Speaking with John Horowitz during a live taping of Happy Sad Confused, the Borat actor praised the Ironheart team for making him feel comfortable as he came on board as the comic book super-nemesis. “It was a wonderful meeting when I was offered it,” he said. “It was primarily, I think, an almost entirely Black producing and directing team. And they said, ‘We want to offer you Mephisto, but we are aware of the negative association of Jews historically with the devil, and we want to make sure that you’re not insulted by us offering this.’ It was such an amazingly considerate, empathetic thing to say. And I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m good.'”
Despite fan speculation that Mephisto was lurking in the MCU as early as WandaVision, the role wasn’t cast until 2022. Cohen filmed scenes for Ironheart that same year, though the series wouldn’t stream on Disney+ until 2025 due to the 2023 Hollywood strikes and Marvel’s strategic reevaluation of its TV output. He appeared in the series finale, tempting Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) with the chance to bring her deceased best friend back to life. Offscreen, Mephisto had earlier manipulated the series’ antagonist, The Hood (Anthony Ramos), bestowing a crimson cloak on him that grants the wearer superpowers.
Cohen went on to say, “I think for the Jews out there, sometimes we don’t feel seen. We don’t feel like people can empathize with us, that we are suffering too. And so to have this entirely Black producing and directing team be so empathetic was a moment of being seen. It was an amazing experience.”
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