One of the earliest villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe is returning for the upcoming Vision TV show. Despite having only aired one season, WandaVision gave life to a couple of Marvel TV shows, with Agatha All Along set to premiere in September, while the Vision offshoot got an important update earlier this year. It was previously announced that MCU’s Vision show is being led by Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas, with Paul Bettany returning as the beloved Marvel hero.

According to The Hollywood Reporter,James Spader is officially set to reprise the role of Ultron in the new Vision series on Disney+. There are no known details as of right now on how many episodes Spader is expected to appear in, as no episode count for Vision has been announced yet. While Marvel Studios has yet to comment on the report, the Vision show is currently eying a 2026 release on Disney+, with filming most likely starting in 2025.

How Ultron Can Return In Marvel’s Vision Show After His Destruction In Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Despite his fate during the ending of Avengers: Age of Ultron, there are a number of ways that Ultron can factor into the Vision TV show. Given that he is an extremely powerful A.I., there is always the possibility that Ultron got a new body sometime after the Phase 2 film while slowly reconfiguring himself to be even stronger this time. Even though it will have been more than a decade since Ultron battled the Avengers, the Vision series could explore where he has been over the last couple of years.

Given how Vision will be trying to find his place in the world after his unexpected resurrection, Spader’s Ultron could also be showing up as a hallucination, as Bettany’s hero still gets readjusted to being alive again. If Vision is leaning into The Multiverse Saga, there is no reason why Spader couldn’t be playing a brand-new version of Ultron that somehow joins the MCU timeline. Taking that approach would let the Avengers: Age of Ultron ending remain as it is while also opening the door for a new story that is more personal for the Vision series.

Since Ultron was one of the least well-received MCU villains of all time, Vision now gets a fresh start to reintroduce the character and do him justice. The bigger question now, however, is whether or not other major established characters will be back for Bettany’s spinoff show. Hopefully, more news about the Vision TV show will start to emerge later this year as the MCU series gets closer to starting production.