If you thought that Marvel Studios was reaching back into its history for February’s Captain America: Brave New World with the return of Tim Blake Nelson’s Samuel Sterns, you ain’t seen nothing yet; for the as-yet-untitled Vision miniseries, Marvel is bringing back its very first bad guy. No, not Jeff Bridges’ Obadiah Stane — I mean, the first bad guy.

Farah Tahir has signed on to the Disney+ series to reprise his role of Raza Hamidmi al-Wazar, leader of the terrorist organization The 10 Rings, who kidnapped Tony Stark and inadvertently led to the creation of Iron Man, in the 2008 movie Iron Man. For those who remember Iron Man, this return is particularly surprising in that al-Wazar seemingly dies midway through the movie at the hands of Obadiah Stane. (Of course, thanks to the multiverse, dead doesn’t necessarily mean dead anymore when it comes to the MCU.)

Tahir’s return to the MCU after 18 years follows the 17 year gap between Tim Blake Nelson’s appearances in the MCU — in 2008’s The Incredible Hulk and 2025’s Captain America: Brave New World — and comes ahead of Robert Downey Jr. returning to the MCU just seven years after Tony Stark’s death in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame in 2026’s Avengers: Doomsday. For whatever reason, Marvel Studios is looking to its past while building out its future, raising the question of whether this is coincidence or a strategy that will more fully reveal itself as the franchise heads towards the end of its Multiverse Saga in 2027’s Avengers: Secret Wars.

While it remains purposefully unclear what role Raza Hamidmi al-Waza will play in the Vision series — technically a spin-off from 2021’s WandaVision, which introduced the current incarnation of Paul Bettany’s synthezoid hero — it’s very possible that he won’t be the series’ primary villain. After all, the show, which will be creatively led by Star Trek: Picard’s Terry Matalas, is also bringing back James Spader as Vision’s original creator, Ultron. Apparently, it’s going to be evil old home week on the show… which probably isn’t good news for Vision, really.

The untitled Vision series is expected to debut on Disney+ in 2026.