History DealWithTheDevil / MarvelUniverse

* During the brief period in ''ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk1968'' where the Hulk was separated from Bruce Banner thanks to the climax of ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'' agreed to become Apocalypse's new Horseman of War to rid himself of the shrapnel that's been in his brain since the events of "Ghost of the Future" and the hallucinations of Bruce's parents (especially of Brian Banner following realizing that Brain's death was an AccidentalMurder by an enraged Bruce) and even Betty that he began to experience. While the shrapnel removal was successful, the hallucinations of Brian came back when he realizes he's seriously hurt Rick Jones while fighting the Juggernaut and Absorbing Man and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone the resultant horror causes him to ditch the gig (and armor)]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'': Via RetCon in ''ComicBook/Deadpool2013'', Deadpool is contracted by a demon named Vetis, who wanted to overthrow Mephisto, to "get Iron Man drunk", with the promise of a laser disc factory in return. However, Deadpool invokes ExactWords when he finds Tony Stark so drunk it wasn't funny -- [[LoopholeAbuse he steals the Iron Man armor and gets himself plastered]]. The demon's not happy with this and neither is Mephisto when he gets word of what the demon was doing. Also, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Deadpool never received his laser disc factory]].

** ''[[Characters/MarvelComicsLauraKinney X-23]]'' combines this with a variation of ChessWithDeath in the first arc of her Liu series. Throughout the story Hellverine, a demon using ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} as a MeatPuppet, is attempting to seduce Laura into his service as leader of his armies ([[FoeRomanceSubtext and possibly just plain attempting to seduce her]]). He argues that her refusal is pointless because she ''already'' belongs to him as a result of being a clone (who he claims don't have souls), and because of all the blood on her hands. Laura continues to resist him, eventually culminating with Hellverine attacking her (sort of) boyfriend, Hellion. He then offers to spare him if Laura agrees to serve him. Instead she makes a bargain: If she can prove his assertions about her wrong, he'll leave her alone and restore Julian. Commence a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind where Laura revisits her past traumas and, with the help of [[spoiler: the [[ComicBook/CaptainUniverse Enigma Force]]]], comes to terms with the fact that she wasn't born evil and was herself a victim. Thus winning the contest and saving both herself and Hellion.

* ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'': In Soule's run, the Leader negotiates a contract with Mephisto on behalf of the team. The Leader is cunning enough to work out a deal that is favorable for the team. [[spoiler:At the end of the run, when the Leader is trapped by Ghost Rider's Penance Stare by the rest of the team as punishment for all of the crap he's pulled, Mephisto shows up with to "renegotiate".]]

** ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan2019'': Otto makes a deal with Mephisto to return him to his original Doctor Octopus body when he is unable to battle Spider-Norman (a Norman Osborn with Spider Powers). He even claims he'll fix any mental disturbances his tentacles cause him since Otto claims that's why he went insane, though the way Mephisto phrases it, it was never the tentacles.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan''
** ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' involves [[Characters/MarvelComicsPeterParker Peter Parker]] allowing Mephisto to save his Aunt May's life in exchange for undoing his marriage to the woman he loves, thus wiping away the last twenty years of his life. However, Mephisto ''doesn't'' bargain for Peter or Mary Jane's souls, and in fact tells them that he stopped making that deal ages ago. That's because the souls of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to save another suffer nobly for all eternity... "and really, where's the fun in that?"

** ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'': In the 2019 relaunch, Otto makes a deal with Mephisto to return him to his original Doctor Octopus body when he is unable to battle Spider-Norman (a Norman Osborn with Spider Powers). He even claims he'll fix any mental disturbances his tentacles cause him since Otto claims that's why he went insane, though the way Mephisto phrases it, it was never the tentacles.
** ''ComicBook/EdgeOfSpiderVerse2022:'' Played with in Spinstress's story, where Norma the Fairy Gob-Mother offers her a standard deal for powers, but at the exchange that if she is unable to fulfil the terms of their contract by midnight, she will be unable to find love, though the fairy sees herself as being different from a devil, stipulating there are no "deals with the devil" clauses in the contract. Spinstress accepts, but is unable to fulfil her part of the bargain. Then, in ''ComicBook/EdgeOfSpiderVerse2023'', [[spoiler:it turns out Norma gave Spinstress's mother the magic artifact that turned her evil and insane in the first place, so Petra would be desperate enough to summon her and allow her to recover the artifact for her own ends.]] And then there's the little matter of the [[ReadTheFinePrint fine print]]...
* ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'': A variant occurs when the demonic genie Mr. Jyn manifests on Earth by pretending to serve a human "master" and get back at those who wronged him, only to manipulate him into letting Mr. Jyn cause more and more mayhem until the demon is released in the process.
* ''ComicBook/BlackPanther'': Subverted. The Black Panther pledged his soul to Mephisto (yes, [[ComicBook/SpiderMan that Mephisto]]) in exchange for Mephisto agreeing to depower an enemy of the Panther's that he had given great demonic power to. Mephisto lived up to his end of the bargain, and so did the Panther... but when Mephisto tried to claim the Panther's soul, Mephisto found that it was linked to the souls of the Panther God and every single previous Black Panther warrior in existence, whose sheer goodness threatened to destroy him. Mephisto requested that the Black Panther agree to release him from the pact, and the Panther agreed. This is probably one of the only cases where the ''Devil'' is the one who asks that the contract be voided.
* ''ComicBook/EarthX'': Subverted by Mephisto again in Universe X, when he offers Captain America a device that can spirit him away to an extratemporal limbo any time he's in danger of dying. In fact, [[BatmanGambit Mephisto is counting on Cap rejecting it]]; the real temptation is for the Captain to ''reject offers of help'' and depend on his own abilities to a fault. He dies shortly thereafter, nearly derailing Mar-Vell's plan to defeat Mephisto and Death (and when Cap bats the device away, it activates and sets another temporal {{plan}} in motion). That Mephisto guy is catching onto this sort of thing....

* ''ComicBook/ThePunisherBorn'' depicts Frank Castle's final battles in Vietnam before being sent back home, and has him stationed at a run-down base manned mostly by drug addicts and slackers. So when a massive Vietcong offensive comes, the base is quickly overrun. Before long, Castle is the last man facing hordes of [=NVC=] in close combat, and a voice that had coaxed him to accept an agreement throughout the comic returns forcefully. It rams home the concept that he can either die here, never to see his wife and children again, or he can accept its terms, which will require a payment but will allow him to continue fighting a war forever. As the combat reaches a brutal fever pitch and the voice is practically shouting in his head, the Punisher growls '''''[[WhamLine "Yes."]]''''' [[spoiler: Later on, when he meets his wife and kids at the airport, the voice returns. It casually reminds him that it had mentioned a price, and Frank sees Maria and the children outlined by the infamous Punisher skull.]]

*** ''All-New Wolverine #6'' reveals her clone "sisters" made one with [[spoiler: Kimura]] to help them escape from Alchemax Genetics. [[spoiler: Bellona]] elected to be the one to pay the price to ensure [[spoiler: Gabby]] walked away free, but it's yet to be revealed just what that price is.

* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'': Doctor Doom makes a deal with a cabal of demons in the "Irredeemable" story arc that involves selling his former childhood love's soul to them and wearing her skin as his new armor. He nearly defeats Reed thanks to his new power, but then he arrogantly claimed he wasn't subservient to any other power. The demons responded by dragging him into hell.
* ''ComicBook/{{Thunderbolts}}'': In Soule's run, the Leader negotiates a contract with Mephisto on behalf of the team. The Leader is cunning enough to work out a deal that is favorable for the team. [[spoiler:At the end of the run, when the Leader is trapped by Ghost Rider's Penance Stare by the rest of the team as punishment for all of the crap he's pulled, Mephisto shows up with to "renegotiate".]]
* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'': Via RetCon in Vol. 5, Deadpool is contracted by a demon named Vetis, who wanted to overthrow Mephisto, to "get Iron Man drunk", with the promise of a laser disc factory in return. However, Deadpool invokes ExactWords when he finds Tony Stark so drunk it wasn't funny -- [[LoopholeAbuse he steals the Iron Man armor and gets himself plastered]]. The demon's not happy with this and neither is Mephisto when he gets word of what the demon was doing. Also, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Deadpool never received his laser disc factory]].
* In the same story that gave the Hobgoblin his demonic powers, ''ComicBook/XMen'' villain Cameron Hodge makes a pact with N'Astirh to provide mutant babies to use in the demon's invasion of Earth. In return, Hodge is granted immortality.
* ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'':
** The Defenders made a deal with Loki to have powers, and become his pawns against the Ultimates.
** ''Ultimate Avengers 3'' deals with Ghost Rider, which naturally involves this. Many years ago, newly-wed couple Johnny Blaze and his girlfriend Roxanne were sacrificed by a biker gang to the Devil in exchange for political power. The Devil, being the Devil, decided to give Johnny an offer: Resurrect him as his agent in exchange for Roxanne's life, then sends the Rider after the biker gang in an Attempt to Collect. [[spoiler:Then he empowers the last man standing as another Ghost Rider for his own amusement.]]

** ''Comicbook/FearItself'': Cyclops sent Illyana, Shadowcat and Colossus to Cytorak in the hopes of getting the Juggernaut depowered a little. It worked, though Piotr took his sister's place and became the new Juggernaut. [[spoiler:Illyana knew he would do this, and allowed it just to show Piotr that demonic corruption changes people forever. Worse, she could have freed him at any time with her own powers but let him suffer just to make her point.]]
** ''[[Characters/MarvelComicsLauraKinney X-23]]'' combines this with a variation of ChessWithDeath in the first arc of her Liu series. Throughout the story Hellverine, a demon using Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} as a MeatPuppet, is attempting to seduce Laura into his service as leader of his armies ([[FoeRomanceSubtext and possibly just plain attempting to seduce her]]). He argues that her refusal is pointless because she ''already'' belongs to him as a result of being a clone (who he claims don't have souls), and because of all the blood on her hands. Laura continues to resist him, eventually culminating with Hellverine attacking her (sort of) boyfriend, Hellion. He then offers to spare him if Laura agrees to serve him. Instead she makes a bargain: If she can prove his assertions about her wrong, he'll leave her alone and restore Julian. Commence a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind where Laura revisits her past traumas and, with the help of [[spoiler: the [[Comicbook/CaptainUniverse Enigma Force]]]], comes to terms with the fact that she wasn't born evil and was herself a victim. Thus winning the contest and saving both herself and Hellion.

* ''Comicbook/{{Thunderbolts}}'': In Soule's run, the Leader negotiates a contract with Mephisto on behalf of the team. The Leader is cunning enough to work out a deal that is favorable for the team. [[spoiler:At the end of the run, when the Leader is trapped by Ghost Rider's Penance Stare by the rest of the team as punishment for all of the crap he's pulled, Mephisto shows up with to "renegotiate".]]

* In the same story that gave the Hobgoblin his demonic powers, ''Franchise/XMen'' villain Cameron Hodge makes a pact with N'Astirh to provide mutant babies to use in the demon's invasion of Earth. In return, Hodge is granted immortality.

** ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' involves Spider-Man allowing Mephisto to save his Aunt May's life in exchange for undoing his marriage to the woman he loves, thus wiping away the last twenty years of his life. However, Mephisto ''doesn't'' bargain for Peter or Mary Jane's souls, and in fact tells them that he stopped making that deal ages ago. That's because the souls of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to save another suffer nobly for all eternity... "and really, where's the fun in that?"

** ''ComicBook/Champions2019'': [[Characters/UltimateSpiderManMilesMorales Miles Morales]] and Amadeus Cho make a deal with Mephisto to turn back time enough to save [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Ms. Marvel]] and Viv Vision. However, this ends up costing a few civilians their lives. Mephisto ends up explaining to his son Blackheart that he loves making Spider-People suffer due to the fact that they give people hope and he likes to quash that.

** ''[[Characters/X23LauraKinney X-23]]'' combines this with a variation of ChessWithDeath in the first arc of her Liu series. Throughout the story Hellverine, a demon using Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} as a MeatPuppet, is attempting to seduce Laura into his service as leader of his armies ([[FoeRomanceSubtext and possibly just plain attempting to seduce her]]). He argues that her refusal is pointless because she ''already'' belongs to him as a result of being a clone (who he claims don't have souls), and because of all the blood on her hands. Laura continues to resist him, eventually culminating with Hellverine attacking her (sort of) boyfriend, Hellion. He then offers to spare him if Laura agrees to serve him. Instead she makes a bargain: If she can prove his assertions about her wrong, he'll leave her alone and restore Julian. Commence a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind where Laura revisits her past traumas and, with the help of [[spoiler: the [[Comicbook/CaptainUniverse Enigma Force]]]], comes to terms with the fact that she wasn't born evil and was herself a victim. Thus winning the contest and saving both herself and Hellion.

** ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'': Spidey's clone Kaine makes a deal with [[ComicBook/GhostRider the demon Zarathos]] to try and save Daredevil's life after a HeroicSacrifice. His DelicateAndSickly [[CloningBlues "nephew"]] ends up a victim of DemonicPossession instead. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Breaking It, Anti-Hero]].

* ''ComicBook/SquadronSupreme'': Invoked by name when Tom Thumb tries to get a cancer cure from the Scarlet Centurion, a ConquerorFromTheFuture.

* ''ComicBook/GhostRider'': In the movie adaptation of ''Film/GhostRider'', Mephistopheles plays a little hard and loose with the rules in order for the plot to portray Johnny Blaze more sympathetically. He pricks Johnny's finger while Johnny is just looking the contract over (and thus did not give clear, informed consent), and the splash of blood counts as a signature. He then cures Johnny's father's cancer, but [[CheatedDeathDiedAnyway kills said father the very same day via a motorcycle accident]]. In the Ghost Rider comics, Blaze still made the deal with the devil, except [[spoiler:the Ghost Rider is actually an angel. Thus, when Johnny dies and goes to Hell, he can and does escape. If he dies without the Ghost Rider, however, he still goes to Hell permanently.]]

** ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'': Spidey's clone Kaine makes a deal with [[ComicBook/GhostRider the demon Zarathos]] to try and save Daredevil's life after a HeroicSacrifice. His [[IllGirl Ill Boy]] [[CloningBlues "nephew"]] ends up a victim of DemonicPossession instead. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Breaking It, Anti-Hero]].

* ''ComicBook/{{Deadpool}}'': In one story, Deadpool is contracted by a demon who wanted to overthrow Mephisto to "get Iron Man drunk". However, Deadpool invokes ExactWords when he finds Tony Stark so drunk it wasn't funny -- he steals the Iron Man armor and gets himself plastered. The demon's not happy with this and neither is Mephisto when he gets word of what the demon was doing.

** ''ComicBook/Champions2019'': [[Characters/UltimateSpiderManMilesMorales Miles Morales]] and ComicBook/AmadeusCho make a deal with Mephisto to turn back time enough to save [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Ms. Marvel]] and Viv Vision. However, this ends up costing a few civilians their lives. Mephisto ends up explaining to his son Blackheart that he loves making Spider-People suffer due to the fact that they give people hope and he likes to quash that.

** ''ComicBook/X23'' combines this with a variation of ChessWithDeath in the first arc of her Liu series. Throughout the story Hellverine, a demon using Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} as a MeatPuppet, is attempting to seduce Laura into his service as leader of his armies ([[FoeRomanceSubtext and possibly just plain attempting to seduce her]]). He argues that her refusal is pointless because she ''already'' belongs to him as a result of being a clone (who he claims don't have souls), and because of all the blood on her hands. Laura continues to resist him, eventually culminating with Hellverine attacking her (sort of) boyfriend, Hellion. He then offers to spare him if Laura agrees to serve him. Instead she makes a bargain: If she can prove his assertions about her wrong, he'll leave her alone and restore Julian. Commence a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind where Laura revisits her past traumas and, with the help of [[spoiler: the [[Comicbook/CaptainUniverse Enigma Force]]]], comes to terms with the fact that she wasn't born evil and was herself a victim. Thus winning the contest and saving both herself and Hellion.

* ''ComicBook/GhostRider'': In the movie adaptation of ''Film/GhostRider'', Mephistopheles plays a little hard and loose with the rules in order for the plot to portray Johnny Blaze more sympathetically. He pricks Johnny's finger while Johnny is just looking the contract over (and thus did not give clear, informed consent), and the splash of blood counts as a signature. then cures Johnny's father's cancer, but kills said father the very same day via a motorcycle accident. In the Ghost Rider comics, Blaze still made the deal with the devil, except [[spoiler:the Ghost Rider is actually an angel. Thus, when Johnny dies and goes to Hell, he can and does escape. If he dies without the Ghost Rider, however, he still goes to Hell permanently.]]

* Of all the evil entities, ComicBook/{{Mephisto}}, the Marvel Universe's version of {{Satan}}, is the major example of these trope. It's his trademark.
** Mys-Tech, the BigBad of Creator/MarvelUK’s 1990s books, were immortal sorcerers who made a deal with Mephisto a thousand years ago. Come the end of the 20th century, they found themselves sinking into debt, with ever-increasing payments of souls required. Their desperation fuelled many plot lines - and, years later, ''ComicBook/RevolutionaryWar'' saw Mephisto try to close down his end of the deal.
* In what was likely a case of StupidEvil taken UpToEleven, ComicBook/DoctorStrange's old enemy Baron Mordo tried to obtain power by selling his soul to not one, but ''two'' powerful demonic entities, Mephisto and Satannish. He got greater power, but it wasn't enough to defeat Strange, and things got much, much, worse when both demons came to collect. Mordo had counted on Strange to save him, but the two demons started fighting ''each other'' over Mordo's soul, each one apparently willing to destroy the Earth before letting the other have it. (Strange managed to drive them away with a ritual that would have merged them together into the evil singularity they originally were, forcing them to flee to avoid it, and seeing as they haven't bothered Mordo since, the contracts he made with them seem to have been annulled somehow.)
* The case of Comicbook/GhostRider. In the movie adaptation of ''Film/GhostRider'', Mephistopheles plays a little hard and loose with the rules in order for the plot to portray Johnny Blaze more sympathetically. He pricks Johnny's finger while Johnny is just looking the contract over (and thus did not give clear, informed consent), and the splash of blood counts as a signature. then cures Johnny's father's cancer, but kills said father the very same day via a motorcycle accident. In the Ghost Rider comics, Blaze still made the deal with the devil, except [[spoiler:the Ghost Rider is actually an angel. Thus, when Johnny dies and goes to Hell, he can and does escape. If he dies without the Ghost Rider, however, he still goes to Hell permanently.]]
* Subverted by Thanos in Marvel's ''ComicBook/TheInfinityCrusade''. Mephisto offers a key piece of information in subduing the Goddess in exchange for one of her [[CosmicKeystone cosmic containment units]]. When Mephisto later returns after the conflict has concluded to collect his payment, he decides to test his new toy against Thanos, only to realize that it is powerless. Thanos then clarifies that, while he had honored their agreement by providing Mephisto with a unit, [[ExactWords it was never specified]] that he wanted one that ''functioned''.

** The arc ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' involves Spider-Man allowing Mephisto to save his Aunt May's life in exchange for undoing his marriage to the woman he loves, thus wiping away the last twenty years of his life. However, Mephisto ''doesn't'' bargain for Peter or Mary Jane's souls, and in fact tells them that he stopped making that deal ages ago. That's because the souls of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to save another suffer nobly for all eternity... "and really, where's the fun in that?"
** Subverted in the 1990s by the Jason Macendale Hobgoblin, a B-list villain who had been struggling to increase his powers. During [[ComicBook/Inferno1988 a demonic invasion of New York]], Macendale seeks out the demons' leader and offers to trade his soul for power. In a ghoulishly ironic twist, the demon openly laughs at the idea, considering Macendale's soul to be too pitiful to be worth taking ("What would I want with your soul?" laughs the demon. "Have you ''looked'' at it lately? ''Disgusting!''"), but goes ahead and gives Macendale the power of a demon anyway, just for making him laugh. Macendale's additional power made him a more formidable opponent, even coming close to killing Spider-Man on a couple of occasions, but it also ended up making him go AxCrazy and turning him into a fanatical KnightTemplar. Macendale wasn't exactly a ButtMonkey, but no matter what he tried to do to increase his powers, he just couldn't catch a break... (And then he got turned into a cyborg. And THEN he got killed by the original Hobgoblin... only for said original Hobgoblin to immediately retire and not do anything ever again for about ten years.)
** In ''ComicBook/SpiderGirl'', Spidey's clone Kaine also makes a deal with [[Comicbook/GhostRider the demon Zarathos]] to try and save Daredevil's life after a HeroicSacrifice. His [[IllGirl Ill Boy]] [[CloningBlues "nephew"]] ends up a victim of DemonicPossession instead. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero Nice Job Breaking It, Anti-Hero]].
** In ''ComicBook/{{Champions 2018}}'', ComicBook/MilesMorales and ComicBook/AmadeusCho both make a deal with Mephisto to turn back time enough to save [[ComicBook/MsMarvel2014 Ms. Marvel]] and Viv Vision. However, this ends up costing a few civilians their lives. Mephisto ends up explaining to his son Blackheart that he loves making Spider-People suffer due to the fact that they give people hope and he likes to quash that.
** In the 2019 ''ComicBook/SuperiorSpiderMan'' relaunch, Otto makes a deal with Mephisto to return him to his original Doctor Octopus body when he is unable to battle Spider-Norman (a Norman Osborn with Spider Powers). He even claims he'll fix any mental disturbances his tentacles cause him since Otto claims that's why he went insane, though the way Mephisto phrases it, it was never the tentacles.
* A variant occurs in the ''ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}'' comics, where the demonic genie Mr. Jyn manifests on Earth by pretending to serve a human "master" and get back at those who wronged him, only to manipulate him into letting Mr. Jyn cause more and more mayhem until the demon is released in the process.
* Subverted by the ComicBook/BlackPanther. The Black Panther pledged his soul to Mephisto (yes, [[ComicBook/SpiderMan that Mephisto]]) in exchange for Mephisto agreeing to depower an enemy of the Panther's that he had given great demonic power to. Mephisto lived up to his end of the bargain, and so did the Panther...but when Mephisto tried to claim the Panther's soul, Mephisto found that it was linked to the souls of the Panther God and every single previous Black Panther warrior in existence, whose sheer goodness threatened to destroy him. Mephisto requested that the Black Panther agree to release him from the pact, and the Panther agreed. This is probably one of the only cases where the ''Devil'' is the one who asks that the contract be voided.
* Subverted by Mephisto again in [[ComicBook/EarthX Universe X]], when he offers Captain America a device that can spirit him away to an extratemporal limbo any time he's in danger of dying. In fact, [[BatmanGambit Mephisto is counting on Cap rejecting it]]; the real temptation is for the Captain to ''reject offers of help'' and depend on his own abilities to a fault. He dies shortly thereafter, nearly derailing Mar-Vell's plan to defeat Mephisto and Death (and when Cap bats the device away, it activates and sets another temporal {{plan}} in motion). That Mephisto guy is catching onto this sort of thing....
* Invoked by name in the ''ComicBook/SquadronSupreme'' limited series when Tom Thumb tries to get a cancer cure from the Scarlet Centurion, a ConquerorFromTheFuture.
* Frank Castle, alias Comicbook/ThePunisher, makes one in the alternate timeline [[Comicbook/ThePunisherMAX Marvel MAX]]. The comic ''[[ComicBook/ThePunisherBorn Born]]'' depicts his final battles in Vietnam before being sent back home, and has him stationed at a run-down base manned mostly by drug addicts and slackers. So when a massive Vietcong offensive comes, the base is quickly overrun. Before long, Castle is the last man facing hordes of [=NVC=] in close combat, and a voice that had coaxed him to accept an agreement throughout the comic returns forcefully. It rams home the concept that he can either die here, never to see his wife and children again, or he can accept its terms, which will require a payment but will allow him to continue fighting a war forever. As the combat reaches a brutal fever pitch and the voice is practically shouting in his head, the Punisher growls '''''[[WhamLine "Yes."]]''''' [[spoiler: Later on, when he meets his wife and kids at the airport, the voice returns. It casually reminds him that it had mentioned a price, and Frank sees Maria and the children outlined by the infamous Punisher skull.]]
* In ComicBook/XMen ''Comicbook/FearItself'', Cyclops sent Illyana, Shadowcat and Colossus to Cytorak in the hopes of getting the Juggernaut depowered a little. It worked, though Piotr took his sister's place and became the new Juggernaut. [[spoiler:Illyana knew he would do this, and allowed it just to show Piotr that demonic corruption changes people forever. Worse, she could have freed him at any time with her own powers but let him suffer just to make her point.]]
* ComicBook/DoctorDoom made a deal with a cabal of demons in the "Irredeemable" story arc that involved selling his former childhood love's soul to them and wearing her skin as his new armor. He nearly defeats Reed thanks to his new power, but then he arrogantly claimed he wasn't subservient to any other power. The demons responded by dragging him into hell.
* In Soule's run on ''Comicbook/{{Thunderbolts}}'', the Leader negotiates a contract with Mephisto on behalf of the team. The Leader is cunning enough to work out a deal that is favorable for the team. [[spoiler:At the end of the run, when the Leader is trapped by Ghost Rider's Penance Stare by the rest of the team as punishment for all of the crap he's pulled, Mephisto shows up with to "renegotiate".]]
* Comicbook/{{X 23}} combines this with a variation of ChessWithDeath in the first arc of her Liu series. Throughout the story Hellverine, a demon using Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} as a MeatPuppet, is attempting to seduce Laura into his service as leader of his armies ([[FoeRomanceSubtext and possibly just plain attempting to seduce her]]). He argues that her refusal is pointless because she ''already'' belongs to him as a result of being a clone (who he claims don't have souls), and because of all the blood on her hands. Laura continues to resist him, eventually culminating with Hellverine attacking her (sort of) boyfriend, Hellion. He then offers to spare him if Laura agrees to serve him. Instead she makes a bargain: If she can prove his assertions about her wrong, he'll leave her alone and restore Julian. Commence a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind where Laura revisits her past traumas and, with the help of [[spoiler: the [[Comicbook/CaptainUniverse Enigma Force]]]], comes to terms with the fact that she wasn't born evil and was herself a victim. Thus winning the contest and saving both herself and Hellion.
** She later enters into a bit more of a conventional one during ''Circle Of Four'', in which Mephisto offers to restore her, Red Hulk, Ghost Rider, and Venom to life after they've been killed by Blackheart, in exchange for stopping his machinations to unleash hell on earth. They succeed and Blackheart is defeated, and all four are revived as Mephisto agreed. Unfortunately, they ''also'' owe him another favor at a later date, the terms of which have yet to be revealed...
** ''All-New Wolverine #6'' reveals her clone "sisters" made one with [[spoiler: Kimura]] to help them escape from Alchemax Genetics. [[spoiler: Bellona]] elected to be the one to pay the price to ensure [[spoiler: Gabby]] walked away free, but it's yet to be revealed just what that price is.
* ComicBook/{{Deadpool}} was once contracted by a demon who wanted to overthrow Mephisto to "get Iron Man drunk". However, Deadpool invokes ExactWords when he finds Tony Stark so drunk it wasn't funny - he steals the Iron Man armor and gets himself plastered. The demon's not happy with this and neither is Mephisto when he gets word of what the demon was doing.

* In ''ComicBook/XForce'', ComicBook/{{Sunspot}} makes a deal with Selene, an immortal sorceress, and Blackheart, the son of Mephisto, to reincarnate Sunspot's dead girlfriend in exchange for him serving under Selene at her villainous Hellfire Club. Juliana is brought back from the dead and Sunspot's involvement with the Hellfire Club becomes an AbortedArc that he doesn't have to follow through, so he comes out pretty well at the top.

** ''Ultimate Avengers 3'' deals with Ghost Rider, which naturally involves this. Many years ago, newly-wed couple Johnny Blaze and his girlfriend Roxanne were sacrificed by a biker gang to the Devil in exchange for political power. The Devil, being the Devil, decided to give Johnny an offer: Resurrect him as his agent in exchange for Roxanne's life, then sends the Rider after the biker gang in an Attempt to Collect. [[spoiler:Then he empowers the last man standing as another Ghost Rider for his own amusement.]]

** This is because Mephisto screwed Thanos over in ''ComicBook/TheInfinityGauntlet'', and Thanos has gotten smart.

** The infamous arc ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay'' involves [[spoiler:Spider-Man allowing Mephisto to save his Aunt May's life in exchange for undoing his marriage to the woman he loves, thus wiping away the last twenty years of his life.]] For numerous reasons (including the fact that if Mephisto was actually powerful enough to do this, the entire MarvelUniverse would be screwed, since he'd use the power in far more evil ways than just wiping out Spidey's marriage), many ''Spider-Man'' fans consider this particular entry to be idiotic. Even Stan Lee disregards ''ComicBook/OneMoreDay''.
*** In a mild subversion, Mephisto ''doesn't'' bargain for Peter or Mary Jane's souls, and in fact tells them that he stopped making that deal ages ago. That's because the souls of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to save another suffer nobly for all eternity... "and really, where's the fun in that?"

** Mys-Tech, the BigBad of Creator/MarvelUK’s 1990s books, were immortal sorcerers who’s made a deal with Mephisto over a thousand years ago. Come the end of the 20th century, they were sinking into debt, with ever-increasing payments of souls required. Their desperation fuelled many plot lines - and, years later, ''ComicBook/RevolutionaryWar'' saw Mephisto try to close down his end of the deal.

** Subverted in the 1990s by the Jason Macendale Hobgoblin, a B-list villain who had been struggling to increase his powers. During [[ComicBook/{{Inferno}} a demonic invasion of New York]], Macendale seeks out the demons' leader and offers to trade his soul for power. In a ghoulishly ironic twist, the demon openly laughs at the idea, considering Macendale's soul to be too pitiful to be worth taking ("What would I want with your soul?" laughs the demon. "Have you ''looked'' at it lately? ''Disgusting!''"), but goes ahead and gives Macendale the power of a demon anyway, just for making him laugh. Macendale's additional power made him a more formidable opponent, even coming close to killing Spider-Man on a couple of occasions, but it also ended up making him go AxCrazy and turning him into a fanatical KnightTemplar. Macendale wasn't exactly a ButtMonkey, but no matter what he tried to do to increase his powers, he just couldn't catch a break... (And then he got turned into a cyborg. And THEN he got killed by the original Hobgoblin... only for said original Hobgoblin to immediately retire and not do anything ever again for about ten years.)