Paul Bettany was worried he was going to be “canned” by Marvel before he was offered a role in WandaVision.
The British actor stars alongside Elizabeth Olsen in the new Disney+ series, which finds their Marvel Cinematic Universe characters, Vision and Wanda Maximoff, appearing to live inside a 1950s sitcom.
But Bettany has admitted he was expecting a permanent dismissal when he was first pitched the show by Marvel bosses, with Vision having already been killed off in 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War.
“My contract was up, I’d just died in a movie, and I got a phone call from the boss saying, ‘Come into the office’ – and you know what that means,” Bettany told Yahoo Entertainment. “I kind of looked at my wife and went, ‘I think I’m getting canned’.”
Bettany recalled meeting Marvel boss Kevin Feige and effectively saying his goodbyes.
“They went, ‘Wait, are you quitting?’ And I went, ‘No, aren’t you firing me?’ And they went, ‘No, we’re gonna pitch you a TV show’,” Bettany remembered. “So I didn’t really listen to the pitch, I was just relieved that I still had a job.”
WandaVision, which The Independent dubbed “the most intriguing thing Marvel has ever done”, sees the cosmic couple in a strange alternate universe modelled after sitcoms from television history.
Fans have already speculated about where the show could lead, with Easter eggs appearing to hint at secret villains waiting in the wings.
WandaVision streams every Friday on Disney+
