The MCU is resurrecting one of its key supervillains in its next release. Throughout its 18 years of releases, Marvel Studios has introduced and killed off plenty of antagonists, but only a few are lucky enough to be brought back for further MCU projects. The studio is pulling that trick once more for its next Disney+ show, VisionQuest, drawing on a villain who was killed off in Phase 2.
It's been confirmed for some time that James Spader would be reprising his role as the supervillain Ultron in VisionQuest, in which he stars opposite his nemesis, Vision (Paul Bettany). The first VisionQuest trailer gave a look at Spader's return as the robot villain, who will voice the character in both his robotic form and as Ultron's human avatar in live action.
Ultron was last seen in the Phase 2 film, Avengers: Age of Ultron, where he served as the primary villain to the Avengers. Initially designed as a peacekeeping AI program by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, Ultron turned to villainy in his quest to bring world peace and was ultimately stopped by the combined might of the Avengers, plus their new ally, the synthezoid Vision. Ultron was dealt a death blow by Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) after he killed her brother, Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), before he was ultimately finished off by Vision and the Mind Stone.
After an absence of 11 years, Ultron will be back in the MCU in VisionQuest, this time serving as one of the faces Vision interacts with in his "mind space." After Vision was killed off and then reprogrammed by SWORD in the MCU, he became White Vision, and the events of WandaVision set him on a path to rediscover his purpose. That quest leads him into his own psyche, where he interacts with various AIs from the MCU, including his old foe Ultron.
Bettany explained in an interview that Ultron survived the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron by being "uploaded into [Vision's] mind," allowing the two to interact in Vision's fantastical mind space, and for Ultron to be more or less resurrected.
"So we discover that, when he killed Ultron's corporeal body, he actually uploaded him into his mind, and he lives in this kind of fantastic prison loft, and I go to him for advice."
While Ultron is the next of the MCU's dead villains to be resurrected, he isn't the first, and likely won't be the last.
Other actors have returned to reprise their roles despite their characters being killed off, some in a larger capacity than others. For example, Michael B. Jordan still had a role in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, despite his villain, Killmonger, meeting his end in Black Panther. Jordan's role saw Killmonger return as a part of Shuri's vision in the Ancestral Plane after she consumed the heart-shaped herb.
Killmonger challenged Shuri at a vital moment as she began the process of becoming the new Black Panther. He forced her to reckon with what kind of leader she would be and whether she would be more like him or her brother, T'Challa. It was a small role for Jordan, but it was a smart way for Killmonger to return in the sequel.
Another pivotal supervillain who has risen from the dead (multiple times) is Tom Hiddleston's Loki. The God of Mischief has fluctuated between being an ally and an enemy of his brother, Thor. After betraying Asgard in Thor and seemingly falling to his death, Loki returned as the main antagonist in The Avengers, where he served as the primary villain.
Hiddleston then continued his role in Thor: The Dark World, where he was seemingly killed off again, only for it to be a trick, and for Loki to disguise himself as Odin. Avengers: Infinity War then seemed to have established Loki's final death after he was choked by Thanos, until a variant of the character escaped the timeline in Avengers: Endgame and became the current Loki in the MCU.
Hiddleston had the chance to lead his own show as the character, starring in two seasons of Loki, which took the God of Mischief on a redemptive arc that ended with him becoming the God of Stories. Loki will next be seen in Avengers: Doomsday.
How Ultron's Resurrection Could Be Significant For the MCU
While the MCU has resurrected villains in the past with the same actor, the choice to bring back Ultron in VisionQuest could offer something unique.
For one, Ultron's return gives the character a brand-new spin, allowing him to be seen not just as his robot form but also as Spader playing him in live action, providing a whole new facet of Ultron as a human.
The trailer for VisionQuest makes it clear that the series is almost a two-hander between Bettany and Spader, with Vision and Ultron's interactions taking up a fair portion of the screentime, suggesting their relationship will be at the forefront of the series. This gives Ultron a chance at redemption after many fans felt he was underserved as a character in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The scenario in which Ultron returns, as part of Vision's psyche, is somewhat similar to Killmonger's return in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, as the character will seemingly be there to challenge Vision's sense of self and influence his journey. However, Ultron is arguably a much more significant villain than Killmonger, acting as the nemesis in an Avengers film, much like Loki was in The Avengers.
Ultron's return gives more airtime to one of the MCU's most significant villains, and if it proves popular, it could pave the way for Spader to remain involved in the MCU. Hiddleston's role as Loki has led to decades of work for the actor, despite the character being killed and resurrected multiple times. V
isionQuest has the opportunity to solidify Ultron's return, potentially opening a door for him to be returned to the real world, in which he could continue to have a journey in the MCU, or at least have a character arc beyond the short-lived role he had in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
