James Spader Will Return as Ultron in Disney+ Vision Series

James Spader is officially ready to return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

In a surprising bit of news, THR is reporting that Spader will reprise his role as Ultron for the upcoming Vision series from Marvel Studios. Spader played Ultron in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, where the MCU debuted the iconic Marvel villain.

Vision and Ultron’s relationship goes back to the 2015 film as well. In it, Vision was initially created by uploading Tony Stark’s J.A.R.V.I.S. AI into a synthetic body to combat Ultron, which was originally a global defense program made by Stark before gaining sentience. Age of Ultron ends with Vision destroying the last known body of Ultron, seemingly defeating him.

It’s unclear exactly what role Ultron will play in the upcoming series, or whether or not this means that Ultron will be around moving forward in the MCU.

What do we know about the Vision series?

A Vision series has been in various stages of development for some time at Marvel; however, it was previously being worked on by WandaVision creator Jac Schaefer. Schaefer is now working on the upcoming WandaVision spin-off Agatha All Along, which will premiere this September.

Plot details for the Vision series remain under wraps at this time. No other casting has yet been announced.

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the J.A.R.V.I.S. A.I. was uploaded into a body made of vibranium and, with some help from the Mind Stone, became the superhero known as Vision. Bettany continued to play the role in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, the latter of which saw him die at the hands of Thanos.

Two different versions of Vision, however, returned in WandaVision, one of which was a spectral creation made by Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and the other of which was a rebuilt android with no recollection of his previous memories. “The new show will take place after those events, as ghost Vision presumably explores his new purpose in life,” Variety’s article notes.

(Source: The Hollywood Reporter)