How Can Marvel Bring Back Vision For WandaVision After Avengers: Endgame?

Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany - Avengers: Infinity War

When it was announced that Elizabeth Olsen and Paul Bettany would be reuniting for the new Disney+ streaming series, WandaVision, a lot of Marvel fans were confused by this casting announcement. Based on the events seen in the last two Avengers films, Infinity War and Endgame, it didn't initially make sense to see Vision and Scarlet Witch together again. How exactly would that work out, given what happened on the big screen?

It's obvious that Marvel has a plan here, and they will use the Disney+ series to explain what happened to these characters in the events proceeding the reign of Thanos. There are a lot of possible explanations, and we won't likely know for certain what's at play until a little later down the road. But for now, let's speculate on how Vision might've survived after the devastating events of Avengers: Infinity War.

We should note at this point that there will obviously be MASSIVE SPOILERS for both Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame from this point forward. If you are somehow one of the only people on the planet who has not seen these movies yet, and still find yourself wanting to learn about Vision's future anyhow, we advise that you proceed with caution from here on forward if you still want to avoid other spoilers about the films.

Paul Bettany - Avengers: Infinity War

Vision Was Killed By Thanos In Avengers: Infinity War

During the climatic moments of Avengers: Infinity War, Vision knew he needed to make a grave and noble sacrifice for the good of humanity. Such a move required Scarlet Witch to destroy the Infinity Stone in his head, which would obviously kill him in the process. But that's something that Scarlet Witch could not do easily, since it required destroying the man-being she loves the most. With great hesitation and grave sadness, Scarlet Witch goes through with it and the stone is destroyed.

But it's no matter, of course, because Thanos used the Time Stone and rewound time back a few minutes, allowing him to directly pluck the Mind Stone from Vision's head before planting it into his Infinity Gauntlet. That movie killed Vision a second time, giving Thanos the ultimate power that he'd been trying to acquire for all those years, thus allowing his snap to wipe out half of all living things, heroes and otherwise.

Paul Bettany - Avengers: Infinity War

Vision Is Still Dead After Avengers: Endgame

While a majority of the formerly eradicated-from-existence characters were resurrected again after the climatic battle in Avengers: Endgame – minus Tony Stark and Black Widow after their ultimate sacrifices, of course – Vision remains dead after the epic three-hour season finale of a movie. At least as far as we can tell, since from what we can gather, he was not brought back to life because the Infinity Stones needed to be destroyed in order to defeat Thanos.

So, at the end of Avengers: Endgame, our impression was that Vision remained among the woefully departed, and that he wasn't able to be resurrected since he died, as it were, before The Snap. So, how does it work out that Vision will be a major element within the WandaVision TV show?

Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany - Captain America: Civil War

Paul Bettany Is Confirmed For WandaVision On Disney+

Obviously, no answers have been offered for how Vision will return to any future narratives, but but we do know for a fact that Vision will return to live-action. And it's not simply a rumor that actor Paul Bettany will be returning, as it was revealed at ComicCon that both Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen would be reprising their film roles in the new Disney+ streaming series, which is currently expected to be released in 2021.

Obviously, the show's release is still many months away, and unless Marvel changes its stance on spoilers, fans likely won't learn any straightforward answers to Vision-related questions in the near future. But we can certainly speculate on how it might be possible to see these two characters together again, particularly based on the information we already know so far.

Paul Bettany, Elizabeth Olsen - Captain America: Civil War

How Marvel Can Bring Back Vision

The simplest answer to the Vision question comes down to time travel. Since it was formally introduced in Avengers: Endgame, it's no longer out of the realm of possibility for the franchise's heroes to use when they are in a time of need. Hopefully, lots of explanations will be given in the future for why the characters couldn't just go back in time to fix any and every problem that has occurred, and there are undoubtedly a lot of consequences that can arise from taking someone from the past and putting them in a new and totally alien timeline. (In this case, WandaVision looks to be partially set in the suburbs-loving '60s, with sitcom elements possibly being used.)

Nevertheless, it's easy to imagine an emotionally devastated Scarlet Witch still grieving from the loss of her partner. If Scarlet were to discover that time travel was introduced between her snap-exit and resurrection, it's easy to imagine Wanda's desire to secretly go back in time and explain to that version of Vision what will happen before taking him into the most current, where they would likely be hiding in secret.

On the lam, Vision would likely assume his human form, and they'll lay low in a small town with people who might not recognize them as being different from any other average Joe. The hope would be that nobody catches wind of what happened, or how Vision might still be alive. That could create the central dramatic tension in which the new streaming series will hopefully thrive from, particularly since they likely can't keep their new lives secret from the public for very long.

There's also another possibility (as theorized by ScreenRant) that Vision's android cadaver being located near Wakanda could tie into his revival. Fans know that Wakanda houses super-technology beyond what we understood to be possible, so its resources could be used to rebuild and restore Vision. Maybe not entirely to his original self, but enough that he could return to life. Shuri (Letitia Wright) is a tech wiz, and even though Tony Stark is no longer among the living, she could have the smarts and the skills to restore Vision's existence in some form or another. We haven't yet seen Shuri bring someone back to life, despite other wonders seen in Wakanda, so that would be a huge deal.

Also, Scarlet Witch is one of the most powerful Avengers there is, so she has extraordinary powers and capabilities that could be crucial to Vision's return. Her powers, mixed with the genius technology found in Wakanda, could lead to Vision's return. It's likely that we're going to get a glimpse at what else Scarlet Witch can do in this new series even beyond the powers we've already seen. If she wants to save the man-made super-being she loves, she may need to go through her arsenal and use some powers that have only been hinted at before.

One of the benefits of these new Marvel streaming services is spending more time with these characters and further exploring their untapped powers and other story elements. That's certainly an intriguing prospect for fans of this franchise, and hopefully in this particular regard, WandaVision will promise some very big things that will possibly coincide with Scarlet Witch's return in the Doctor Strange sequel.

There's also the chance that WandaVision will show Scarlet Witch exploring powers haven't been teased in the movies, including the power to bend reality. That could be used for a number of different situations, including making it seem to others that Vision isn't still alive when he actually is. That would certainly be more complicated, and it's hard to know for sure how that would work here. But the show is going to have six whole episodes or more to show us how kind of thing might be possible.

These are just a few possibilities, and there are definitely other ideas floating around out there. The cast of WandaVision told Entertainment Weekly that fans should expect a "bonkers" show that feels like a big Marvel movie event. The series will likely kick off in a classic sitcom fashion, something in the vein of Bewitched or I Love Lucy, before expectedly going into very big and bold directions, possibly including time travel and several different locations and settings inside the always-expansive Marvel Cinematic Universe. And this is all assuming that Vision's return is real, and not just a figment of Wanda's tortured imagination.

In the meantime, let us know your personal theories about how Vision could return in Disney+'s WandaVision in the comment section found below. There are certainly a lot of fan theories floating out there, and we'd love to hear what you speculate will happen leading up to the events of this show, which is set to debut in the distant future.

Will Ashton

Will is an entertainment writer based in Pittsburgh, PA. His writing can also be found in The Playlist, Cut Print Film, We Got This Covered, The Young Folks, Slate and other outlets. He also co-hosts the weekly film/TV podcast Cinemaholics with Jon Negroni and he likes to think he's a professional Garfield enthusiast.