Earlier this year, concept art from upcoming MCU movies and TV shows leaked online. Among the highlights was a piece that showed Paul Bettany's White Vision alongside an unexpected roommate in Chris Pratt's Star-Lord.
We still don't know whether the artwork was for VisionQuest, Avengers: Doomsday, or Avengers: Secret Wars (or even if it's something we'll actually get to see on screen), but Bettany has seemingly just confirmed that he will return as Vision in the latter movie.
Talking to The Telegraph, the actor said, "I think I’ve got some Avengers duties next year. I think journalists imagine we have a mountain of scripts, and that’s not true. It’s not like I’m turning down [Mexican auteur] Alfonso Cuarón to go and do Marvel movies – Alfonso Cuarón just hasn’t called."
He may have been referring to Avengers: Doomsday's planned reshoots, but it seems far more likely that Bettany was talking about Avengers: Secret Wars.
Avengers: Doomsday wrapped filming in September, and while the Russo Brothers could be planning extensive reshoots that add characters like Vision to the mix, we wouldn't bank on it. If anything, the additional photography is to accommodate the schedules of those already cast in the movie and to reshape elements of the story before work on Secret Wars begins.
Elsewhere in the interview, Bettany was reminded of comments he made years ago about starring in blockbusters being akin to "sucking the devil’s c--k." He replied, "Yeah, but you know, I’ve been doing this a really long time. That’s a little boy talking, trying to sound cool. That’s all that is."
"All that has to happen is you find yourself with kids and a mortgage," he said of stars today who have a similar attitude. "But also, it’s a broader church than all of that. There are lots of different stories to tell."
It's not clear where VisionQuest fits into the MCU's timeline, though it will likely premiere on Disney+ before Avengers: Doomsday's release next December. Billed as the conclusion to the WandaVision trilogy, chances are it will set the stage for whatever we see from the android (and his sons) in Avengers: Secret Wars two years from now.
As a reminder, the rest of VisionQuest's cast includes Ruaridh Mollica as Tommy Maximoff, James Spader as Ultron, T'Nia Miller as Jocasta, James D'Arcy as J.A.R.V.I.S., Orla Brady as F.R.I.D.A.Y., Emily Hampshire as E.D.I.T.H., Henry Lewis as D.U.M.-E (or Dum-E), Jonathan Sayer as U, Todd Stashwick as Paladin, Faran Tahir as Raza, Lauren Morais as Lisa Molinari, and Diane Morgan as an ally to Paladin.
The now-confirmed cast of Avengers: Secret Wars includes Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Mackie, Sadie Sink, Benedict Cumberbatch, Letitia Wright, Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Hayley Atwell.
Avengers: Doomsday is set to be released on December 18, 2026, with Avengers: Secret Wars scheduled to arrive on December 17, 2027.