‘Vision Quest’ is About “Intergenerational Trauma” (‘WandaVision’ LACC 2025 Panel Recap)
Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany took to the Main Stage at Los Angeles Comic Con 2025 to discuss their MCU experiences, and spill some secrets about the future of their characters! While Olsen still can’t provide any hope to Wanda fans (like myself), Bettany did share our first hint at the themes of his upcoming Vision Quest Disney+ series.
Vision Quest is about intergenerational trauma
We all know that Ultron is returning in the Vision Disney+ series, and there may be some beef between the killer robot and his superhero creation! Comparing the themes of Vision Quest to WandaVision’s focus on grief, Paul Bettany said:
“[Vision Quest] is sort of about intergenerational trauma, it’s about fathers and sons, and denial of pain and the denial of your own truth, and coming to terms with who and what you are and what you could be. […] I guess [Wanda and Vision’s] lane in the Marvel universe is that you are the person you think you are, despite what anyone else might say.”
Comparing his MCU experience to his own life, Bettany further said that Vision Quest has “big questions to ask yourself about what it is to be a father and what it is to be a son, and those are of course questions I ask myself as a father of three children.”
Bettany’s quotes may also confirm the presence of Wanda and Vision’s second child, Tommy, in the show. After all, how would the concept of Vision being both a father and a son be explored without his missing child? Joe Locke’s Billy Maximoff isn’t in Vision Quest, so that leaves Tommy as the only missing piece in the Ultron / Vision family reunion.
It also sounds like Wanda’s shadow will lay over the series even if she’s not in it. Although Bettany answered in the negative when asked if Vision Quest is a direct sequel to WandaVision, he did say that it’s “absolutely, rightly part of the trilogy” (referring to WandaVision and Agatha All Along). He further mentioned that Vision Quest “remains, on some very deep level, about the love of Wanda and Vision – with fights!”, which is reassuring to hear since fans certainly don’t want their love story to be forgotten.
Paul Bettany also hinted at future storylines for Vision, saying he would love to explore the “Vision in suburbia” plot established in Tom King’s 2016 Vision comic book series. However, he also made it a point to say he was “super happy” with where he thinks Marvel is going with his character in the “next couple [projects]” – perhaps confirming that leaked Avengers: Doomsday concept artwork that featured White Vision? Nothing else is filming right now…
House of M, Marvel Zombies, and Wonder Man
Elizabeth Olsen can’t provide any updates about Wanda Maximoff’s next appearance, but at my autograph signing I told her that I hope Wanda gets a movie, and she said she’s hoping for that as well. Fingers crossed!
She did share some fun tidbits about her time as Wanda, although you won’t be able to learn anything about her time making Marvel Zombies. Earlier in the panel, Olsen mentioned not remembering filming the series since it was so long ago. When a fan asked her about playing the Queen of the Dead, she apologetically stated:
“You guys, I truly recorded [Marvel Zombies] years ago. And I can’t remember anything. I can’t remember anything. I need to watch it. I have no idea what happens. I filmed it; it’s my voice. I did it in my house; I wasn’t even in an office space. I’m so confused – this must have been 2020. Was it 2021? Why was I working in my house and not in a studio? I really have no idea what it was like. I’m so sorry.”
Elizabeth Olsen also hadn’t heard of Wonder Man! When asked if she’d want to explore Wanda’s love triangle with Vision and Simon Williams, Olsen needed clarification from the panel moderator and said, “I just made a movie about – not a love triangle, but a woman who’s choosing between her two dead husbands in the afterlife, so I feel okay with not doing another movie about two men wanting my love for a minute.”
X-Men fans should rejoice at Olsen’s adoration for the “House of M” storyline, as she specifically singled it out when asked which comic storylines she’d still like to explore in the MCU. “I think House of M is just the coolest. I don’t know how to make it make sense, but maybe there’s some fan pitches or theories out there. I just think it could be so fun to deal with X-Men and Avengers and ‘No more mutants.’ It would be fun.”
Olsen also continued to share her surprise at Wanda’s storyline in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, saying, “When I went into WandaVision, I had an idea that I was going to be in Doctor Strange. But I thought I was in an ensemble cast, and I thought I was one of the good guys, and then three weeks before I was sent to London, they said, ‘You’re our lead villain.’ I had no clue, and I had finished filming WandaVision. I was like, ‘Well, it would’ve been helpful to have known that,’ just so I could’ve pulled a thread through a bit, but I think the story told itself, and I was able to kind of massage things in Doctor Strange to hopefully tell a different story for her.”
Speaking as a major Wanda fan, this is why writers should plan out important creative decisions like major character arcs in advance… or at least maintain consistency with previous projects instead of repeating the same storyline. It was incredible to hear Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany talk about their shared experience making WandaVision and the next step in Vision’s journey with some interesting teases for the storyline of Vision Quest! That series is expected to debut on Disney+ in 2026 and conclude the trilogy of shows that began with WandaVision in 2021 and continued with Agatha All Along in 2024. Here’s hoping this all culminates in Wanda and Vision saying hello again sometime soon, since it’s clear that Olsen and Bettany have a lot of love for each other as friends and colleagues, and the MCU would only be better with the two of them together again onscreen.
Also check out Los Angeles Comic Con 2024 Recap!
