After 17 years, Marvel pulls a surprising Iron Man character back into the MCU for the new Vision series – and fans already have some wild theories

(Image credit: Marvel/Disney)

In some very unexpected casting news, Marvel is seemingly bringing back a deep-cut character for the upcoming Vision Disney Plus show. Faran Tahir is returning as Raza Hamidmi al-Wazar, reprising his role from 2008's Iron Man, according to Deadline.

Back in Tony Stark's MCU debut movie, Raza was one of the antagonists as the commander of the Ten Rings terrorist cell. He was one of the men who kept Stark captive, which was later revealed to be under the orders of Obadiah Stane. The last we saw of him in Iron Man, it was assumed he'd been killed after Stane paralyzed Raza before soldiers turned up and opened fire on him and his men.

But this is the MCU, so if you don't see a body, then you have to assume that the character is not really dead… As for how he works into the Vision show, that's a bit more complicated. Few details have been released about the series so far but we know that it will star Paul Bettany as White Vision, who was given back his memories at the end of WandaVision before he set off to pursue a new purpose in life.

There some other intriguing theories too, including links to Raza's original story. User krlozdac speculated, "Does this mean we might see more from the Ten Rings as promised in Shang Chi’s post credits scene?" Meanwhile fan Sure-Access-4629 replied: "Maybe they are tying in elements of Armour Wars into the series, since I don’t think armour wars is happening anymore/any time soon".