An official copyright filing confirms that Sacha Baron Cohen has joined the cast of Marvel Studios‘ upcoming Disney+ series Ironheart.
Late last month, Marvel preregistered the first episode of Ironheart with the United States Copyright Office. The filing includes the Disney+ series’ cast list. Cohen is listed as portraying a character tentatively named “Mystery Man.” Notably, it is commonly believed that Cohen will actually be portraying the malevolent Mephisto in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Reports that Cohen would portray Mephisto in Ironheart first surfaced in October 2022. Deadline soon corroborated these reports, citing an anonymous source close to the production. In March 2023, noted industry insider Jeff Sneider reaffirmed that Cohen would be MCU‘s Mephisto.
Sneider also claimed that Cohen’s Mephisto would star in a Marvel Studios Special Presentation, which was supposedly filmed on the set of Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. However, Charles Murphy of Murphy’s Multiverse threw cold water on that particular report, claiming a source at Disney had denied such a special was in the works.
At any rate, Cohen is an actor and comedian known for his mockumentary approach. Over the years, he has played such satirical characters as Ali G, Bruno, and — perhaps most notably — Borat. In fact, Cohen actually won’t be the first actor from the Borat universe to join the MCU. Borat Subsequent Moviefilm co-star Maria Bakalova previously portrayed Cosmo the Spacedog in The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.
What is Marvel’s Ironheart about?
Ironheart stars Dominique Thorne, who reprises her role as Riri Williams from the MCU film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Per Marvel’s copyright filing, the series follows “charming teenage super genius” and MIT student Riri as she returns to “her hometown of Chicago in her iron suit and begins to unravel threads that bring danger and adventure right to her doorstep.”
In addition to Thorne and Cohen, Ironheart stars Anthony Ramos, Alden Ehrenreich, Lyric Ross, Matthew Elam, Anji White, Manny Montana, Shea Coulee, and more. The series was initially announced as a fall 2023 release, though was subsequently delayed. Marvel recently removed Ironheart from its release calendar altogether amid the since-completed WGA strike and still-ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. According to the copyright filing, Ironheart is now targeting an approximate launch window of September 2025. Also per the filing, the series wrapped production late last year.
Ironheart does not currently have a release date.
