Paul Bettany finally put a timestamp on Marvel's VisionQuest, and it clears up a big question I know a lot of you had after WandaVision. He also teased what the show is actually about beyond the costume and the color swap. Short version: this is about memory, identity, and a synthzoid trying to feel like a person again.
When this picks up
Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes at New York Comic Con, Bettany said VisionQuest takes place about a year after WandaVision.
"You pick up Vision's story, it's about a year or so later... White Vision was given all of Red Vision's memories, including the memories from within the Hex. And he is struggling to feel them... He understands them intellectually but he's wanting to feel those memories, and that is part of the journey of the show."
That lines up with where Marvel left things: WandaVision (2021) ended with White Vision flying off after Hex-Vision unlocked his memories. We never saw where he went or what he became.
Where we last saw everyone
Just to reconnect the dots: White Vision exited to an unknown location with a brain full of the original Vision's history (including Westview), while Wanda resurfaced in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and, as of that movie's ending, appeared to die. So VisionQuest is stepping into that fallout roughly a year later, with a Vision who knows everything but can't quite feel any of it. Clean premise, honestly.
What the show is actually about
Beyond the timeline, Bettany has been framing VisionQuest around heavy themes: generational wounds, fathers and sons, and the whole messy business of denying pain until you can't anymore. He has described it as a story about facing who you are and what you are. Given that this Vision has someone else's memories stitched into a rebuilt body, that tracks.
The cast (and yes, there are some eyebrow-raisers)
- Paul Bettany as Vision (the White Vision we last saw in WandaVision)
- James Spader returning as Ultron
- Todd Stashwick as Paladin
- T'Nia Miller as Jocasta
- Emily Hampshire as E.D.I.T.H.
- James D'Arcy back as Jarvis
- Ruaridh Mollica as Thomas Shepherd (one of Wanda and Vision's sons)
A few deep-cut MCU notes here. Spader back as Ultron is a big swing considering how loudly fans have wanted that thread picked up. Jocasta in the mix suggests more classic robot-family lore. Emily Hampshire playing E.D.I.T.H. is a curious wrinkle, since E.D.I.T.H. started as Tony Stark's tech. And James D'Arcy returning as Jarvis points to the human butler version (from Agent Carter), not Tony's AI voice that eventually became Vision. Interesting stew.
Release timing
VisionQuest is slated for 2026. Before that, Marvel has Wonder Man on deck for January.