It's no secret that James Spader will reprise his role as Ultron in the upcoming Vision TV series. However, the circumstances surrounding the villain's return have been a mystery. Until now, perhaps.
In recent weeks, scooper Daniel Richtman has shared several Vision scoops (many of which were soon confirmed by the trades). Now, he's revealed how the WandaVision follow-up begins.
It's said that Vision travels to Madripoor in search of his memories and humanity, only to encounter Ultron in human form. The story unfolds from there, but what does this tell us about where this series is going? Based on this and other recent revelations, we can make some assumptions.
If Vision encounters a "human" Ultron, it's safe to say that he has found a way to survive the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron and has managed to create a new body for himself and the various other AIs created by Tony Stark.
Will he offer his son the opportunity to also become a real boy in Madripoor, an apparent haven for these human-like androids? And might this be where Sharon Carter/the Power Broker returns? We'll have to wait and see, but all signs point to Vision being unlike anything we expected when it was first announced.
Paul Bettany will reprise his role as Vision's title character, while James Spader is returning as Avengers: Age of Ultron's titular villain. Todd Stashwick and Faran Tahir, who is back as Raza from Iron Man, are also set to appear (Stashwick is rumoured to be playing Paladin).
Recent weeks have seen T'Nia Miller cast as Jocasta, and Kerry Condon and Emily Hampshire enlisted for F.R.I.D.A.Y. and E.D.I.T.H., respectively. Ruaridh Mollica is expected to play a mystery character widely believed to be Tommy Maximoff.
There are also rumblings that Elizabeth Olsen (Scarlet Witch) and Joe Locke (Billy Maximoff) will appear, though the latter is arguably the more likely of the two.
We recently spoke to Tahir about his MCU return as Raza. "I think it's a very exciting project to return as a character that I played 17 years ago," he told us. "When you play a character, you create a history for [them]. What we have decided is that this is seven years after the fact of when Tony Stark [died] and all that happened."
"How does this character evolve, and what has he become? Does he become something more? He is not static in this universe and has also gone on with his life, and with where he ends up, how does he place himself in this universe? It's a great challenge. There are some great surprises in there, especially for Marvel fans."
"It was sort of a reunion for us as the showrunner [Terry Matalas] was someone I worked with on a series called 12 Monkeys. We had already worked together nine years ago, and there's another cast member who was on that show who is also in this one," the actor continued. "James Spader and I did a couple of episodes of The Blacklist, so there was a nice reunion of people who had worked together before."
"It was nice to have the team back in a different way, setting, and reality. It was a lot of fun. I have one more stunt to do, which I will do in about a month; that's going to be a lot of fun," Tahir concluded.
Vision - or Vision Quest - is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2026.