James Spader Sets Marvel Return as Ultron in ‘Vision’ Series
Ultron will return.
James Spader is set to reprise his role of the villainous artificial intelligence from 2015’s “Avengers: Age of Ultron” for Marvel Studios’ upcoming Vision series with Paul Bettany.
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Terry Matalas (“Star Trek: Picard”) will serve as executive producer and showrunner of the untitled series, which is scheduled to debut in 2026. Although Vision technically died in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War,” he was resurrected twice in the 2021’s series “WandaVision,” first as a spectral creation made (and then unmade) by magic, and again as a ghost white robot without any memories from his past.
That prove troublesome for Vision when Ultron returns, since the characters have a longstanding history. Ultron created Vision’s original synthetic body as the permanent home for his AI, but the Avengers intercepted it and instead placed Tony Stark’s AI assistant J.A.R.V.I.S. inside, creating Vision. At the end of “Age of Ultron,” Vision confronts and, seemingly, destroys the final robot that contains Ultron’s consciousness, but the actual moment happens off screen. The news of Spader’s return confirms that at least some version of Ultron survived.
The Vision series is Marvel’s first new live-action show in nearly two years.
More to come.
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