Paul Bettany has fought beside the Hulk in the Marvel movies. Ruaridh Mollica once dressed up as the Hulk when he was 5 years old.
But instead of a green rage monster, it’s Bettany who’s been Mollica’s personal welcome wagon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with the Disney+ series “VisionQuest” (first two episodes streaming on Oct. 13 at 9 p.m. ET, weekly Wednesdays starting Oct. 21).
“I grew up watching all these shows and then to sort of enter into the universe is mad,” says Mollica, the 26-year-old Scottish newcomer who just found a picture of his kid Hulk self recently. “It's like, ‘God, look where you are now, eh?’ ”
“VisionQuest,” which concludes a trilogy of sorts alongside “WandaVision” and “Agatha All Along,” catches up the Avengers’ resident
android Vision. Inside his mind, he interacts with other AI from the MCU, including J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D’Arcy), F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady), E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire) and his villainous "father" Ultron (James Spader). Vision is having an identity crisis, and these characters look like regular people in order to “humanize these entities as much as possible,” Bettany says.
Series creator/writer Terry Matalas feels it’s “the opposite of an AI Pinocchio story. [Vision’s] not sure if he wants to be a real boy. That looks really painful. Being a human seems really, really hard.”
Vision finds conflict in the real world, too. He was rebooted by government types who weaponized him following his “death” (see: “Avengers: Infinity War”), and now is pursued by a dogged mercenary (Todd Stashwick).
At the same time, Vision also discovers he has a son, Tommy (Mollica): The android’s witchy love Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) magically conjured two children for the couple during the events of “WandaVision.” Billy Maximoff (Joe Locke) was revealed in “Agatha,” and “VisionQuest” introduces Tommy, a troubled teen thief haunted by visions of a past he can’t remember who has some issues to work out with his robotic parent when they meet.
To have Bettany as his dad on the show was “absolutely phenomenal,” Mollica says. (His first name Ruaridh is pronounced "roo-ree"). “It's such a big, incredible universe, Paul knows the ropes. I feel so lucky to have had him by my side and teach me things and make me feel calm and just be able to enjoy every step of the way.”
Coming into this “very sci-fi realm,” Mollica admits he struggled with “where does the truth come in.” Watching Bettany, he figured out that “it’s all human,” the youngster adds. “You play everything real, because we're here, and we're human, and the feelings are all real, whether you're an AI or not.”
Bettany, 55, is one of the longest-standing veterans in the MCU – he and Robert Downey Jr. both appeared in 2009’s “Iron Man,” the popular franchise’s first chapter. (Bettany voiced Tony Stark’s on-board AI, Jarvis, in the “Iron Man” films and first “Avengers” movie before becoming Vision in “Avengers: Age of Ultron.”)
Being the lead role in a Marvel show let Bettany set the tone of the set and create “a fun, warm, safe place where everybody feels respected,” he says.
Disney brass also listens to the “Avengers” veteran: “You imagine that Marvel is some sort of infernal machine that churns out product after product, and actually, it feels nothing like that. It's been the most collaborative, creative experiences in my career. They're genuinely interested in your opinions, ideas where you might want the show to go, and they might say no but they rarely have.”
“VisionQuest” is a show with “a lot of male energy,” Bettany says, and he appreciates that they were allowed to harness it in a “really positive” and “totally non-toxic” way.
"It is about fathers and sons, fundamentally. Marvel at its best is when it takes big swings and manages to be able to talk about big things, but with robots and lasers. I really feel we did that.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Marvel's 'VisionQuest' is more than meets the eye. Star Paul Bettany explains
