Anthony Mackie Appears to Confirm Vision’s Return in Avengers: Doomsday

Anthony Mackie may have just revealed a Marvel secret. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, the actor who plays Sam Wilson, now Captain America, described filming Avengers: Doomsday as something like summer camp and listed the friends he got to catch up with on set. One name stood out: Paul Bettany, the actor who plays Vision. Bettany has never been officially announced for the film, and Marvel Studios has not commented on Mackie’s remark, but the timing was striking. The interview surfaced on November 10, the same day the VisionQuest finale arrived on Disney+, and it has sent fans back to the question of whether Vision will appear when Doomsday opens on December 18.

Everything here comes with a caution. Mackie did not say the words “Vision is in the movie,” and he has a history of saying more than Marvel would like. Outlets including Screen Rant, CinemaBlend and The A.V. Club have all treated the comment as a possible slip rather than a confirmation, and the safest reading is that it is a strong hint that remains unconfirmed. What follows lays out what Mackie said, what Bettany has said himself, what VisionQuest has and has not established, and what is actually confirmed about Doomsday a little over a month before release.

• Mackie told Entertainment Tonight he got to hang out with Paul Bettany while shooting Avengers: Doomsday
• Bettany is not part of the officially announced cast, and Marvel Studios has not responded to the comment
• Bettany has said he expects to appear in Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, and that casting is Kevin Feige’s call
• The VisionQuest finale streamed on November 10 and is the last Marvel release before Doomsday
• Avengers: Doomsday opens in theaters on December 18, 2026

What Mackie said to Entertainment Tonight

According to Screen Rant, which first highlighted the exchange, Mackie spoke to Entertainment Tonight about what it was like returning to a Marvel set full of familiar faces. He described the Doomsday shoot as feeling like summer camp, a reunion with old friends, and mentioned that he was preparing to share scenes with Robert Downey Jr., who is playing Victor von Doom. Then he listed a few of the people he saw, saying he got to hang out with Paul Bettany, “who I love.” The A.V. Club’s transcript shows the remark came at the end of a general run of anecdotes about catching up with colleagues, rather than as an answer to a question about the plot.

That context is important. Mackie was not asked whether Vision appears, and he did not describe a scene or a character. Bettany has appeared in the Marvel films as both J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision, and CinemaBlend pointed out that his presence on set would not automatically mean he plays Vision. Still, an actor who is not on the announced cast list being named among the people on a Doomsday set is the kind of detail Marvel fans notice, and it fits a pattern of Marvel stars loosely confirming details in interviews, a habit that Screen Rant compared to Tom Holland’s.

What Bettany has said about Vision’s future

Bettany himself has been coy for almost a year. He told The Telegraph in December 2025 that he expected to have some Avengers duties in 2026, a remark Screen Rant noted could refer to Secret Wars, to Doomsday or to something smaller. Since then he has said in interviews, including one on Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast, that he thinks Vision will show up in one of the two Avengers films, while stressing that Marvel can change its plans at any time. GamesRadar reported that he declined to confirm Doomsday casting and said that decision belongs to Feige. In May he also said he expects to be in Secret Wars, according to The Playlist.

The character has a long history to draw on. Bettany first appeared as Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015 and was killed by Thanos in Infinity War, and Marvel later introduced a rebuilt White Vision in the WandaVision finale in 2021. VisionQuest, created for Disney+ with Terry Matalas as showrunner, follows that White Vision, who lives under an assumed name and works at a pub, and it brings back James Spader as Ultron. The series premiered on October 13 and closes what Marvel has described as a trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued with Agatha All Along.

Slip, hint or simple friendly name-drop?

There are at least two ways to read Mackie’s comment, and the evidence does not settle the matter. The first is that he gave away a cast member who has been kept off the official lists, as Marvel has done with other surprise returns. Feige has said more unannounced characters are coming, and Screen Rant noted that Doomsday reshoots took place in 2026, which would have given Marvel room to fold Bettany in without any public announcement. Chris Evans, meanwhile, was formally revealed this year as returning as Steve Rogers, and Mackie has already shown a tendency to be candid: after Marvel’s San Diego Comic-Con panel he told Variety that Steve Rogers is returning but not as Captain America, then declined to say more.

The second reading is that Mackie simply named a friend. Bettany and Mackie have known each other through the Avengers films for about a decade, and a casual remark about someone he loves does not have to refer to the set of this particular film. The A.V. Club suggested that even Cap seems to have trouble remembering who is on the long confirmed cast list, which cuts both ways. Not every outlet is convinced: 9to5Marvel wrote on the eve of the finale that Vision’s appearance in Doomsday was still a no for now, because Marvel had not put VisionQuest on its official Doomsday watchlist and had not announced Bettany. Both of those facts remain true until Marvel says otherwise.

The VisionQuest finale and what it has not told us

The finale, titled “Forever,” streamed on Disney+ at 6 p.m. PT on November 10, and it is the last Marvel release before Doomsday. Outlets including ComicBasics reported ahead of time that it contains a single mid-credits scene, and speculation has centered on whether that scene, or the “one final surprise” in Marvel’s promotion, points toward the Russo brothers’ film. This article does not discuss what happens in the finale, and nothing in the reporting reviewed here shows Marvel confirming any connection between the series and Doomsday. The show did drop one clue that fans spotted early: a case labeled “Countdown to Doom” in Ultron’s apartment, which The Direct and 9to5Marvel both noted.

Every Movie Plug covered the run-up to the finale in Marvel Studios Posts a Cryptic Binary Message on X Before the VisionQuest Finale: What It Says and What It Means, which explains how Marvel’s own teasers built expectation around the family at the center of the story. Together with Mackie’s interview, they show how much of Marvel’s December rollout is being conducted through hints rather than announcements.

What Avengers: Doomsday has confirmed so far

The film itself is already one of the best-documented secrets in Hollywood. Anthony and Joe Russo direct, and Robert Downey Jr. leads the cast as Doctor Doom, a role Marvel unveiled during its marathon five-hour live stream in March 2025, which announced a long list of returning actors and the arrival of the Fantastic Four and the Fox X-Men cast. Screen Rant lists the film at 165 minutes and PG-13, with a script credited to Stephen McFeely, Michael Waldron, Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers. It was delayed to December 18, and Every Movie Plug has tracked the marketing, including the roughly minute of new footage Marvel showed during the World Series in Marvel Reveals New Avengers: Doomsday Footage in a World Series Commercial.

The returning cast includes legacy actors from the Fox X-Men films, among them Patrick Stewart, who died on October 28 at 86. Marvel Studios was one of the organizations that paid tribute, as covered in Hollywood Remembers Sir Patrick Stewart: Tributes From Marvel, Star Trek and Co-Stars, and the studio’s next X-Men chapter was set out in Marvel’s X-Men Cast Is Official: Sadie Sink, Kit Connor and Adam Driver Lead the Roster. Other stars have also been drawn into the guessing game: Chris Pratt has said that Marvel has taken real steps to bring Star-Lord back, as reported in Chris Pratt Says Marvel Has Taken ‘Hard Action’ to Bring Star-Lord Back, and Sebastian Stan has teased the stakes in a comment covered in Every Movie Plug’s report on his Doomsday tease.

For Mackie, the film is a chance to follow up Captain America: Brave New World with a bigger canvas, and the Marvel calendar is setting up a larger run. Sony and Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day became a record-setting hit this summer, a story told in The Renaissance of the Web-Slinger, and Avengers: Secret Wars follows a year later on December 17, 2027, according to Most Anticipated Movies of 2027. How Marvel built and then stretched this connected universe is examined in Behind the Cape: Why DC Struggled to Match Marvel’s Cinematic Empire.

What happens next

The most likely route to an answer is Marvel’s own marketing. The studio has a history of confirming surprise cast members late, through a trailer or a character poster, and with Doomsday a little over a month away, new footage and promotional material are expected. A confirmation from Bettany would also settle things quickly, although his comments so far suggest that he is bound by the studio’s secrecy. If Vision does appear, the open questions will be which version of the character it is, how the film connects to what VisionQuest established, and whether the appearance is a cameo or a larger role.

Meanwhile, theaters will be busy. Dune: Part Three opens the same Friday, and Every Movie Plug’s Dunesday Survival Guide explains how to plan a weekend around both films. Readers can follow every Marvel casting report and release update in the Film News section and find longer features on the franchises behind them in the articles section.

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