Recently, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Vision actor Paul Bettany discussed a lot, including a moment he thought his time as Vision has come to an end. The actor is best known for his roles as JARVIS and Vision in the MCU, but besides a few prominent roles in films such as Solo: A Star Wars Story and A Knight’s Tale, Bettany has not garnered as much households success as someone like Robert Downey Jr.
The actor noted that he “had just died in Infinity War — twice.” Vision’s witch lover blew him up and then a giant purple alien subsequently tore a stone out of his head, killing him immediately. Classic MCU stuff. Bettany felt that was the end of his character. He had played Tony Stark’s A.I butler for six years and then Vision for the remaining four.
Bettany notes that, “My contract was up, and I got a call from Kevin Feige saying, “Can you come into the office?” And when the boss calls you up and says to come by the office when your contract is up, you know what that means.” He told Kevin “I love you. I totally get it. It’s been a great run and no hard feelings.” And Kevin went, “Wait, are you quitting?” And I went, “No, aren’t you firing me?” And he went, “No, we were going to pitch you a TV show.” So I went, “Oh, okay. Yeah, I’m in.”
This fun exchange eventually led Feige to pitch the series WandaVision to Bettany, after having him killed twice in the last film. Bettany ends with an endearing statement that shows the actor’s humbleness, but also his nerves still in the industry. He says, “So that’s how that happened. I’m always thinking I’m about to get fired. I’ve spent my life thinking I’m about to get fired.”
It’s always good to prepare for the worst, but it is great to see Bettany still in his biggest role. And a role that he is just delightful in.
The first two episodes of WandaVision, as well as all of Bettany’s other MCU appearances, are streaming on Disney+ with new episodes released on Friday.
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