VISIONQUEST Stills Reveal New Looks at Speed and Coat of Arms as Ruaridh Mollica Talks Tommy’s Bisexuality
Marvel’s VisionQuest is bringing some interesting new players into the MCU, and fresh stills from the Disney+ series give us our latest look at Tommy Maximoff, aka Speed, along with Lauren Morais as Lisa Molinari, better known to comic book fans as Coat of Arms.
The images appear in the latest issue of SFX Magazine, which also features an interview with Ruaridh Mollica, who makes his MCU debut as Tommy Shepard/Maximoff. During the conversation, the actor addressed whether Tommy’s bisexuality will be explicitly explored in VisionQuest.
“I don’t know if it’s explicitly referenced, but I feel like myself as a bisexual actor embodying Tommy, hopefully that comes through in just personality and self and is something that can be explored in the future.”
It seems like VisionQuest won’t make Tommy’s sexuality a major story point, at least for now, though Mollica clearly hopes it becomes something Marvel can explore down the road.
That approach wouldn’t be completely unexpected. Wiccan’s sexuality wasn’t a major focus in Agatha All Along, although the series made it clear that Billy was gay. Marvel may be taking a similar route with his twin brother and letting that part of Tommy exist without making it central to his introduction.
As for Lisa Molinari, aka Coat of Arms, it looks like she’ll initially be working alongside Tommy. Comic readers know there could be more going on with her, though.
Molinari eventually takes a darker turn in the comics and becomes a member of the Masters of Evil, so it’ll be interesting to see how much of that history makes its way into the MCU.
Tommy and Coat of Arms are only part of what VisionQuest has cooking. The series will also dig into Vision’s strange collection of artificial intelligences, something Paul Bettany previously teased while talking about what excited him about returning to the character.
“One of the things that’s fun about that is that we finally get to see what it’s like inside Vision’s mind, and it’s more cluttered than you would think.
“He’s clearly been saving and copying and pasting [the AIs] to keep them alive inside his head. One of them, of course, has to be kept behind a pretty impressive firewall because he’s a psychopath. But he’s a clever one.”
The AI Bettany describes as a psychopath is almost certainly Ultron, but the Avengers: Age of Ultron villain won’t be the only familiar piece of Marvel technology taking human form.
Emily Hampshire, known for Schitt’s Creek, 12 Monkeys, and The Rig, is playing a human version of E.D.I.T.H., short for Even Dead, I’m The Hero. Tony Stark created the technology before his death, with E.D.I.T.H. later being handed over to Peter Parker in Spider-Man: Far From Home following the events of Avengers: Endgame.
Picard star Orla Brady will actually take on the role of F.R.I.D.A.Y. and James D’Arcy is also returning as Edwin Jarvis in some capacity.
Then there’s T’nia Miller, whose credits include Foundation, The Fall of the House of Usher, and La Fortuna. She’ll play Jocasta, the Bride of Ultron, who is described as “cunning, powerful and driven by revenge.”
The new Speed and Coat of Arms stills offer another small taste of what’s coming, while Mollica’s comments suggest there’s also room for Tommy to develop beyond whatever story Marvel has planned for his debut.