The rumour mill’s running hot, as an official copyright filing has listed Sacha Baron Cohen as a main cast member on Marvel Studios’ upcoming Disney+ series Ironheart.
According to the document, the Borat star is set to portray a character tentatively named “Mystery Man” — an obvious placeholder for his highly-speculated role of Mephisto. Word of the Cohen’s casting of the villain started circulating in October 2022, when multiple comic-focused X (formerly Twitter) accounts reported on the matter.
Deadline soon corroborated these reports, with an anonymous source close to production revealing talk on set about the actor, who was also spotted at the Marvel facilities located at UK’s Pinewood Studios, being part of Ironheart. In March 2023, reliable industry insider Jeff Sneider confirmed that Cohen would play Mephisto in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
Nothing about the casting is official, of course, so take it with a grain of salt. Still, the immortal demon has been a long time coming. While fans first speculated his debut as the big bad of WandaVision, it turned out to be Agatha Harkness all along who was pulling the strings. The character did have a presence on the series, however, and could possibly appear in Agatha: Coven of Chaos if the rumours are indeed true.
At this point of time, there’s no way to tell for certain. The official copyright for the spin-off has also been filed, but it only includes the main cast, which Mephisto won’t be part of.
The six-episode Ironheart stars Dominique Thorne, who reprises her role as Marvel character Riri Williams from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. She is joined by Anthony Ramos, Alden Ehrenreich, Lyric Ross, Matthew Elam, Anji White, Manny Montana, Shea Coulee, and more. Per the copyright filing, the show is now targeting an approximate launch window of 2025, with a description that reads:
“Marvel Studios presents “Ironheart” in which charming teenage super genius Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) returns from MIT to her hometown of Chicago in her iron suit and begins to unravel threads that bring danger and adventure right to her doorstep. The adventure begins in episode 101 as Riri is introduced to the audience.”
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Natalie
