Paul Bettany has played a slew of memorable roles over the course of his career, but the one most Marvel fans know him for at this point is Vision, the android who was once supposed to serve as a new body for Ultron but became a voice of reason and calm among the Avengers.
Of course, that didn’t end well for him; the character was killed off during Avengers: Infinity War before being brought back on WandaVision. But he wasn’t really brought back; that Vision was a projection of his partner Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen), whose reality-altering powers were running out of control. But then Vision was really brought back, kind of, as White Vision, a copy who was created without the influence of the Mind Stone.
We last saw White Vision fly off at the end of WandaVision after having a debate with his other self about the Ship of Theseus. Given that the upcoming movie Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will heavily feature Wanda alongside Benedict Cumberbatch’s Doctor Strange, it only makes sense to wonder if Vision will turn up.
Will Vision be in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness?
Bettany has been out promoting his new show A Very British Scandal, but when you’re part of something as big as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you know it’s going to come up. Entertainment Weekly put Bettany on the spot and asked him straight up: would he be returning to the MCU as the Vision?
“Absolutely not! Not for any kind of money at all. I can’t even think of a figure,” Bettany joked. “No, the honest answer to that is — well maybe it’s not the honest answer, but it’s the answer I’m going to give you and you’ll just have to cope with it — at the end of WandaVision, you see Vision fly off and that’s a loose end. And Kevin Feige is a man who doesn’t really allow loose ends. So I assume at some point I will be putting on my tights and cloak for another outing, but I don’t know when that might be.”
Fair enough! And can I just say that it’s awesome for Bettany to just straight up tell interviewers that they need to cope with whatever evasive answer he gives them? The guy’s unflappable. He also gave ABC News the slip earlier this month when they asked him about Vision. “I can neither confirm nor deny said rumors about me being in Doctor Strange,” he said. “I’ve gotta keep the kids in school – I can’t give secrets away!”
Hawkeye spinoff Echo begins filming
In other Marvel news, the Hawkeye spinoff show Echo began filming late last week. Echo, aka Maya Lopez (Alaqua Cox), was a villain in Hawkeye who ended up breaking away from the criminal Tracksuit Mafia and her mentor the Kingpin (Vincent D’Onofrio). Echo is one of the first deaf superheroes in the MCU, and also has a prosthetic leg. She’s an expert at mimicking the movements and fighting skills of those she fights. Cox did a stellar job playing the character in Hawkeye, which has people excited for this spinoff.
Per Digital Spy, the actor shared a post to her Instagram Stories of flowers and a card that had been sent to her to commemorate the show’s first day of filming.
Echo will mark a few firsts for Marvel, including the first time a Marvel show or movie will have a Deaf or Native American character in the lead role. We don’t have a release date yet, but expect the show out sometime in 2023.
The next Marvel thing on the horizon is Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, which hits theaters on May 6. It may or may not have Paul Bettany in it.
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h/t Digital Spy