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Ultron is coming back to the MCU.

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that James Spader is returning to voice the murderous mechanoid that he had previously played in 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron as part of the upcoming Vision series being developed by Terry Matalas for Disney+. He’ll be appearing alongside Paul Bettany, who’ll headline the series as the synthezoid hero, rebuilt as seen in 2021’s WandaVision and now searching for his purpose.

Spader’s return is somewhat unexpected, as Ultron was seemingly destroyed at the end of Age of Ultron — although it’s worth noting that it was the Vision himself who was responsible for that destruction, meaning that it’s possible that something happened that wasn’t immediately apparent to allow the villain to live on in some unexpected manner. (After all, if the Vision can be rebuilt and live again, why couldn’t Ultron?)

Curiously enough, The Hollywood Reporter describes the unnamed series — referred to by many as VisionQuest, after a 1980s comic book storyline, although that is apparently not the actual name of the show — as “the third part of a trilogy” that includes both WandaVision and Agatha All Along. If true, that’s an interesting new fact; previously, it was believed that Agatha All Along and the untitled Vision series were separate spin-offs from WandaVision, as opposed to continuations of each other. Recasting the three series as a trilogy suggests that there’s a running story between all three… and that, perhaps, characters might move between shows more easily than might have been anticipated.

The Vision series is expected to shoot next year in the UK. To date, no other casting announcements have been made about it.

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