Marvel vs DC · Cosmic
Dream of the Endless vs Mephisto
A devil who has never lost a bargain meets the lord of dreams, who once beat the ruler of hell at his own game.
Tale of the tape
| DC | Universe | Marvel |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmic | Tier | Cosmic |
| Ruler of the Dreaming: sleep, stories and the power of imagination | Strength | Reality warping, soul bargains and a gift for finding what people want most |
| Proud, rigid and slow to change | Weakness | Cannot take a soul without some kind of consent |
| 2–0 | Record on Versus | 2–1 |
The Arena
Mephisto heard of a realm where every mortal goes when they sleep, a place full of their deepest wishes and fears, and he thought it would be the perfect place to collect souls. He slipped into the Dreaming through a nightmare and found himself in a vast library of every book never written. A tall, pale figure in black was waiting for him.
“You have entered my realm uninvited,” said Dream of the Endless. Mephisto bowed with a flourish. “I am a businessman. I simply wish to make a few deals with your sleepers.” Dream’s dark eyes, with stars where the pupils should be, did not blink. “No.”
Mephisto smiled wider. “Then perhaps a deal with you. A contest. If I win, I may make my bargains here. If you win, I leave.” Dream considered. “A contest of what?” Mephisto’s grin grew. “Of imagination.”
Round One
Mephisto went first. “I am a serpent of fire, coiling around your library.” And he was, a vast burning snake, its flames reaching for the books. Dream answered calmly. “I am a rain cloud, falling.” The rain fell, and the serpent hissed and steamed. It was an old game, the oldest game, played in a realm where words become real.
“I am a hurricane,” said Mephisto. “I am a mountain that does not move,” said Dream. “I am an earthquake that splits the mountain.” “I am the sky above it, untouched.” Each answer was stronger than the last, and the Dreaming shifted around them with every word.
Mephisto had played this game with demons and gods. He had never lost. He began to sweat.
The Turn
Mephisto decided to end it. “I am a darkness that consumes all light,” he said. “I am the end of all things. I am nothing. I am the void after everything is gone.” The Dreaming went black around them, utterly silent, and Mephisto smiled in the dark. There was no answer to the void.
Dream waited a moment, then spoke softly. “I am hope.” Mephisto froze. “What?” Dream’s voice was calm in the dark. “I am hope. Hope exists even in the void. Even after everything is gone. And it is there, in the dark, that every dream begins.”
A single point of light appeared in the darkness. Then another. Then the whole library returned, brighter than before.
The Finish
Mephisto stood in the restored library, speechless. He had no answer to hope. No devil does. That is why devils deal in despair. He reached for another word, another trick, and found that he had none. In the Dreaming, the contest was over the moment he had no reply.
Dream raised his hand, and the realm closed gently around Mephisto, pushing him back out through the nightmare he had come in by. “You will not make your bargains in my realm,” Dream said. “The sleepers here are mine to protect. Their dreams are not for sale.”
Mephisto woke, if a devil can wake, in his own hell dimension, with the faint memory of a library and a single, unbearable word. For a long time afterwards, whenever a mortal refused one of his deals, he found himself wondering if they had been dreaming of hope. It made him very uneasy indeed.
The verdict
Dream of the Endless wins
Mephisto has never lost a bargain, but in the Dreaming, words become real and Dream is its ruler, and hope is the one answer a devil has no reply to.
- Home realmIn the Dreaming, Dream controls everything.
- The oldest gameDream has won this contest before, against a ruler of hell.
- HopeThe one concept devils cannot counter.
How the rematch could go differently: In Mephisto’s own hell dimension, outside the Dreaming, Dream would be far less powerful and the devil would set the rules.
Who do you think wins?
Who would win in a fight between Dream of the Endless and Mephisto?
Dream of the Endless wins. Mephisto has never lost a bargain, but in the Dreaming, words become real and Dream is its ruler, and hope is the one answer a devil has no reply to.