In the penultimate episode of VisionQuest, we're introduced to Dr. Phineas Horton and J.I.M. The latter is the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first Synthetic Man, but is better known to comic book fans as the original Human Torch.
In the MCU, J.I.M. is a cautionary tale to modern AIs, as he's remembered for spontaneously combusting due to his emerging emotions.
Paul Bettany pulls triple duty in "Immolation," playing Vision, J.I.M., and Horton in the same scene. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, VisionQuest showrunner Terry Matalas revealed that, while it was always the plan for Bettany to play J.I.M., he wasn't originally set to portray Phineas. "We were in London looking at lists," he recalled. "Every time we went down to somebody, there was a stunt-cast thing."
With that, Marvel Studios agreed that Bettany was the best choice. Asked why he wanted to play the trio, the actor said, "So that we can really understand the corrupted files being passed down from OS systems and humans into robots, and then robots finally into humans in a visual way."
Later describing his time playing the three characters as a "mind-bending" few days, Bettany explained that he worked closely with his stunt double, John Macdonald, filming coverage of a different character each day, with Macdonald playing the other parts each time.
"It was a real jigsaw puzzle," Bettany acknowledged. "It was more that you have everybody’s lines in your head in a really uncomfortable way. So it’s hard to be surprised when you know exactly the questions that are gonna be asked of you."
Back to Matalas, and it sounds like revisiting the role J.I.M. played in the Marvel Universe would definitely be of interest to him down the line.
"That should be a show," he mused. "When he gets emotional, he overloads. It’s such a great metaphor. I’ve got some crazy ideas about how to tell that story, but, yeah, you would love to see him run around in World War II and be a part of things. I wanna see that guy go up against the Nazis."
Crucial for Matalas this time was staying true to stay true to the glimpse of J.I.M. we got in 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger. "You knew A.I. existed before Tony Stark in some way. Anything that was A.I. or a robot was part of the conversation early on." However, the comic-accurate costume "was mostly a painted diving suit, so we didn’t put the camera too close to it."
VisionQuest stops short of referring to J.I.M. as the "Human Torch," and there's a very good reason for that.
"At the time we were making this, The Fantastic Four: First Steps hadn’t even come out yet," Matalas shared. "So we didn’t wanna confuse the audience, but we always make those jokes. It’s really fun to do."
Seven episodes of VisionQuest are now streaming on Disney+.