Sacha Baron Cohen Shocks Fans With Muscular Body Transformation to Play Marvel’s Mephisto: ‘This Is Not AI… Hard Launching My Mid-Life Crisis’

Sacha Baron Cohen is shocking fans with his Men’s Fitness U.K. cover story, which includes photos of the muscular body transformation he underwent before filming scenes as Mephisto in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The “Borat” creator debuted as the infamous comic book villain in the Disney+ series “Ironheart” earlier this summer.

“Some celebs use Ozempic and some use private chefs, others use personal trainers. I did all three,” Cohen quipped on his Instagram story while sharing the shirtless photos of himself. He also told fans: “This is not AI. I really am egotistical enough to do this.”

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Cohen wrote in other posts: “Debuting my new character: Middle-aged man who replaced beer with protein shakes… Hard launching my mid-life crisis.”

Marvel fans originally expected Mephisto to pop up years ago in “WandaVision,” and Baron Cohen was always at the top of fan-casting wishlists. “Ironheart” producer and “Black Panther” director Ryan Coogler told Variety last month that he was thrilled Marvel waited until “Ironheart” to debut Baron Cohen’s Mephisto.

“I just absolutely love that we’re not meeting him in ‘WandaVision’ or ‘Agatha [All Along].’ You’re meeting him through this stressed-out, young Black genius,” Coogler said. “When you watch the show, it’s like, ‘Oh, that was how you always were gonna meet him.’ It wasn’t gonna be in ‘Loki.’ That’s the trickster; that’s how he works. That’s where he’s gonna be: in a pizza shop in Chicago, like, where you would absolutely never expect him.”

Head writer Chinaka Hodge said the decision to introduce Baron Cohen’s Mephisto was a “collaborative” one, adding: “I could tell the story about process, and you would know how benevolent Kevin Feige is. But I will say that it was a collaborative effort, where we all landed on Mephisto together, but there was one of us in the room who led us there, and I’m eternally grateful for him leading us that direction.”

It’s currently unknown when Baron Cohen will pop up again as Mephisto in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but he’ll certainly be in great shape whenever that time comes.

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