Some pretty significant spoilers for Ironheart found their way online after the show wrapped production at the end of 2022, so the following are unlikely to surprise those of you with a good memory.
There have been hints about a big debut in the Disney+ series for a while now, and an article from The Telegraph has spilt the beans a little sooner than Marvel Studios might have liked. In fact, this feels very reminiscent of a Funko Pop listing spoiling Wiccan and Death's respective debuts in Agatha All Along.
"It’s been a while since the arrival of Sacha Baron Cohen has inspired anything other than an indifferent shrug," reads the site's article, "but he steals the show here – admittedly not difficult – as a pantomime villain version of that old favourite, the Devil, here going by one of their many noms d’evil, Mephisto."
"Foxily marrying Danny Dyer’s accent – we Brits are always the evil ones in this kind of caper – with Victorian-style face furniture, Baron Cohen’s Mephisto feels parachuted into Ironheart from an altogether higher camp planet, a hammed up slice of melodrama many worlds away from Ironheart’s weary stab at a cool urban milieu."
"At the eleventh hour, Mephisto kickstarts the momentum of a show that too often gets bogged down in box-ticking emotional backstories and half-baked explorations of the potential ramifications of AI," the piece adds. "If Mephisto had locked horns with Ironheart earlier, we might have had a show worth saving. Instead, it looks headed for the ever-mounting superhero scrapheap."
So, yes, The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Borat star has been cast as Mephisto, a villain fans were convinced would be revealed as the mastermind behind what we saw happening in WandaVision back in 2021.
It later looked like he might show up in Agatha All Along, and had Ironheart been released sooner, he may well have been given something to do there. Ironheart's delay has had a big impact on the wider MCU, as Alden Ehrenreich's Ezekiel Stane was supposed to be namedropped in Captain America: Brave New World as the one responsible for giving the Serpent Society their powers.
Ironheart takes a surprisingly deep dive into the MCU's supernatural side, and with The Hood in play, Mephisto's long-awaited debut doesn't feel out of place. Cohen would have shot his scenes three years ago, so it's unclear whether this was a one-off or the start of something bigger. If that Ghost Rider movie happens, we'd expect to see him there next.
Check back here on Tuesday for a breakdown of all the biggest spoilers and reveals in the final three episodes of Ironheart.
Set after the events of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Marvel Television’s Ironheart pits technology against magic when Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) - a young, genius inventor determined to make her mark on the world - returns to her hometown of Chicago.
Her unique take on building iron suits is brilliant, but in pursuit of her ambitions, she finds herself wrapped up with the mysterious yet charming Parker Robbins aka "The Hood" (Anthony Ramos).
The series also stars Lyric Ross, Alden Ehrenreich, Regan Aliyah, Manny Montana, Matthew Elam and Anji White. Chinaka Hodge is head writer and executive producer; episodes are directed by Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes.
"Ironheart soars when Dominique Thorne, Anthony Ramos, Alden Ehrenreich, and Lyric Ross are on screen," we wrote in our 3* review, "but a by-the-numbers story means the series falls short of reaching the same heights as Iron Man. Still, the finale is an undeniable must-see."
The first three episodes of Ironheart are now streaming on Disney+.