Paul Bettany is one of the first actors to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe, going back to the first “Iron Man,” playing the voice of Tony Stark’s AI assistant, Jarvis (named after his family butler), so getting his own solo project, “VisionQuest,” does feel like a full-circle moment as the live-action Marvel Television series is set to debut in October.
“VisionQuest” showrunner Terry Matalas (“12 Monkeys,” “Star Trek: Picard”) spoke with Empire Magazine to promote the MCU streaming series and dished some perspective and details about the project, including the conflict happening inside Viz as he’s trying to find himself after removing himself from the clutches of S.W.O.R.D. and living in a world without Wanda (having perished in “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse”), trying to make space for himself in a Matrix-like digital universe.
“This is the first time where we get to watch Vision drive the narrative, and understand who he is, who he thinks he was,” the creative told Empire. “We watch this character go through an identity crisis. It’s kind of the Vision movie, if you will.” Vision often retreats into a digital internal reality, where Ultron, EDITH, DUM-E, and U are given human forms. “They’re there to help him. He is attempting to move about in the world in a small way, and then at night download this data and discuss the things that have happened to him with these different AIs, who have different characteristics and help him understand different qualities and skills. But he is also very much using it as an excuse to keep the world and himself at arm’s length. And of course, events conspire to drag him actually into the world.”
“I think ultimately, what Vision is going through are things that we all go through and deal with. Trauma, dealing with relationships, dealing with how we react to experiencing love or not experiencing that. It’s strange that a show about an AI is the most human of them all.”
The rest of the show’s cast includes James Spader, reprising the Ultron role, Ruaridh Mollica, Todd Stashwick, T’Nia Miller, Lauren Morais, Orla Brady, Diane Morgan, Polly Frame, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, Emily Hampshire, and James D’Arcy back as the original Jarvis.
An official logline for the show that came out of the recent D23 Expo presentation:
When “VisionQuest” begins, Vision, rebooted and having escaped from those who sought to weaponize 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, reincarnate. 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.
“This vision is beginning to ask a more complicated question: What, or perhaps who, is he?” Bettany told the crowd at D23 earlier in the month. “And what is it that makes us actually human? Which brings us to the person you most want beside you during an existential crisis: Ultron. Yes, Ultron is back, and we’re going to figure out humanity together. So obviously, that should go extremely well.”
The new streaming series arrives on October 14, directed by Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro, Vincenzo Natali, and Matalas, with Matalas leading the writing team, which also features Cindy Appel, Christopher Monfette, Nicole Falsetti, and Matthew Okumura. Fans are certainly going to be curious to see whether the show will have any ramifications for the “Avengers” sequels or is simply wrapping up a trilogy of shows, with “WandaVision” and “Agatha All Along” being the first two chapters.
