Paul Bettany Was Afraid Marvel Was Firing Him In The 'WandaVision' Pitch Meeting
“Look, I totally get it. It’s been great. I’ve had a great run guys” said Paul Bettany as he entered the pitch meeting for WandaVision. It is no secret that the MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe) has killed off many of our beloved characters throughout the years, and Bettany’s Vision was no exception.
Bettany started his Marvel journey back in 2007, as the voice for artificial intelligence character JARVIS in John Favreau’s groundbreaking film Iron Man. As JARVIS, Bettany brought a wonderful sense of humor to the Iron Man trilogy, as well as anywhere Tony Stark made an appearance. That was until the character was killed off in Avengers: Age of Ultron, where his character was sacrificed to give life to Vision, who was also was portrayed by Bettany himself.
Vision was very well received by fans, especially with his chemistry and love story with Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen). Until, of course, Vision met his demise in Avengers: Infinity War and died at the hands of Thanos (Josh Brolin). Bettany thought that this was the end for his character, of course, until he received a call from (The Boss) Kevin Feige, who wanted to meet with the actor. Bettany explains in an interview he had with Vanity Fair the fear he experienced when he received said call.
“My contract was up and I just died twice in “Infinity War” and I got a call from the boss [Kevin Feige] saying come see me in the office, I looked at my wife and I think I’m getting canned."
One can only imagine what that drive to the headquarters of Marvel Studios felt like to the actor.
“I went in and Louis D’Esposito and Kevin Feige were there and I didn’t want anybody to feel uncomfortable so I lead with, 'Look, I totally get it. It’s been great. I’ve had a great run, guys.' They were like, 'Wait are you quitting?' And I went, 'No, aren’t you firing me?' They said 'No, we’re going to pitch you a TV show!'"
This led to Feige and D’Esposito Pitching the very first Marvel Studios TV series WandaVision, which just aired its first two episodes last Friday on Disney+. The show itself is inspired by the Marvel comic book tales of House of M and classic American Sitcoms like The Dick Van Dyke Show. This brought the excitement back to Bettany, who quickly replied with “I’m in” after the pitch meeting ended.
Since the premiere of the very first two episodes of WandaVision, the show has been very well received by fans who really like this new take on storytelling for the MCU. The show itself is one of many new upcoming titles for phase four of the MCU. Soon to come as well to Disney+ are shows like Loki and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which are said to be released later this year.
The new streaming service revolution has brought new ways for fans of the MCU to continue enjoying the story of their beloved characters, even those who died or were killed in any of the featured films. This can only mean a growth in the story of the MCU, character development, the opening of new plot lines, and the birth of a million fan theories. The first two episodes of WandaVision also showed us how Marvel Studios will now start playing with the idea of the multiverse.
What will happen to the character of Vision? Is the series an alternated reality? Or is “Wanda” being mind controlled? Only lime will tell. We can all be sure of one thing though: it's great to see Wanda and Vision together again.
Source(s): Screen Rant