Vision: Every Paul Bettany Marvel movie and show ranked worst to best
By Wesley Bell
8. What If…?
Since Bettany’s role in the MCU started as solely voicework, it makes sense that he would be one of the actors to return for Marvel Studios’ first animated series. However, unlike most of the cast, he got to pull double duty, playing Vision in one episode and J.A.R.V.I.S. in another.
The first episode he appears in, “What If…Zombies!?” sees the world fall victim to a zombie outbreak after Hank Pym journeys into the quantum realm to find his wife only to discover that she contracted a virus while down there. He emerges, infecting many heroes and leaving a resistance of only a handful of survivors.
The survivors receive a signal from an old SHIELD base and make their way there while battling through a horde of zombies, including Captain America, Iron Man, and Hawkeye. When they arrive, they find Vision, who tells them that the mind stone can reverse the effects of the virus, having used it on the head of Scott Lang.
While there, Bucky discovers an injured T’Challa, who reveals that Vision has been keeping him alive and slowly feeding him to an infected Wanda since he couldn’t cure her. Feeling guilty, Vision gives them the mind stone so that they can use it to heal others and a Quadjet to help them get away from Wanda.
Some stay behind to fight her and ensure the rest’s escape, leaving only T’Challa, Spider-Man, and Ant-Man’s disembodied head. The trio heads towards Wakanda, where unbeknownst to them, a zombified Thanos is waiting with a completed Infinity Gauntlet.
The second episode Bettany’s voice is in, “What If…Killmonger Rescued Tony Stark?,” shows Erik Killmonger saving and befriending Tony Stark before he gets captured by the Ten Rings. After exposing Obidiah Stane and having him arrested, Killmonger gets invited to work with Tony at Stark Industries.
Throughout the episode, we learn Killmonger’s ulterior motive of playing the long game to become ruler of Wakanda by using Stark’s resources to ignite a war with the United States. It ends with him becoming Wakanda’s protector and receiving the heart-shaped herb while Shuri approaches Pepper with a plan to expose Killmonger’s true nature.
While Vision has a more critical role in the “Zombies” episode and even has an arc, J.A.R.V.I.S. is just used to provide random technical jargon in the other. Although J.A.R.V.I.S. usually has more to do in the actual movies, the contrast of both episodes shows the drastic difference between the characters Bettany has played in the MCU.