouting. Somehow, the energies released in their battle tainted the world so that it was no longer suitable for Galactus. The Devourer of Worlds confined them both to the vicinity of that planet – as he had once restricted the Surfer to Earth – for their actions. Moments later, Mephisto appeared to the Surfer and reminded him that without the level-headed herald to keep him in check, Galactus would ravage worlds without regard to the life residing upon them, probably killing billions on the process. The Surfer pledged his soul to Mephisto in return for his release from the planet, so that he could stop Galactus. Mephisto immediately whisked the Surfer and Nova to his own realm. Before the Surfer could depart on his mission, Nova regained her senses and signaled Galactus to come rescue them. Galactus journeyed to Mephisto's realm and was very displeased to find Mephisto messing around with his herald. Mephisto quickly grew to Galactus' size and engaged him in battle. The combatants unleashed enough power to shatter stars, and the clash was reportedly felt throughout the known Universe. The battle seemed to be a stalemate, until finally Galactus began to absorb the energies of Mephisto's realm as he would those of a planet. Mephisto yielded before Galactus could finish his task, and allowed Galactus to leave with both Nova and the Surfer. Mephisto tried to save face by saying that there can be no real defeat at the hands of a force of nature like Galactus, but it was obvious to everyone present that he had been thoroughly thrashed. Comments: Being the fan of Galactus that i am, i believe that the all-knowing Galactus would emerge the victor in any battle he willingly chooses to fight. Needless to say, i greatly enjoyed seeing the Devourer of Worlds kick Mephisto's butt in his own realm.

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