It's starting to feel like every time we get a Hell-related story it has some new, random take on the Devil. Kieron Gillen uses Mephisto over in Thor but then we have Wolverine going to Hell and facing off against... Satan? Lucifer? Generic Devil #5? I stopped reading that one halfway through. Ghost Rider seems to change Devils with every series he gets.

If stories aren't just going with their own Devils, then they're trying to make sense of the mess with multiple Hells and councils of Hell-Lords. It's never any good. Best case scenario is that you actually manage to package and tie together what will still always be an unnecessarily convoluted mess. Hell should simply be Hell. When there's a story title Wolverine Goes to Hell, I shouldn't have reason to pause and wonder "...Which Hell?"

And Mephisto should just be the Devil in the Marvel Universe. Is there really any benefit to having a half dozen different Devils? It just negates the whole idea of "the Devil." The Devil is singular. He is the embodiment of evil and all that. That's not something you can have multiple of to the same effect. There is also practically no continuity to how writers use Lucifer and/or Satan. Every writer just does their own, often generic, thing as if it's the first time. There is at least some stability to Mephisto. He's far more of a cohesive character in the Marvel Universe. And if he's not the Devil, then what is even the point of him? To be a Devil-like demon who rules a Hell-like dimension? Seriously? If there's some point in that, I'm not seeing it.

Yes, I know the problem that almost immediately pops up here. Daimon Hellstrom. He's supposed to specifically be the son of Satan. Well... sucks for that character. Marvel should figure it out. I mean... what? Should the entire Marvel Universe be shackled down to this mess because of one C-list character? I'm not saying I want Mephisto to be Daimon's dad. But I sure am saying Daimon isn't worth cluttering things up. Anyway, I thought Daimon was supposed to have killed the demon who was his dad in the 90s. The problem was almost solved back then.

I don't know too much about what's planned for the new Ghost Rider series, but I hope it uses Mephisto and not yet another writer's own take on Hell and the Devil. All I'm really asking for here is some consistency.