Paul Bettany figured his time was up. And he'd had a nice run, appearing in seven installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning in a voice role as J.A.R.V.I.S. in Iron Man (2008) and ending, presumably, with the death of his beloved android hero Vision in 2018's Avengers: Infinity War. He even told actress-wife Jennifer Connelly his endgame had arrived.

`My contract was up, I'd just died in a movie, and I got a phone call from the boss saying, 'Come into the office' - and you know what that means,` Bettany said in an interview. `I kind of looked at my wife and went, 'I think I'm getting canned.'

`So I went and I [said], 'Look, it's been a great run, thank you so much, no hard feelings.' And they went, 'Wait, are you quitting?' And I went, 'No, aren't you firing me?' And they went, 'No, we're gonna pitch you a TV show.' So I didn't really listen to the pitch, I was just relieved that I still had a job.`

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That show, WandaVision, co-starring Bettany and Elizabeth Olsen, became Marvel's first TV spinoff to hit the Disney+ streaming service this Friday, while also launching the MCU's Phase 4. The ambitious and deliciously odd series finds longtime hero couple Wanda, aka Scarlett Witch (Olsen), and Vision living happily married in a world of classic American sitcoms, beginning in a black-and-white '50s, I Love Lucy/Leave It to Beaver-style premiere before eventually transforming into color.