UPDATE: VisionQuest's post-credits scene, teasing the Scarlet Witch's role in Avengers: Doomsday after she's captured by Doctor Doom, was obviously a huge draw in terms of the finale's viewership (more on that below).
However, there's been a lot of speculation about whether that was Robert Downey Jr.'s voice emanating from the hooded figure.
Well, in an interview with Gold Derby, VisionQuest showrunner Terry Matalas confirmed the Oscar-winner lent his voice to the MCU's Victor Von Doom in the stinger, describing it as the "missing component of that finale."
"I can't talk too much about how it was constructed, because I don't want to give away, but yes, that line was designed for this moment, specifically. It was something we all knew that we had to have. She was the missing component of that finale, and we talked about a dozen different ways to bring her back. This was the one that felt like the biggest promise of more for everybody. It came together really fast, and was really collaborative in a very fun way."
The VisionQuest season finale arrived on Disney+ this week, and it's already become Marvel Television's most-watched finale in three years.
According to Deadline, the episode—titled "Forever"—has so far received 3.7 million global viewers. That marks a series high and a 44% viewership increase over the penultimate chapter. The post-credits scene teasing the Scarlet Witch's return in Avengers: Doomsday is bound to have helped matters.
This is the biggest audience for an MCU finale since Loki Season 2, another crucial chapter in the Multiverse Saga. As the trade explains, "VisionQuest has been holding its own on the Nielsen streaming charts as well, climbing to No. 6 among streaming originals for the week of October 26 to November 1."
Disney has also told the trade that the VisionQuest finale led to "a spike in ticket sales" for next month's Avengers: Doomsday.
The fan response to the episode has also been glowing. The season finale debuted with a 9.5 rating on IMDb, tying with the Loki Season 2 finale as the highest-rated instalment of any MCU TV series. That means it beat the best episodes of WandaVision, Agatha All Along, Daredevil: Born Again, and X-Men '97.
VisionQuest has been a hit for Marvel Studios, and with positive buzz like this, viewership should only increase in the coming weeks. We don't know what the plan is for Vision, the Scarlet Witch, Wiccan, and Speed beyond this show and Avengers: Secret Wars, though it seems likely that they'll headline another movie or TV show together.
Rumours about a Scarlet Witch movie have persisted for years, and we'd bet on VisionQuest showrunner Terry Matalas having his pick of MCU projects after taking charge of this series.
In our review, we concluded, "Paul Bettany and James Spader are masterful in VisionQuest, a staggering achievement by Marvel Studios and Terry Matalas that understands its characters, does right by them, and delivers one of the best MCU stories ever told."
In VisionQuest, Vision, rebooted and having escaped from those who sought to weaponise him, has been in hiding. Searching for new meaning, he consults the AI personas embedded in his programming, including F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H., J.A.R.V.I.S., and the infamous Ultron.
His discreet existence ends when a bounty placed on his head thrusts him on the run with Thomas Shepard, a mysterious boy who may be Vision's son, reincarnated. As Vision evades capture, he must confront his nature, resist Ultron's influence, and unravel the enigma that is his young companion if he’s to survive.
VisionQuest stars Paul Bettany, James Spader, Ruaridh Mollica, Todd Stashwick, T'Nia Miller, Lauren Morais, Orla Brady, Diane Morgan, Polly Frame, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, with Emily Hampshire and James D'Arcy.
VisionQuest is now streaming on Disney+.