VISIONQUEST Star Emily Hampshire Reveals How Tony Stark’s Personality Influenced Her MCU Role as E.D.I.T.H.
Tony Stark may be gone, but his personality is still making trouble in the MCU. Emily Hampshire, who plays E.D.I.T.H. in Marvel’s VisionQuest, has revealed how Robert Downey Jr.’s iconic character helped inspire her take on the AI, who has apparently developed a taste for adventure and blowing things up.
Fans first met E.D.I.T.H. in Spider-Man: Far From Home, where Tony Stark left Peter Parker a pair of high-tech sunglasses containing a powerful artificial intelligence. The glasses gave Peter access to Stark's advanced technology, including an arsenal of weaponized drones. Because apparently giving a teenager control of that much firepower seemed like a perfectly reasonable idea to Tony.
Now, in VisionQuest, E.D.I.T.H. has moved beyond her original purpose, and Hampshire wanted to explore what would happen if the AI developed a personality of her own.
Speaking with The Direct, Hampshire explained that she revisited Spider-Man: Far From Home to better understand E.D.I.T.H.'s origins. She said: “I just kept seeing her at this job inside these glasses and so wanting to break out.”
For Hampshire, the key to understanding E.D.I.T.H. was looking at the man who created her. Stark was never the kind of guy who enjoyed following rules or being told what he could and couldn't do, and she figured his AI would share some of those qualities.
Hampshire said: “I don’t think he could stay trapped in something, and so that to me was her energy.” That attitude also comes through in E.D.I.T.H.'s introduction in VisionQuest, which sounds like a pretty entertaining way to bring the character into the series.
“I think how she enters the show says everything about E.D.I.T.H.,” Hampshire said. The character makes her entrance by parachuting through a skylight, then casually behaves as though everything went exactly according to plan. It's the kind of ridiculous confidence you'd expect from something Tony Stark created.
Hampshire also pointed to E.D.I.T.H.'s name, which stands for "Even Dead, I'm the Hero." She described it as “a bit of Tony Stark snark,” perfectly capturing the billionaire's ego and sense of humor.
The actress also found it amusing that Stark would leave an AI capable of controlling deadly weapons to a teenage superhero. That questionable decision says plenty about the mentality E.D.I.T.H. inherited from her creator.
As Hampshire worked on the character, she kept returning to one question: “So, who would that person or AI be if she broke out of the sunglasses?”
The answer was an AI who wants to experience the world, have adventures, and enjoy her newfound freedom. Unfortunately, her idea of a good time is a little dangerous. “She’s dying to have fun, and yet her idea of fun is blowing things up.”
It's a fun direction for the character, especially since E.D.I.T.H. previously existed primarily as a tool for Peter Parker. Giving her a personality inspired by Stark makes her feel like an extension of his legacy while allowing Hampshire to bring something new to the MCU.
Marvel's VisionQuest is now streaming on Disney+.