The first live-action look at Ultron's 2026 return in VisionQuest has arrived. This October, Marvel Television will deliver the third and final chapter of the WandaVision trilogy, poised to be a true sequel to Avengers: Age of Ultron. The Disney+ series will continue and expand upon the father-son dynamic between Paul Bettany's Vision and James Spader's Ultron that began 11 years ago, and it seems that the Avengers villain's apparent death is no issue for the MCU.
Marvel Studios launched a VisionQuest display on the floor at D23 Expo, including a screen that may tease the original Human Torch. Attendees have spotted that the TV in this retro, high-class home will occasionally glitch, revealing the first live-action look at Ultron and James Spader's MCU comeback (via Popped).
On closer inspection, fans can clearly see the villain's face divided between his familiar, robotic body and his voice actor, Spader, in a major design change for Ultron that has proven divisive among audiences. The 66-year-old actor, known for The Blacklist and The Office, is expected to interact with Bettany inside Vision's mind, exploring their tense father-son dynamic.
The WandaVision sequel may be Ultron's first live-action appearance in the 11 years since 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, but he was included prominently in Disney+'s What If...? Season 1. The android supervillain acted as the first season's main antagonist, successfully taking over Vision's body, killing Thanos, and wielding the Infinity Stone to decimate humanity and threaten the Multiverse.
Ultron's robotic half appears identical to his last MCU appearance (though he could evolve over the course of the show), while his bearded body is a fresh addition to the Disney+ series, perhaps one that was partially crafted to save on budget.
Interestingly, this visual of Ultron, divided between a bearded Spader and the Avengers antagonist android, isn't new to those keeping up with VisionQuest. Even Ultron's VisionQuest Funko figure follows this unique style, although it's tough to imagine that he will actually appear this way in the Disney+ series.
The split-face style harkens back to WandaVision, in which Bettany's Vision and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch were divided between the real Avengers' lives and the fake Westview sitcom world. This seems to imply that, just like WandaVision, VisionQuest, and Ultron's role in it, will be split between two worlds.
VisionQuest will premiere on Disney+ on October 14, and if reports are to be believed, it may be the end for the MCU on streaming as fans know it today.
Here's Why Ultron Is Returning in VisionQuest (And It's Not Nostalgia)
VisionQuest may not be as magically reality-bending as WandaVision, but there will still be a split between two worlds that has echoed throughout the trilogy. While WandaVision spent time in the Westview Hex as well as the real MCU, Agatha All Along introduced the Witches' Road, and VisionQuest will spend time inside the synthezoid's mind as he seeks to regain his memories and humanity.
Fans have already heard that Vision will encounter Ultron in Madripoor (the lawless city from The Falcon and the Winter Soldier), which may imply that he isn't just another one of the Stark AIs inside the Avenger's head. Instead, there may also be remnants of Ultron out there that survived the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, and it will be up to Vision to prevent it from spiraling out of control.
Of course, the question on everybody's minds with Ultron's return is whether he is coming back for the long haul, or as a one-off to serve Vision's solo story. The answer is probably the latter, but there is something to be said for leaving a villain like Ultron on the table to build out a larger gallery of recurring MCU antagonists, as the android has been known to reappear regularly on the page.
Both WandaVision and Agatha All Along have been extremely well-received, so if VisionQuest delivers on quality, the three-part saga of the Maximoff family has the potential to join the ranks of the best trilogies in the MCU. However, to do so, it will have to stick the landing, all while trading out showrunners (Jac Schaeffer for Terry Matalas) and laying the groundwork for Avengers: Secret Wars, to some degree.
