WandaVision director Matt Shakman says that Mephisto was never going to be part of the MCU series.
Speaking with Inverse, Shakman said that, despite numerous online theories claiming Mephisto was going to be the true villain of Marvel Studios’ WandaVision, the character was never a part of the series.
“There were some deep readings of the text that led to certain conclusions that were wrong,” Shakman explained. “Mephisto was never a part of our plan. So that was a head-scratcher. But hey, he’s a great character.”
Mephisto has yet to make his live-action debut in the MCU; however, an official copyright filing for Disney+’s Ironheart confirms Sacha Baron Cohen will be playing a character tentatively named “Mystery Man” in the upcoming series. Cohen has long been rumored to be playing Mephisto in the MCU, thus suggesting the Marvel antagonist will finally make his first appearance in the Dominique Thorne-led show.
Matt Shakman gives a Fantastic Four update
Shakman, meanwhile, has been hired to direct Marvel’s Fantastic Four reboot, which is currently scheduled to release in 2025.
Shakman said of Fantastic Four, “I’m not so much looking at the other [Fantastic Four] movies. I’m looking at the comics themselves. I’m a huge comic book fan. I’ve been a big fan of the Fantastic Four since I was a kid. So going back to Kirby and Lee and Byrne and following all the way up to what’s happening, certainly Hickman and Wade and Ryan North, what he’s been doing. I’m trying to figure out who these characters are to me and how to bring them to life in the best possible way, and that’s really where I’ve started and how we’ve approached it.”
Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Debra Jo Rupp, Fred Melamed, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Randall Park, Kat Dennings, and Evan Peters, WandaVision is currently streaming on Disney+. A spin-off series following Hahn’s character, Agatha: Darkhold Diaries, is in development and is expected to release in 2024.
