Marvel Comicshas revealed that their resurrected Agent Coulson is secretly working forMephisto , their variant of the Devil . Death is something of a revolving threshold in comics , but often the experience of end seem to exchange secondary character quite substantially . It ’s long been clear that Phil Coulson ’s death has moved him into a very dingy and grievous place .

Coulson wasone of the most high - profile victims of the " Secret Empire " upshot , in which a twisted rendering of Captain America take over the United States in the name of Hydra . All of Earth ’s Mightiest Heroes were assume by surprise , but not Coulson ; he straight off spotted when Cap was acting out of character , and even forecast out the trueness . Unfortunately , Steve Rogers clear he was close to being bring out , and manipulated Deadpool into killing Coulson before he could enjoin Rogers ' secrets to the Avengers . More of late , though , Jason Aaron’sAvengersrun has revealed thatCoulson is back . He ’s now drawing card of a unsafe and vicious superhero team he calls the Squadron Supreme of America , a group he ’s setting up to match the Avengers . And he seems a changed man , much more minacious , with his trust in superheroes put back by patronage .

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This week’sAvengers#18 finally explains how Coulson came back from the dead - and just why he ’s been transformed so much . It ’s a side - tale to the " War of Realms " effect , focusing on the Squadron Supreme ’s conflict against Malekith ’s forces in the early days of Malekith ’s invasion .

Where the Avengers concentrated their force in New York , and were vote down with disgraceful fastness , the Squadron Supreme first drove the Dark Elves and Frost Giants back at Washington , D.C. , before going on the offensive across the res publica . The issue reveals the sheer extent to which Coulson is manipulating the Squadron Supreme , literally programming their emotion , and that he ’s establish some sort of hypnotic control over the military leaders who are supposed to be require him . Throughout , there are also scene in which Coulson is dining with a mystical digit he calls " sir " - and it ’s finally show   to be Mephisto , Marvel ’s version of the Devil .

This corroborate that Mephisto is the one who has resurrect Phil Coulson , but he ’s only done so after he break out Coulson ’s spirit and turned him into his instrument . It intend that Mephisto is the one who ’s really in charge of a muscular team of superheroes , as well as - through Coulson - a chunk of the United States war machine . Looking across the rest of the Marvel Comics range , Mephisto is clearly working on something ; he ’s also a pronounced background presence in the pages ofThe Champions , where he ’s peculiarly enjoyingmanipulating Miles Morales and Amadeus Cho . It look as though Mephisto is taking reward of the chaos of recent long time to plunge a plan of his own - and mightily now , the Avengers have no idea he ’s even a terror .

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curiously enough , Coulson is pass from the dead as a villain both in the comic and on television receiver . Clark Gregg ’s Phil Coulson was left die at the terminal ofAgents of S.H.I.E.L.D.season 5 , and solve to spend his last few twenty-four hours on the beach at Tahiti with Agent May . Gregg is generate in time of year 6 as a sorting of " not - Phil - Coulson " function , which he describes as " this other very cryptic someone … And the secret of who that person is and why he looks like that , is something that they ’ve done groundbreaking ceremony , wild stuff with that I ’m really lucky to act . " It ’s always amusing to see a well - time synergism between the comics and the all-embracing Marvel Cinematic Universe .

avenger   # 18is on sale now fromMarvel Comics .

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