Last month, we learned that Avengers: Age of Ultron star James Spader will reprise his role as Ultron in Marvel Studios and Disney+'s upcoming Vision series.
At the time, Deadline mentioned that "[Spader's] role in Vision may not be voiceover, we hear." As a result of that statement, speculation soon started running rampant about Spader perhaps playing Ultron in his "human" form, similar to what happened on the page when he merged with Hank Pym.
In The Avengers sequel, Spader suited up to play Ultron with motion capture so we wondered if the report may be referencing that. Now, though, The Hollywood Reporter has added further fuel to the fire.
"Spader is reprising his role as Ultron, a sentient being created by Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, to act as a defense program but that instead turned against humanity, as seen in the movie Avengers: Age of Ultron," the site's report about Todd Stashwick joining the cast notes. "Ultron then had a hand in the creation of Vision, his 'son,' so to speak. It’s unclear whether Ultron will be returning as a robot or in human form."
This sort of uncertainty from the Hollywood trades suggests they've been hearing conflicting information, especially as you'd think it would be a given that Spader would simply be playing the villainous android the same way he did in 2015.
We never really saw Ultron die at his son's hands and Spider-Man: Homecoming strongly hinted that he may still be active when Peter Parker came across the glowing head of one of his drones.
The Vision series is expected to adapt elements from the Tom King comic book run which saw the Avenger create a robotic family for himself, only for his new perfect life to go horribly wrong. Perhaps the emotionless White Vision will resurrect his dear old dad without understanding the consequences of unleashing Ultron on the world again?
What If...? showed us what the villain is capable of - one of his Variants was a Multiverse-level threat - so we'll be interested to see where things go from here.
When Vision was first announced, Jac Schaeffer was expected to be heavily involved. Since then, the WandaVision and Agatha All Along showrunner has moved on and Star Trek: Picard season 3's Terry Matalas is calling the shots.
Paul Bettany will lead the cast, while Stashwick is said to be playing an "assassin who is on the trail of android and the technology he possesses." We've also heard that Elizabeth Olsen could return to the MCU as Vision's "wife," Virginia.
Work is ramping up on Vision, though the series doesn't currently have a confirmed premiere date.