WandaVision Sets An MCU Record For Paul Bettany (Because Iron Man's Dead)
Thanks to a series of production and release delays, WandaVision helps sets a new Marvel Cinematic Universe record for Paul Bettany, which otherwise may have gone to Robert Downey Jr if Iron Man was still alive. Marvel fans were accustomed to new movies releasing every few months, if not a little bit longer, throughout the 2010s. In fact, the only year other than 2020 to not have a single MCU movie release was 2009, which was a gap year between The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man 2.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Marvel Studios was forced to shift their Phase 4 slate multiple times, ultimately launching the new era with their first TV series ever - WandaVision. (Agents of SHIELD and all the other Marvel shows were produced by Marvel TV, not Marvel Studios.) Of course, given its name, WandaVision stars Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, aka Scarlet Witch, and Paul Bettany as Vision. But before his time as the android Vision, Bettany was known for voicing the artificial intelligence JARVIS in the Iron Man films, which he now owes for helping set a new Marvel record.
Paul Bettany is the only actor to appear in the first installment of each MCU phase. He voiced JARVIS in 2008's Iron Man, kicking off Phase 1 and the MCU as a whole; he again voiced JARVIS in 2013's Iron Man 3, which launched Phase 2; then he did double-duty as JARVIS and Vision (his first appearance in the flesh) in 2016's Captain America: Civil War; and now he's reappeared as Vision in 2021's WandaVision, the first new release of the long-awaited Phase 4. Up until recently, this record is something Bettany and Downey Jr. both shared - but now he alone holds the title.
However, even though Iron Man is dead, there have been rumors for sometime that Tony Stark will cameo in Black Widow, since it's a prequel set between Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War. If that rumor turned out to be true and Black Widow kept its original May 2020 release date, then Downey Jr. would've been the actor setting a record for launching every MCU phase, not Bettany. Things changed along the way, of course, but it's fitting that the first Marvel Studios TV series - on Disney+, no less - is responsible for setting a new record for one of its stars. It makes WandaVision's debut all the more special.
Right now, it's unclear how long Bettany could hold onto this record. If he doesn't appear in the first movie or TV show in Phase 5, then the record itself would become irrelevant - unless Downey Jr. somehow appears in WandaVision and then later in whatever launches the next phase.