A Dead MCU Character Returning After 18 Years Supports Wild Theory About An X-Men Hero

The returning of a long-dead MCU character in Vision Quest revives a truly wild theory about a character in Marvel’s X-Men library. Marvel’s next MCU TV show after Wonder Man is Vision Quest, a show that will shine the spotlight on Paul Bettany’s Vision, who was resurrected in WandaVision.

Casting for Vision Quest has revealed that Marvel plans to feature him alongside two other characters who either died or were thought to be dead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Disney+ show is set to include appearances from Ultron and Raza, who died in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Iron Man respectively.

The latter of the two is significantly less relevant to the MCU, but the decision to bring him back does raise some interesting questions about where he fits into the bigger picture. It was once assumed that Raza was a one-and-done villain created for the MCU, but now it’s worth wondering if an old theory that once seemed implausible may actually be true. And if it is, it could be huge for his place in its world.

The Raza Longknife MCU Theory Explained

Corsair leading the Starjammers into battle in Marvel Comics

The Ten Rings terrorist in Iron Man appeared to be an original character, but his name had some theorizing that he was connected in some way with Raza Longknife, a member of the Spacejammers in X-Men comics. The Spacejammers are a group of space-fairing adventurers led by Corsair, Cyclops’ father. The team often serves as allies to the X-Men.

For years, it’s been easy to dismiss the two sharing the same name as a coincidence. Firstly, Raza hails from the X-Men’s corner of the Marvel Universe, which was off-limits when the character debuted in 2008. Plus, there was no way to reasonably reconcile the two, with one being an evil, human terrorist and the other being a heroic space pirate from a distant galaxy.

Further standing in the way of the two ever being linked together was Raza’s status in the MCU. The character quite clearly died in Iron Man, and there seemed to be no narrative justification for bringing him back at a later occasion – at the time. Now, the prospects of that theory turning to be correct are drastically greater.

How Raza Can Become Raza Longknife In The MCU

Faran Tahir is confirmed to be reprising role as Raza in Vision Quest, though the details of how this work remain under wraps. But while the nature of his return is a mystery, the context does offer some clues. He’ll be appearing in a show that focuses on robots and androids, which raises a couple of scenarios for his resurrection.

One possibility is that Ultron – or perhaps another character – builds an android with Raza’s physical appearance. Or, it could be that his body was used to create a cyborg. Such a development coming to pass would build a clear connection between the character and Raza Longknife, who was also left for dead before being brought back as a cyborg.

Going down that road and giving him a design that resembles the comic hero would essentially make him the MCU’s version of the Starjammer. However, it’s worth noting this alone would make him an extremely loose interpretation of the comic character. As it stands, it’s hard to imagine Raza ever meeting Corsair or joining the Starjammers.

It may not be difficult for Raza to look the part in Vision Quest, but making him comic-accurate would be a significant challenge, as that would take a considerable moral shift and a trip to outer space.