When everyone else was clamoring loudly about exactly how sentient robot Ultron (James Spader) would be introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron next year, I was intrigued about that, but what was even more interesting to me was news that Vison would be included in the blockbuster, played by Paul Bettany. Now, thanks to Entertainment Weekly’s cover article on the movie, we have some insight into the character, who’s a bit of a comic-book fan favorite.
As it turns out, writer/director Joss Whedon will be hewing more closely to the comics for Vision’s origins than he is with Ultron. (In the comics, Ultron was created by Hank Pym/Ant-Man, but in this take, Tony Stark/Iron Man is the man responsible. He created the villain in hopes that Ultron would lead a group called the Iron Legion against criminals to give the Avengers a break.) In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ultron will end up creating Vision “to show he has the power to create life too,” according to the article.
Here’s the full excerpt about Vision:
…the Vision, a synthetic, superpowered human designed by Ultron to show he has the power to create life too. (Did we mention Ultron has major daddy issues?) The Vision will be portrayed by Paul Bettany, who has already been a part of the Marvel movie universe as J.A.R.V.I.S., the Siri-like artificial intelligence who serves as Tony Stark’s laboratory side kick.
Is that casting coincidental, or can we assume that Ultron uses J.A.R.V.I.S.’ consciousness for spare parts in the Vision-ary experiment? Whedon takes a deep breath. We’re in spoiler territory. “It’s not coincidence,” he says, then declines to elaborate.
While we’d assumed J.A.R.V.I.S. was going to be part of the Vision since Bettany was cast in the role, it’s nice to have that confirmed, albeit in a roundabout way. The Entertainment Weekly issue is chock-full of other Avengers: Age of Ultron scoops, so be sure to pick it up when it hit stands this week.
Avengers: Age of Ultron will arrive in theaters May 1st, 2015.
