Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Avengers director wanted Vision to be fully nude in Age of Ultron, says Paul Bettany

Filmmaker Joss Whedon apparently said of Bettany’s character: ‘He’s gotta have a penis’

Louis Chilton
Thursday 28 January 2021 09:29 EST
Comments
Marvel releases new miniseries WandaVision: opening credits

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Paul Bettany has revealed that his Marvel character Vision was almost shown fully nude in the 2015 film Avengers: Age of Ultron

Bettany currently stars alongside Elizabeth Olsen in WandaVision, a Disney+ spin-off series in which their Avengers characters are transplanted into a succession of 20th-Century sitcom parodies.

Speaking on the Lights Camera Barstool podcast, Bettany revealed that Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon had originally wanted to show his character’s penis on-screen.

In the Marvel cinematic universe, Vision is a non-human “synthezoid” who is created artificially during the events of Age of Ultron.

“I know Joss Whedon apparently really, really wanted the rendition of him, when Vision first is born, before he was clothed,” said Bettany. “He was like, 'He's gotta have a penis’.

“Actually, somewhere is the rendition of Vision's birth with these penises and they put them all up on the wall,” added the actor. “And they all went in and they sat down and Joss went, 'Yeah, I'm 100 per cent wrong. I don't need to see any of these.'”

Marvel films typically do not feature scenes of sexual activity, and no entries in the MCU have so far included scenes of male or female frontal nudity.

New episodes of WandaVision are released on Disney+ every Friday. 

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in