Sacha Baron Cohen stunned the internet after debuting his chiselled, six-pack abs for his Marvel role. The 53-year-old comedian, best known for characters like Borat and Ali G, showed off his dramatic body transformation in Men’s Fitness UK. In a string of photos, Cohen flexed shirtless in a gym, flaunting his ripped back and abs, and it’s clear he’s put in some serious work. The pictures went viral within hours, with even Chelsea Handler joking in the comments, asking if it was all AI-generated. But Cohen shut that down real quick, revealing exactly what went down behind his new look.
Sacha Baron Cohen undergoes physical transformation for Marvel role
“Hard launching my mid-life crisis,” Cohen wrote while sharing one of the photos from the shoot on Instagram. The actor, who’s set to play Marvel’s newest supervillain Mephisto in Ironheart, sat down for an interview with Men’s Fitness, which drops later this week. In other shots, he’s seen doing pull-ups and flexing in the gym after bulking up. In the caption, the magazine teased “how fitness is in his blood and just why he can still rock a mankini,” calling him the “king of comedy.” The photos were enough to send fans into a frenzy in the comments. Some were in total disbelief, others were convinced the pics were AI-generated.
Cohen quickly shut down the noise, reposting the cover on his story with the caption: “This is not AI. I really am egotistical enough to do this.” Even his trainer fired back in the comments: “For anyone that thinks this is AI, you’re right, AI as in Absolutely Incredible!” he snapped. “This Friday, you’ll learn how committed and disciplined Sacha is, and how hard he worked to get here. It’s nonsense to say these images are AI, manipulated or photoshopped. I have the raw images and video. Sacha earned every bit of this.”
Cohen also came clean about one part of the transformation, he used Ozempic. As reported by The Independent, the actor admitted to using the diabetes drug that’s turned into a Hollywood weight-loss hack. “Some celebs use Ozempic, some use private chefs, others use personal trainers,” he said. “I did all three.” In another post, he joked: “Debuting my new character: Middle-aged man who replaced beer with protein shakes.”
Cohen is playing Mephisto, the devil of the Marvel universe. He secretly debuted the role in the season finale of Ironheart, which dropped earlier this month on Disney+. In that episode, Riri Williams (played by Dominique Thorne) is seen battling and then defeating a tech-magic villain, only to be met by Mephisto, played by Cohen, who tries to manipulate her by offering to bring her dead friend back as an AI version.
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Turns out this isn’t just a one-off for Cohen. Marvel boss Kevin Feige has confirmed that his Mephisto isn’t going anywhere, he’ll show up in more major Marvel projects down the line. Feige didn’t spill much, but did call Mephisto “a formative character” and hinted he’s set to play a serious villain moving forward. And that body transformation is definitely part of the bigger Marvel game plan.
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But getting there wasn’t a cakewalk. As per Deadline, Cohen reached out to Matthew McConaughey for advice. The Interstellar star then connected him with celebrity trainer Alfonso Moretti. During their first Zoom call, Moretti told him to strip to his underwear. His first impression: “He looked like a ruler, straight up and down.” But beneath that, he spotted what he called “an athlete in hiding.” It took a minute, but Cohen got locked in. He kicked off with 100 push-ups a day and trained hard, even while filming. Moretti said the transformation was so intense, they had to resize Cohen’s Mephisto suit multiple times to match his new build.
As for Cohen, he credits the entire shift to his no-bull trainer, who “put up with him” daily. He joked that he started off with “the core strength of an arthritic jellyfish,” but now? He says he’s in the best shape of his life.
