No one is ever truly gone in the world of comic books. Through various supernatural ways that be can used in specific lores to revive dearly departed characters to the endless possibilities of the multiverse that can bring in alternate versions of those characters from another world, the comic book medium has defied the natural order of things time and time again.
Remember how Arrow revived Sara Lance using the Lazarus Pit? What about how it brought in the Earth-2 version of her sister, the Black Canary, after senselessly killing off the Earth-1 version? That's just one example of that, and the Arrowverse franchise as a whole was arguably ahead of its time considering the multiverse is everywhere nowadays - largely due to the Marvel Cinematic Universe's take on the phenomenon.
With the MCU's Multiverse Saga already bringing back multiple characters that didn't exist in that franchise to begin with (Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, Patrick Stewart's Professor X, and Chris Evans' Johnny Storm), fans have already seen the extent of the multiverse. They'll see it even more when MCU veteran Robert Downey Jr. returns as a new character in the villain Doctor Doom. And now, reports claim that two other beloved MCU veterans will return in an upcoming project.
JARVIS and FRIDAY will reportedly return in Marvel's Vision Quest
You ready to catch up with two old MCU faves? Industry insider Daniel Richtman reveals that both of Tony Stark's beloved AIs JARVIS and FRIDAY will be returning for appearances in Marvel Studios' upcoming Vision Quest series. This isn't the first time that one of those characters have been rumored to appear in the Disney Plus series, but it is the first reference to the other. And yet neither are entirely surprising given the project that we're talking about.
The Vision series, seemingly titled Vision Quest, will star Paul Bettany as the vibranium synthezoid that has become a regular fixture of the MCU. The Marvel hero's most recent appearance came in WandaVision when he was officially resurrected using Wanda Maximoff's magic. Now known as the White Vision, he was originally instructed to kill the woman he loved in his previous life, but a run-in with the other Vision that Wanda created with her magic during the Westview Anomaly restored his memories, giving him a second chance at life.
Although Vision's adventures will continue in the new spinoff, he wasn't the first character that Paul Bettany played in the MCU. Prior to his debut in Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015, Bettany voiced JARVIS - Tony Stark's trusty AI assistant, who always helped him build his creations and alerted him of any threat whenever he was in the Iron Man suit. When Ultron corrupted and killed JARVIS, he lived on in a way through Vision.
Tony would then install a new AI named FRIDAY, who guided him throughout his remaining missions before his sacrifice in 2019's Avengers: Endgame. The character was voiced by Kerry Condon, and became something of a fixture of those later Infinity Saga movies. Although she has not yet returned to the MCU, an earlier rumor from scooper MyTimeToShineHello claimed that Condon would reprise her role in Vision Quest, playing the character in human form for the first time ever.
Interestingly, another report claims that James Spader, who voiced Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron and has been confirmed to return in Vision Quest, will also appear in human form. That would suggest that Bettany could end up portraying JARVIS in human form for the first time too, as well as continuing to play Vision on the series. But if Vision appears in human form too, there may be some interesting, creative ways of pulling that off since Bettany would also have to portray him.
MyTimeToShineHello's report also claims that James D'Arcy will reprise his role from Agent Carter and Avengers: Endgame as Mr. Edwin Jarvis - Howard Stark's butler and the inspiration for the JARVIS AI. Although Richtman's report doesn't say whether James D'Arcy will be involved or not, we are beginning to see a throughline here as it seems like we'll be delving into the role of the AI beings in the MCU and the potential roles that they played in the creation of Vision.
Vision Quest is set to serve as the third chapter of the MCU's WandaVision trilogy, carrying on the story set forth in the 2021 series and its 2024 spinoff Agatha All Along. Filming is expected to begin in the spring with a planned 2026 release on Disney Plus.