One of the big reveals on the 2025 TV schedule so far is Sacha Baron Cohen officially joining the MCU as the supervillain Mephisto in Ironheart. Following his arrival in the Disney+ series earlier this month, the Borat actor is pulling a popular Marvel actor move and showing off a truly insane body transformation. (Take that, Chris Pratt and Kumail Nanjiani!)
Photos from Sacha Baron Cohen’s profile on Men’s Fitness magazine were revealed on Instagram on Wednesday, and the comment section got as spicy as you’d imagine it might. Check out the photos below:
As the magazine’s cover reads, Cohen went “from Borat to buff in 25 minutes a day”, and the results are rather impressive. Check out some of the comments below:
- “Is this AI?” - Chelsea Handler
- “🔥” - Gal Gadot
- “I'm sorry, but thirst trap Borat was not on my 2025 bingo card” - @sierra.c.c
- “Very nice! How much?” @lacerdaemmanuel
- “And he’s 53. Dude looks incredible” - @sinaman13
- “That’s not borat that’s Gymrat” - @idr3sss
A couple of big names added their thoughts to the reveal, but the comments from the fans are really pretty amazing. Everyone's obviously in a bit of shock and amazement over the photos that show off Cohen’s latest accomplishment regarding his body. But after some people suggested it was AI, his trainer Alfonso Moretti (aka “The Angry Trainer”) had this to say in the comments to assure people the photos are absolutely real:
I worked with Sacha. For anyone that thinks this is Ai, you’re right. Completely. Ai as in Absolutely incredible! This Friday you’ll learn how committed and disciplined Sacha is and how hard he worked to achieve this. It’s nonsense to suggest these images are Ai, manipulated or photoshopped. I have the raw images and video. Sacha EARNED every accolade for this transformation. FULL STOP.
From the interview we’ve seen already (via Deadline), Moretti said that the actor’s body “looked like a ruler, straight up and down” before he started his program. But once the results started kicking in, the Marvel costume department even had to make alterations a few times to complement his new physique.
In April, Sacha Baron Cohen announced that he and Isla Fisher had decided to “jointly” file for divorce after being married for 13 years. Given that context, a ton of other people commented over it being something of a divorce bod. Prior to that, Cohen was also in the news when Rebel Wilson claimed he pressured her to be nude in a movie. Otherwise, Cohen’s last role prior to joining the MCU was in the Apple series Disclaimer in 2024.
The Borat actor turned up in Episode 6 of Ironheart as Mephisto after long being rumored to be playing the role. Following the reveal, Marvel president Kevin Feige said “the potential is clear” in a recent interview with our sister site, GamesRadar, for the character who is basically the MCU’s version of the Devil, but of course the question is, where will we see him next?
