NEW YORK – Seven years after dying at Thanos' hands, Paul Bettany's Vision just won't stay dead.

The actor made a surprise appearance at Marvel's New York Comic Con panel Oct. 11 to tease his return as Vision in the Disney+ series "VisionQuest," which is set to debut in 2026. Brad Winderbaum, the head of Marvel Television, revealed the show is "the third part of the trilogy" that began with 2021's "WandaVision" and continued in 2024's "Agatha All Along."

Vision has not appeared in live-action since the 2021 finale of "WandaVision," which ended with a new, rebuilt version of himself regaining the memories of the original Vision. This version of Vision, known as White Vision, flew away at the end of the show and has not been seen since – until now.

Bettany described the pitch for "VisionQuest" as "fantastic" and "gripping."

"What's different about Vision right now is that red Vision gave Vision all of his memories, including the memories from within the Hex," the actor explained, referring to the fake sitcom reality created by Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) in "WandaVision."

"But White Vision is having real difficulty connecting to them. So he has the memories, but he doesn't have the emotion and the feelings. White Vision's journey during the show is about his attempt to connect to those memories of who he was – but with lasers!"

A trailer shown during the panel began with an apparently human version of Vision – looking like Bettany, without makeup – arriving to a white mansion. He is greeted by several servants, including J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D'Arcy), E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire) and F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady), all artificial intelligence assistants that have previously appeared throughout the Marvel universe, but are now seen in human form.

Throughout the rest of the footage, Vision is seen being haunted by memories of his past self. He is shown in a theater watching the original Vision's death scene from "Avengers: Infinity War." At one point, he notices "W+V" in a heart, meaning Wanda and Vision, carved into wood.

James Spader, who voiced the robotic villain Ultron in 2015's "Avengers: Age of Ultron," also returns in the trailer – but mysteriously, he also appears in human form. The footage shows Spader playing a man with a large beard. The trailer ends with a shot of Vision, accompanied by Spader's character, looking at footage of his now adult son Tommy, played by Ruaridh Mollica, on a series of monitors.

Bettany isn't the only actor with a Marvel return in sight: Krysten Ritter also surprised the New York Comic Con crowd by coming on stage to tease her role as Jessica Jones in the second season of "Daredevil: Born Again." Ritter said she found out she'd be back in the role "so long ago" but had to keep it under wraps and raved about reuniting with Daredevil himself, Charlie Cox.

"We looked at each other like, 'Can you believe this?'" she said. "It was surreal, but also as if no time has passed. I love Charlie so much as a person. I love being with him and acting with him, and I always have. I love playing these characters. It just felt big and celebratory and larger than life."

"We have a natural chemistry and friendship and respect for each other," she added. "I'm like the No. 1 fan of the Charlie Cox club and just adore him."

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley also took the stage to preview "Wonder Man," a meta new series that sees Marvel turn the camera on itself. Abdul-Mateen stars as an actor, Simon Williams, who auditions for the lead role in a Marvel-like superhero movie.

The focus on acting naturally allowed for the return of Kingsley as Trevor Slattery, an English actor character first seen pretending to be a terrorist in "Iron Man 3."

The role allows Abdul-Mateen to jump to the Marvel universe from DC after playing the supervillain Black Manta in the "Aquaman" franchise. He said he was drawn to the idea of playing a more grounded, human character within a superhero world.

"I said, 'Look, I want to eat a hamburger,'" he recalled telling series cocreator Destin Daniel Cretton.

"I said, 'I want to play a dude who can eat a hamburger,' because I had been very serious over in the DC world, which was great, but I wanted to do something different where I could live and breathe and smile and be nervous and be happy."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Major Marvel news! Paul Bettany teases Vision's return, 'Daredevil' reunion and more

Reporting by Brendan Morrow, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect