Marvel's Vision Series Is Bringing Back A Forgotten Iron Man Villain

Television Superhero Shows

The Vision (Paul Bettany) was last seen flying off near the end of "WandaVision," but he will be headlining his own Disney+ series in 2026. Time will tell if "Vision" (the final title has not been confirmed at this time) can recapture the success of last year's "WandaVision" spin-off, "Agatha All Along."

It was previously confirmed that the Vision TV series would be bringing back the titular android's creator, the also robotic Ultron (James Spader). Now, Deadline reports that another Iron Man foe will be returning from (seeming) death. Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane? Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko? Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian? Nope! Instead, Faran Tahir is playing Raza Hamidmi al-Wazar, last seen in the very first Marvel Cinematic Universe movie: "Iron Man."

To quote the Vision's late brother-in-law Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), "You didn't see that coming?" Well, Pietro, I did not!

Raza is simultaneously an obscure yet pivotal character — without him, there would be no Iron Man. In "Iron Man," Raza and his group the Ten Rings kidnap Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in Afghanistan. The Ten Rings were hired to kill Tony by Stane, but they instead decided to hold him prisoner to exploit his weapon-building skills. To escape, Tony creates the first version of the Iron Man suit.

Raza and his men were seemingly killed by Stane back in "Iron Man," but technically he wasn't murdered onscreen, only paralyzed. There's thus some leeway to bring him back, but lord knows what role he'll play against the Vision. In his final scene in "Iron Man," Raza wanted to get his hands on the Iron Man tech ("A man with a dozen of these could rule all of Asia"). Has his goal there remained unchanged?

Raza of the Ten Rings will return in Marvel's Vision

The original "Iron Man" comics are a total Cold War time capsule. In the very first Iron Man story ("Tales To Astonish" #39, by Stan Lee & Larry Lieber and artist Don Heck), Tony Stark is doing a weapon demonstration in Vietnam. His envoy is ambushed by the Viet Cong and Tony trips a landmine, leaving him in the clutches of warlord Wong-Chu.

Updating Iron Man's origin was one of the movie's main challenges, but moving the setting from Vietnam to Afghanistan was a natural call. That meant turning Stark's captors from yellow peril caricatures into the trope of "evil Muslim terrorists" instead. (The name "Ten Rings" refers to the weapons of comic Iron Man's archfoe, the Mandarin, who likewise needed some retooling for the MCU.)

Now, Tahir is American, but his family is from Pakistan and he spent a lot of his childhood there. In fact, he comes from a family of artists; his father Naeem is also an actor and his mother Yasmeen is a radio host. His maternal grandparents, Imtiaz Ali Taj and Hijab Imtiaz Ali were acclaimed Pakistani writers.

Tahir remains a prolific actor outside of "Iron Man." Nerds might also recognize him as Captain Robau in the 2009 "Star Trek," captain of the USS Kelvin and commanding officer of George Kirk (the future Thor, Chris Hemsworth). Aside from film and television, Tahir also starred in a 2016 stage production of "Othello" at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. One can only guess if he'll be able to stretch those acting talents returning to the part of Raza.

The Vision TV series is scheduled for release on Disney+ in 2026.