Paul Bettany’s return to the Marvel universe came with an unexpected injury.
An over-the-top performance on the set of Marvel’s “VisionQuest” left him with a gruesome eye injury that lasted two weeks.
“So, I was pretending to have a device on my head that is doing something to my brain, and I was just wildly overacting. And I blew out about 10 blood vessels in my eye,” he explained during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”
JAMES MCAVOY SAYS HE ‘NEARLY DIED’ AFTER HIS LUNGS COLLAPSED FOLLOWING BOTCHED BIOPSY
“I mean, I was it was a lesson in less is more,” Bettany added, before Kimmel showed a photo of his bloody injury to the audience.
Bettany admitted he was stuck with his injured eye for two weeks, but said that the show must go on.
“I think … it must have cost production so much to take it out because we shot the whole [thing].”
GET ENTERTAINMENT SCOOP DELIVERED RIGHT TO YOUR EMAIL BY CLICKING HERE
And despite playing a character known for his superhuman vision, Bettany admitted his own eyesight was far from perfect.
“I mean the irony is the actor playing Vision is kind of myopic, you know. I can’t see a thing when I take my glasses off, which is great depending on the actor,” he joked.
Bettany reprised his role as Vision for the Disney+ series – the final chapter of a television trilogy that began with “WandaVision” in 2021 and continued with “Agatha All Along” in 2024.
In “VisionQuest,” Bettany portrays a rebuilt version of Vision who is struggling to understand his identity and recover a sense of purpose.
LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
“So when we find vision, he has had his memories restored, but he is unable or perhaps unwilling to attach any feelings to them,” Bettany told Kimmel. “And he is living a very quiet life in a pub in Scotland where he works.”
“At night he goes and lives in the fridge freezer, and he goes inside his own head and in that head is a kind of what we call the mind space, and it’s a mansion,” he explained, comparing the concept to the movie “Inside Out.”
“In that head, in that mansion are a bunch of different AIs who have differing personalities that help him sort of sift through the data of the day and understand humanity,” he added.
PUT YOUR ENTERTAINMENT KNOWLEDGE TO THE TEST AND SEE HOW YOU SCORE
Bettany got his start in the Marvel universe as J.A.R.V.I.S, Tony Stark’s artificial intelligence assistant. His new character, Vision, was created when the Avengers uploaded J.A.R.V.I.S.’s AI into a synthetic body originally designed by Ultron, using the Mind Stone to bring him to life.
“Do AI companies try to get you to do J.A.R.V.I.S. for them?” Kimmel asked.
“Gosh, I wish,” he said. “I would be hanging up my acting.”
“Maybe that is a seed that has now been planted,” Kimmel joked.