Paul Bettany Reveals The Return Of White Vision
What's the Marvel Cinematic Universe plan for Paul Bettany and White Vision going forward? The actor gave some clues recently.
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When Paul Bettany reprised his role as Vision in WandaVision, it was something of a surprise considering the character had appeared to meet his end in the conclusion of Avengers: Infinity War. But as with all things comic book movies, endings are rarely the end at all with nearly infinite ways to bring characters back into the mix. That was the case with Bettany who ended up playing two roles in WandaVision. He was the Wanda-created Viz as well as the S.W.O.R.D. produced White Vision. Now Bettany has given a clue about the future of the latter in a recent interview with The Playlist, letting on what he knows about White Vision going forward.
When Paul Bettany as White Vision left the scene at the end of WandaVision, declaring himself the true form of the character with the simple sign-off, “I am Vision,” it was left open-ended about what would happen with this character. He’s clearly one of the most powerful beings in the universe, having been basically reanimated from the original’s body and now imbued with all of the memories of that past form. That could be either insanely good or insanely bad for the world and the universe. It’s not totally clear.
And apparently, even Paul Bettany doesn’t know what’s going to happen with this character. In the interview, he says, “I don’t have a contract. I don’t know that. I don’t know that at all.” He also admits that it would be very tough for the Marvel Cinematic Universe to introduce White Vision to the mix and then just let him fly off to never be heard from again. That feels incredibly unlikely. But it also feels odd to put such a powerful character back in the storyline without having a clear plan with the actor moving forward either.
Sometimes comments like these are meant as contractual pieces of conversation, signaling that possibly something is in the works but the sides haven’t agreed on anything yet. Paul Bettany mentions the contract piece and signals that the MCU probably needs him, but it also doesn’t feel like a total angle shoot. Kevin Feige is the ultimate decision maker here and Marvel has had about as thoughtful and curated a process in filmmaking as you’ll ever see from a franchise. There’s almost definitely a White Vision plan, but maybe just isn’t on the same page yet.
It’s clear from the interview that Paul Bettany loved what Marvel and company did with WandaVision, a truly remarkable and groundbreaking limited series that incorporated all eras of television history with a story backdrop that also explored the psyche of Wanda Maximoff as she comes to grips with both her power and the loss of the love of her life. Bringing Vision “back” into her world to cope while also having a show wrapped completely in an artistic endeavor was amazing television.
Unlike almost every other actor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe who’s still “alive”, Paul Bettany doesn’t have any planned credits anywhere in the franchise. That, in and of itself, is odd considering where his character stands. But here’s to hoping we get some firm news soon on what the plan is for any version of Vision to make a return.
