Paul Bettany Says Ultron’s Return in 'VisionQuest' Is Marvel’s Craziest Idea Yet

Ultron is back, but he is not exactly returning in the way Marvel fans might expect. James Spader is reprising his role as the dangerous artificial intelligence in Marvel’s upcoming Disney+ series VisionQuest, and Paul Bettany has now revealed just how strange the reunion between Ultron and Vision really is. Instead of simply bringing back the villain for another fight, Marvel appears to be giving him a very unusual place in Vision’s story.

The return is especially surprising because Ultron seemed to be finished after Avengers: Age of Ultron. Vision destroyed Ultron’s final physical body at the end of the 2015 movie, seemingly putting an end to the AI that wanted to destroy humanity. But VisionQuest is changing that story in a big way. According to Bettany, Ultron did not completely disappear when his body was destroyed. Part of him ended up inside Vision’s mind, creating a bizarre situation where the former enemies are now forced to exist together.

Bettany explained the strange twist while speaking with EW alongside Spader. “We discover that when he killed Ultron’s corporeal body, he actually uploaded him into his mind. And he lives in this kind of fantastic prison loft, and I go to him for advice,” Bettany said. That idea alone sounds completely different from anything fans saw in the original Avengers movies. Vision is no longer simply fighting Ultron. He is actually going to him for help.

The series takes this strange setup even further with something called Vision’s Mind Space. It appears to be a huge mental world where different artificial intelligence characters can exist together. The setting includes familiar AI personalities connected to Tony Stark, such as J.A.R.V.I.S., F.R.I.D.A.Y., and E.D.I.T.H. Ultron is also living there, turning Vision’s mind into something that sounds less like a peaceful inner world and more like a very strange digital neighborhood.

Bettany clearly knows how unusual the idea sounds, and he did not hold back when describing the relationship between the two characters. “We have a sort of father-son, therapist-psychopath relationship,” he said. He also called the idea “the craziest idea ever” and described Ultron as Vision’s “psychopathic life coach.” That may be one of the strangest descriptions of a Marvel character relationship yet, but it also gives fans an idea of what makes VisionQuest different from a typical superhero show.

Spader has also explained what his character has been doing during his strange imprisonment. Ultron has apparently spent years consuming information from the outside world through television and the internet. He has also discovered painting, giving the former world-ending AI an unexpectedly creative side. Of course, fans should not expect Ultron to suddenly become harmless. His presence still creates problems for the other AI characters living inside Vision’s mental world.

There is more happening in VisionQuest than just the return of Ultron. The series will also introduce Thomas Shepard, played by Ruaridh Mollica. The young character may have a connection to Vision’s son from WandaVision, which could become an important part of the story. Vision is also being hunted after a bounty is placed on him, forcing him to deal with questions about who he is while trying to understand what happened to his family.

The cast adds even more familiar names to the story. Emily Hampshire plays E.D.I.T.H., Orla Brady returns as F.R.I.D.A.Y., James D’Arcy plays J.A.R.V.I.S., and T’Nia Miller joins the strange collection of artificial minds as Jocasta. Terry Matalas, who worked on Star Trek: Picard, is serving as showrunner for the eight-episode series. Together, the cast and story suggest that Marvel is taking Vision in a much more unusual direction than a simple superhero adventure.

For Bettany, bringing Spader back also gives Vision a chance to confront one of the most important figures connected to his own creation. Ultron helped lead to Vision becoming the character fans know today, so putting the two together again has plenty of emotional weight beneath all the strange humor. The information about the story and the actors’ comments comes from Rotten Tomatoes TV interviews with Paul Bettany and James Spader, along with details released about the Disney+ series.

VisionQuest premieres on Disney+ on October 14. With Ultron back, Vision dealing with his own complicated identity, and a strange group of AIs living inside his mind, Marvel is clearly taking a big swing with this series. And if Bettany is right about it being one of Marvel’s craziest ideas, fans may be in for a very different kind of MCU story.