It's a time of change for the Marvel Cinematic Universe and that certainly won't be changing in the near-future. With Avengers: Doomsday on the horizon, the multiverse itself is set to undergo some drastic changes that may or may not result in the high-profile comebacks that Marvel fans have been waiting years to see. And honestly, change has been one of the underpinning themes of the Multiverse Saga as a whole.
New heroes have taken up classic mantles in a bid to carve out their own legacies and honor their predecessors while major MCU characters have finally made their long-awaited debuts. Now, one character will reportedly make his MCU debut in an upcoming project that will see him momentarily 'replace' the franchise's version of that character. Hey, that's what the multiverse is all about. And we're going to see that in full swing before Avengers: Doomsday.
Jim Hammond's Human Torch to appear in VisionQuest
According to highly-reliable industry insider Daniel Richtman, Jim Hammond will be making his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in VisionQuest. This report came about when fans spotted a fiery, human-shaped unconfirmed mystery character in the D23 promotional artwork for the upcoming series, which prompted Richtman to confirm that it's actually Hammond.
Marvel Comics fans will recognize that name as the original version of the Human Torch, who made his Timely Comics debut back in 1939, existing as one of the company's three signature comic book superheroes (alongside Captain America and Namor). The character eventually faded from the public eye before the concept of the Human Torch was resurrected for the Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm - who has become the definitive version of the character.
It is Jim Hammond 👀 https://t.co/T23l9kuFdT
— Daniel Richtman (@DanielRPK) August 17, 2026
This is quite interesting because the Johnny Storm version of the Human Torch is currently a big part of the MCU, having finally made his debut appearance in 2025's The Fantastic Four: First Steps with Joseph Quinn playing the role. Now, don't worry: Quinn will be reprising the role in Avengers: Doomsday (and likely appear in 2027 sequel Avengers: Secret Wars), so we haven't seen the last of him, but the choice to "replace" the Human Torch concept with a completely different character in VisionQuest will understandably come as a bit of a surprise to Marvel fans. However, there is a pretty good reason for it.
VisionQuest is the third installment in the WandaVision Trilogy (coming after both WandaVision itself and Agatha All Along) and it stars Paul Bettany, who reprises his role from previous MCU movies as Vision. The character came back to life in WandaVision (after his death in Avengers: Infinity War) and even had his memories restored by another version of himself, but he isn't in touch with his emotions. In his own Disney Plus series, he will go on a journey of discovery that involves him running into all of the other androids and / or AI personalities from the MCU. Yes, that means we will see human variations of JARVIS, EDITH, FRIDAY, DUM-E, U, and even Ultron (with James Spader reprising the role).
Jim Hammond has unexpected relevance to this particular scenario because he too is an android - just like Vision. As Vision will be spending a large portion of VisionQuest in his own head, it's highly possible that this fictional world he has created will feature its own superhero - immediately differentiating him from Quinn's portrayal in The Fantastic Four.
Interestingly, Hammond was created by Phineas Horton under the watchful eye of Victor Timely. Timely made his MCU debut in the Multiverse Saga too (with Jonathan Majors portraying him as an alternate version of Kang the Conqueror). Meanwhile, Phineas Horton was referenced in the MCU as far back as 2011's Captain America: The First Avenger when the 1943 Stark Expo featured am exhibit titled "Dr. Phineas Horton Presents The Synthetic Man" - with "the Synthetic Man" presumably being an early nod to Hammond.
Ironically, if Hammond does end up appearing in VisionQuest, it would mark the first time that any character on the MCU's main earth (Earth-616) encountered a Human Torch character, kind of making him canon to the MCU - which is reinforced by the earlier Synthetic Man reference. While the Fantastic Four will very soon become canon to the wider MCU, the events of First Steps took place on a different earth (while Chris Evans' portrayal of his version of Johnny Storm in Deadpool and Wolverine is a callback to the classic, non-MCU Fantastic Four movies).
It's crazy to think that, before the Multiverse Saga, the MCU had no definitive Human Torch. Now, by the end of it, we may well have had three appear on our screens. That's the beauty of Marvel, the MCU, and the Multiverse Saga.
VisionQuest arrives on Disney Plus on October 14, 2026. Avengers: Doomsday arrives in movie theaters on December 18, 2026.
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