‘Iron Man’ actor Faran Tahir reprises his role as the villain
Marvel Studios’ upcoming Vision series with Paul Bettany goes back to the source code: Faran Tahir joins the show as Raza, the role he played in the studio’s first feature film, 2008’s “Iron Man.”
Bettany returns as the ghostly white version of the synthezoid he first played in the 2015 film “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and James Spader reprises his role from “Age of Ultron” as the titular villainous AI. Todd Stashwick (“Star Trek: Picard”) also plays an unspecified character.
Reviving Tahir’s character nearly two decades after he first appeared will mark the longest gap between appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. That’s an even more impressive feat when you consider that Raza — best known for kidnapping Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark, the inciting incident that leads to Start becoming Iron Man — was seemingly killed by the main villain halfway through “Iron Man” from the movie, Obadiah. Stane (Jeff Bridges). But of course, death is far from a permanent condition in the MCU; Bettany’s Vision dies in 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War,” only to be brought back to life in the 2021 Disney+ series “WandaVision.”
If Variety Exclusively reported, Terry Matalas (“Star Trek: Picard,” “12 Monkeys”) is the executive producer and showrunner of the Vision series, which debuts in 2026.
Tahir is also a “Trek” alumni, playing the captain of the USS Kelvin in the opening scene of 2009’s “Star Trek.” His other roles include the feature films ‘Elysium’ and ‘Escape Plan’, and the TV series ‘The Old Man’, ’12 Monkeys’, ‘Scandal’ and ‘Once Upon a Time’.
