Borat and The Trial of the Chicago 7 star Sacha Baron Cohen made his long-rumoured MCU debut as Mephisto in Marvel Studios' Ironheart earlier this month.
Cohen stole the show as the MCU's devil, and there's already a huge amount of excitement surrounding his eventual return. Midnight Sons is an obvious next destination for Mephisto, though there's every chance he also shows up in Avengers: Doomsday, seeing as Ghost Rider is rumoured to appear in the movie.
The actor and comedian, who got his start as Ali G, is near-unrecognisable in a new cover story for Men's Fitness UK. According to Deadline, Cohen trained with Alfonso "The Angry Trainer" Moretti to get shredded and "The results came quickly, enough that Baron Cohen's Mephisto costume had to be altered a time or two to reflect the improvements in his physique."
There's already speculation that Mephisto could serve as the MCU's next big bad, and with Marvel Studios plotting a slate of supernatural tales, we'd imagine he'll be at least one of them (on the X-Men side of things, Mister Sinister is a likely candidate).
"He was never part of WandaVision. We've talked about that. Matt's talked about that. Jack Schaefer's talk about that. He was never part of WandaVision," Marvel Studios President Feige recently explained.
"But the enthusiasm with which he was theorised on that was certainly cool and fun to watch. And he's another character that, pre-MCU, would have been hard to do. He's a devil. How do you do that character? But he's a formative character," the executive continued. "He was a big part of Thanos' storyline in the comics. So again, now that he's here, the potential is clear."
Pushed on whether we'll definitely see Mephisto again (unlike a few other newly introduced Multiverse Saga characters who are currently M.I.A.), Feige responded, "Yes."
Ironheart establishes that "The Hood" belongs to Mephisto (a change from the comics, where it's tied to Dormammu). He took Parker Robbins' soul in exchange for the artefact, and later made a deal with Riri Williams to take hers in return for resurrecting the real Natalie.
The MCU's take on this character is every bit as powerful as his comic book counterpart, and the devil's true face is shown briefly in the reflection from the spoon he's holding. So, what's next for Sacha Baron Cohen's supernatural big bad?
We'll have to wait and see, but Cohen will hopefully have more to say about his MCU debut when this issue of Men's Fitness UK goes on sale later this week.