Vision’s upcoming Disney+ series will give Marvel’s Paladin his live-action debut, joining a small club of MCU bounty hunters. The synthezoid last appeared in the MCU’s first Disney+ show, WandaVision, and his return puts him opposite several antagonists, including Todd Stashwick’s Paladin, a skilled gun for hire who has been highly sought after in Marvel Comics for decades.
Marvel Studios' VisionQuest is where Paladin makes his debut, and the show has officially named him as a bounty hunter, a job description only a few MCU characters are described by. VisionQuest showrunner Terry Matalas even compared him to a popular Star Wars mercenary, stating that "Paladin is a bounty hunter. He’s sort of the Boba Fett of the Marvel Universe."
Paladin’s role in the show has been known for months, but Disney’s recent D23 Expo gave fans their first official look at the stoic mercenary when the series' official trailer played publicly for the first time. His appearance in the footage is brief, showing him in a comic-accurate purple suit as he points his gun at a target. He will not be working alone either. Diane Morgan is confirmed as an associate of his.
Paladin’s arrival spells trouble for Vision if his comic exploits are anything to go by. Created by writer Jim Shooter and artist Carmine Infantino, the character debuted in Daredevil #150 in 1978, taking a contract to hunt the Purple Man, Zebediah Killgrave, and clashing with Daredevil when their paths crossed. Paladin takes jobs from anyone willing to pay handsomely, so with the series confirming that there's a target on Vision’s back, the synthezoid had better watch out.
VisionQuest picks up after WandaVision, with White Vision trying to make sense of the memories he inherited from the original Vision. To do that, he consults the AI personas embedded in his programming, including JARVIS, FRIDAY, EDITH, and Ultron. As the trailer showed, those voices appear in human form for the first time in the MCU. The series' official synopsis mentions that a bounty on Vision’s head sends him on the run with his reincarnated son Thomas Shepherd, making Paladin's role in the show even bigger than fans initially anticipated.
Every Other Bounty Hunter Introduced in the MCU
Rocket Raccoon
Before Paladin’s arrival, the MCU had a few bounty hunters, and the most popular is Rocket Raccoon. Introduced in James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy with Bradley Cooper’s voice, Rocket was a wisecracking gun for hire chasing marks across the galaxy and causing trouble. His biggest attempt came on Xandar, where he tried to claim the 40,000-unit bounty Yondu placed on Peter Quill.
That job went sideways, and after a string of chaotic encounters, Rocket landed in the Kyln alongside the strangers who would become the Guardians. He left mercenary work behind when he joined the crew, eventually becoming its leader at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, where his tragic backstory was explored.
Groot
Rocket was not alone on those bounty-hunting jobs. Groot, the sentient tree-like creature, went everywhere with him, serving as the muscle in their partnership. He was there for the failed Xandar grab on Quill. Like Rocket, Groot walked away from that life for something bigger with the Guardians and sacrificed himself at the end of the first film to save the people who had become his family.
Valkyrie
Thor: Ragnarok introduced Tessa Thompson’s Valkyrie, a former Asgardian shield-maiden with a storied past. She exiled herself to Sakaar, the junk world ruled by Jeff Goldblum’s Grandmaster, hiding under the code name Scrapper 142 as an acquisitions specialist for the Contest of Champions.
Her biggest early catch was Hulk, whom she found after his arrival and sold to the Grandmaster, turning him into the arena’s champion. She later captured Thor Odinson as well, tagging him with an Obedience Disk and selling him for 10 million units, which set up the famous arena fight between Thor and Hulk.
Geraldo Amartey is a writer at The Direct. He joined the team in 2025, bringing with him four years of experience covering entertainment news, pop culture, and fan-favorite franchises for sites like YEN, Briefly and Tuko.
