WandaVision star Paul Bettany says that Marvel Studios' debut Disney+ series was originally pitched to him as a "mash-up" of two iconic Marvel Comics tales: House of M and The Vision.
Bettany admits that he didn't expect to return as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Vision following the character's death in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. In fact, when he received a call from Marvel head Kevin Feige after the fact, he thought he was getting fired. "My contract was up and I had just died twice in Infinity War and I got a call from the boss saying, 'Come see me in the office.' I looked at my wife and I think I'm getting canned," Bettany told Variety.
"I went in and [Marvel Studios Co-President] Louis D'Esposito and Kevin Feige were there and I didn't want anybody to feel uncomfortable so I lead with, 'Look, I totally get it. It's been great. I've had a great run, guys,'" he continued. "They were like, 'Wait, are you quitting?' And I went, 'No, aren't you firing me?' They said, 'No, we're going to pitch you a TV show.' So I went, 'Okay, I'm in!"
Bettany says after the misunderstanding was put to bed, "Then we talked about two comic book stories that I really love: House of M and The Visions [sic], which is a story about Vision trying to build a family in suburbia and it was sort of a mash-up between them, and also with a sort of loving look at American sitcoms throughout the American century. I was like, 'I'm in!'"
House of M was a storyline published by Marvel in 2005, with the core series being written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Olivier Coipel. House of M picks up after Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch suffered a mental breakdown and attempted to alter reality itself in order to bring her children back. Meanwhile, writer Tom King and artist Gabriel Hernandez Walta's The Vision debuted in late 2015. The series follows Vision, who -- in an attempt to be more human -- builds himself a family and tries to lead a normal suburban life.
Marvel Studios' WandaVision, meanwhile, "blends the style of classic sitcoms with the Marvel Cinematic Universe in which Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany) -- two super-powered beings living their ideal suburban lives -- begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems." The series premiered its first two episodes on Disney+ on Jan. 15.
Written by Jac Schaeffer and directed by Matt Shakman, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch, Paul Bettany as Vision, Randall Park as Agent Jimmy Woo, Kat Dennings as Darcy Lewis, Teyonah Parris as Monica Rambeau and Kathryn Hahn as Agnes. New episodes air Fridays on Disney+.
Source: Variety
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