Marvel Feared Backlash for Casting a Jewish Actor as the Devil: Sacha Baron Cohen Reveals the Delicate ‘Ironheart’ Conversation Behind Mephisto

For years, Marvel fans have played a guessing game over when the devil himself would finally arrive in the MCU. The speculation began with ‘WandaVision,’ fizzled out, and only ended when Mephisto surfaced in the final episode of ‘Ironheart.’ Now the actor behind the demon is pulling back the curtain on how the role was offered.

The casting rumors stretch back to October 2022, when Deadline reported that Sacha Baron Cohen was in talks to join ‘Ironheart’ as Mephisto. Marvel declined to comment at the time, and an official copyright filing later listed Cohen as a “Mystery Man.” Nothing was confirmed until the finale aired last year, so the casting stayed a rumor for a long time.

Now Cohen has revealed what actually happened when the offer came, and it was a more careful conversation than anyone expected. He recalled that the creative team behind the show was worried that casting a Jewish actor as the devil could be perceived as antisemitic.

Cohen described the moment during a live ‘Happy Sad Confused’ conversation with Josh Horowitz at New York’s 92nd Street Y on Wednesday night, where he’s currently promoting ‘Ali G: Who Iz I?’ He called the meeting wonderful and said the producing and directing team was almost entirely Black.

According to Cohen, they said they wanted to offer him Mephisto but were aware of the historically negative association between Jews and the devil, and they wanted to make sure he wasn’t insulted. He called it an amazingly considerate and empathetic thing to say, and he told them he was fine with it. As he explained to Variety, “for the Jews out there, sometimes we don’t feel seen.”

He added that having the team respond with such empathy made him feel seen, and that it was an amazing experience. It’s a rare behind-the-scenes look at how a casting decision for a major franchise villain gets handled.

Mephisto is the devil-like demon of Marvel Comics, inspired by Mephistopheles, who tricks heroes into making deals with him, often in exchange for their souls. He was created by Stan Lee and John Buscema and first appeared in the pages of ‘Silver Surfer.’ That’s what makes the sensitivity of the casting conversation easy to understand.

‘Ironheart’ was created by Chinaka Hodge, with ‘Black Panther’ director Ryan Coogler and Zinzi Coogler among its executive producers. Proximity Media co-produced the series, and Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes directed its episodes.

Cohen’s Mephisto was revealed in the ‘Ironheart’ finale, where it turned out the demon had given Parker Robbins, a.k.a. The Hood, his magic cloak. Later, Dominique Thorne’s Riri Williams strikes a deal with Mephisto to bring her deceased best friend, Natalie Washington, back from the dead. In return, Mephisto gets Riri’s soul.

The moment landed as one of the show’s biggest talking points after it debuted last year. Cohen also drew attention for a dramatic physical transformation tied to the role, with Deadline linking his bulked-up look to his Marvel casting.

It isn’t clear when audiences will see Mephisto again. Marvel boss Kevin Feige has said there are plans to use the character more in the MCU, and Cohen has said Mephisto would be the role to return first if he had to choose between that and Borat. Meanwhile, a second season of ‘Ironheart’ has not been announced.

For now, Cohen’s comments add a fascinating new layer to one of the MCU’s most anticipated villain debuts. They also show how much thought can go into a single casting call.

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