Marvel Television's Vision Quest is currently shooting in the UK, and a new report claims that a Black actress has been cast as the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Bride of Ultron. Read on for details...
Jac Schaeffer was originally going to take charge of Marvel Television's Vision Quest TV show, but moved on from the series to focus onAgatha All Along. Taking her place is showrunner Terry Matalas (Star Trek: Picard), leaving the android Avenger's series in safe hands.
Paul Bettany will return inVision Questas the title character, with James Spader reprising hisAvengers: Age of Ultronroleas Ultron.Todd Stashwickand Faran Tahir, who is back asIron Man's Raza, are also set to appear, as isRuaridh Mollica (widely believed to be Tommy Maximoff).
Nexus Point News brings word today that Vision Quest is set to include a version of Jocasta. The character has reportedlybeen cast, but the identity of who willplayher is currently being kept under wraps.
The site has seen some casting details, though, and it sounds like Marvel Studios wanted a Black actress in her 40s - 60s to play a character better known in the comics as "The Bride of Ultron." The fact that an older actor was wanted suggests Jocasta will take on that role in the MCU as well.
According to the casting call, "Jocasta is described as being cunning, powerful, determined, and motivated by revenge." We can only speculate about what that means, though it's previously been reported that Vision Quest will feature these characters in "human" form.
Created by Jim Shooter and George Perez in 1977, Jocasta debuted in the pages of 1977's Avengers #162. Built by Ultron, Jocasta'sconsciousness is based on the brain patterns of Janet Van Dyne (remember, on the page, Ultron was created and based on Hank Pym, not Tony Stark and Bruce Banner).
Jocasta would go on to serve as a member of The Avengers and, in recent years, attempted to make herself more human. When she did so, the character was portrayed as a Black woman, so Vision Quest isn't taking any liberties with the source material here.
We recently spoke toTahir about his MCU return as Raza."I think it's a very exciting project to return as a character that I played 17 years ago," he told us."When you play a character, you create a history for [them]. What we have decided is that this is seven years after the fact of when Tony Stark [died] and all that happened."
"How does this character evolve, and what has he become? Does he become something more? He is not static in this universe and has also gone on with his life, and with where he ends up, how does he place himself in this universe? It's a great challenge. There are some great surprises in there, especially for Marvel fans."
"It was sort of a reunion for us as the showrunner [Terry Matalas] was someone I worked with on a series called 12 Monkeys. We had already worked together nine years ago, and there's another cast member who was on that show who is also in this one," the actor continued."James Spader and I did a couple of episodes of The Blacklist, so there was a nice reunion of people who had worked together before."
"It was nice to have the team back in a different way, setting, and reality. It was a lot of fun. I have one more stunt to do, which I will do in about a month; that's going to be a lot of fun," Tahir concluded.
Vision Quest is expected to premiere on Disney+ in 2026.
