WandaVision Star Paul Bettany Beautifully Breaks Down the Scarlet Witch’s Motive to Create WestView

Paul Bettany returned to the Marvel Cinematic Universe this week in the Disney+ animated series, What If…?, which asked the questions “What If… Zombies?!” Currently, it’s unclear if Bettany will be playing Vision again in a live-action capacity, but he certainly had a big year portraying the character on WandaVision, which earned him an Emmy nomination for Lead Actor in a Limited Series. Recently, Bettany paid a visit to British GQ and opened up about WandaVision, and beautifully broke down Wanda Maximoff’s (Elizabeth Olsen) motive to create Westview.

“Okay, so a couple of things here,” Bettany says while watching WandaVision footage. “I think the animation is so beautiful but the drawing of the sort of birth of the town and the building, and her version of Vision in this is so really elegantly rendered. I think it’s really special. Such a lovely idea that because she can’t solve the real issues, she creates a world in which she can have these little puzzles to deal with and everything can be neatly tied up … unlike life.” 

Recently, Bettany had a long talk with Angélique Roché for ACE Universe Presents: A Conversation with Paul Bettany and was asked how it feels to finally be able to talk about WandaVision freely after all of the secrecy.

“Yeah, it’s great. I mean, it’s a frustrating process, but one I really understand and really believe in. I think that Marvel, Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, they all have a very, you know, they have a strict ‘don’t talk about it’ policy, which I really can get behind. I come from a family – my dad was an actor, my mom was a singer – and my mom and dad always had this thing, you never show people the costumes before the curtain goes up, you know? Don’t show people how the magic trick is done. And so, I kind of, I love that about Marvel, that they’re so… that they really hold on their secrets and so it can be really enjoyable for the fans. But yes, it is frustrating, and now it does feel a relief to be able to discuss it,” Bettany shared.

WandaVision is still available to stream on Disney+. The rest of Marvel’s 2021 line-up includes Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which is now playing in theaters, What If…, which releases new episodes on Disney+ on Wednesdays, Eternals coming to theatres on November 5th, Hawkeye premiereing on Disney+ on November 24th, and Spider-Man: No Way Home is scheduled to be released in theatres on December 17th.