Vision:

The Life, Death and Rebirth of a Marvel Superhero

By Kirsten Howard

Marvel has always found a way to bring Paul Bettany back into the MCU.

Bettany was chosen to be the voice of Tony Stark’s sophisticated AI assistant JARVIS, and the actor managed to infuse the relatively minor character with an appealingly dry personality.

But in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, JARVIS was destroyed after Tony Stark examined Loki’s Scepter with some advanced tech.

The Scepter contained an Infinity Stone—the Mind Stone—which the Avengers used to bring a ‘superbot’ called Vision to life.

Vision was created from a synthetic vibranium body, the remnants of JARVIS, and the Mind Stone itself, housed prominently in the sentient lifeform’s forehead.

Bettany got the chance to physically portray Vision, finally showing his face onscreen in the MCU while retaining the voice fans recognized as JARVIS.

The new superhero struggled with understanding human behavior and his place in the world. Despite being an Avenger, Vision found himself at odds with their leader in Captain America: Civil War.

He also developed a deep friendship with fellow Avenger Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch.

We lost touch with Vision for a while, but fans could enjoy a fun Easter egg in Spider-Man: Homecoming —Bettany’s real-life wife Jennifer Connelly was the soothing voice behind Peter Parker’s suit AI, Karen.

By the time we caught up with Wanda and Vision again in Avengers: Infinity War, the pair were romantically involved.

Wanda had to watch Vision die twice during Infinity War, once by her own hand and again when the villainous Thanos found a way to acquire the Mind Stone from Vision.

It seemed like Marvel fans had seen the last of Vision, as he was not restored by the Avengers when they undid The Snap in Avengers: Endgame.

Bettany also thought he was done with the MCU, but a secret meeting with Marvel bosses revealed that his time as Vision was far from over.

In mid-2019, Marvel announced that Bettany would reprise his role as Vision alongside Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch for a big budget Disney+ series called WandaVision.

Taking place after the events of Endgame, the series depicts Wanda and Vision living in the suburbs while trying to conceal their powers, but all is not what it seems.

It’s not clear how or why Vision has been resurrected following his demise in Infinity War, but the show promises to provide fans with answers.

Bettany’s future in the franchise is currently uncertain after Phase 4’s WandaVision, but the show is reportedly set to change the way we view the MCU forever.