Paul Bettany Elaborates On The Vision's Role In Avengers 2: Age Of Ultron

Though much of the press regarding Avengers 2: Age Of Ultron has gone to post-credit superstars Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, most aren’t acknowledging the biggest Marvel Universe addition, the hero Vision. Paul Bettany has received an upgrade, originally serving as J.A.R.V.I.S. in the Iron Man movies, but it seems as if now he’s all suited up for Avengers: Age Of Ultron, playing a robot that originally joined the team in 1968.

Promoting Transcendence on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Bettany confirmed he was playing the character, a sentient robot with a list of abilities. This had been rumored for some time. Bettany confirmed, however, that he won’t have all the abilities in the comics, claiming they "pick and choose." He then proceeded to obey Marvel’s gag order, refusing to discuss it much further. But he does talk about the process of voicing J.A.R.V.I.S.

"It’s very exciting for me, but everything is a double edged sword because I was playing J.A.R.V.I.S. for years. My job was, I would turn up in a recording studio for 45 minutes, do all my stuff. And then they’d give me a huge bag of cash, and then I’d go home! But it turns out they found me out, and now they actually want me to do something!"

That Paul Bettany is such a charmer! The actor never really broke out into the mainstream sadly, and it’s doubtful a role like this will help: as the clip above shows, he’s got much too much good humor and charm to be stuck playing a machine. But there’s reason to believe the movie Vision will be wildly different from the comics. After all,the character's brain patterns in the source material are based on those of Wonder Man, a hero has yet to be introduced in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. That said, Bettany's time with Marvel has already played fast and loose with the mythology, as the comic's version of Jarvis is a human and an actual butler at Avengers Mansion, much in the same vein as Batman’s Alfred.

Also in the comics, Vision also has a long-going relationship with Scarlet Witch, and the movies are stretching the plausibility of the common moviegoer already by featuring one character that’s a sentient a.i. (two counting Ultron) and another that can actually control probability. Would a romance between Bettany’s robotic hero and Elizabeth Olson’s tortured mutant/miracle be that strange? Marvel is releasing a movie about a talking raccoon this summer. It’s not like they have limits in regards to implausible concepts.