Paul Bettany To Play Vision In 'Avengers: Age Of Ultron' [Updated]

Here's an interesting story. We have a pretty good idea that Ultron, the prime villain of Avengers: Age of Ultron, is birthed in some way through Tony Stark's experimentation with armor and, likely, his AI-powered suits. But there could be another new AI character in the Avengers sequel: the outlandish-looking Vision. The character is a long-standing member of the Marvel Universe and a frequent Avenger, as well as the romantic partner of the Scarlet Witch, played in the film sequel by Elizabeth Olsen.

There's been a lot of speculation about the possibility of Vision showing up, and now a new report says Paul Bettany is now set to play him in the film.

Update: The report is confirmed by Variety.Baz Bamigboye, a reliable scooper, says Bettany has been around Shepperton Studios with Jeremy Renner, with both doing hair, makeup, and costume tests and meeting with writer/director Joss Whedon.

Bettany has, of course, already voiced the AI Jarvis in three Iron Man films and The Avengers. That actually makes him a credible choice for Vision.

The character has a history that is complex even by Marvel Comics standards; there have been a few different Visions over the years. The most notable one is a synthetic human created by Ultron as a weapon to fight the original Ant-Man and the Avengers. Eventually the AI/OS of that character became housed in a new synthetic body, and there are quite a few more details that come into play.

But the short form is that this is a character who is intrinsically connected to other heroes and villains that are key to the Avengers sequel. With Ultron created by Stark, it isn't too great a leap to imagine several possibilities in which Vision ends up created through a similar process as a housing for the Jarvis AI.