You may have to be end-credit crazy, a full-fledged IMDb fanatic or have a really good ear for voices to recognize the clipped British tones of Tony Stark's high-tech valet Jarvis in Iron Man as belonging to actor Paul Bettany.
On a set visit to his latest film Legion, Bettany told Superhero Hype! that while he did indeed provide vocals for Jarvis – upgraded into a fully integrated artificial intelligence in Stark's home and armor from the traditional English butler who's tended to Stark and the Avengers in the pages of the comics for decades – the actor had only the vaguest notion of who and what he was playing.
"I didn't know I was in a superhero movie," Bettany confessed, who owed his turn to a previous acting experience with Iron Man director Jon Favreau in 2004's Wimbledon. "I made a movie with Jon Favreau before and he rung me up and said, 'Paul...'" [laughs]. He rung me up and was really funny on the phone. I said, 'Yeah, alright.' I genuinely didn't know. I'm really naive, but it's the f**king truth."
"I really didn't know what I was going in for because it was two hours in a recording booth," Bettany explained. "I went in and recorded with Jon Favreau, doing all the lines, recording them and went home and now I'm a f**king hero to my children. I haven't even seen it yet. I haven't had time because I've been working for 17 hours [a day]."
Bettany played it coy when asked he was booked for a return appearance in either the announced Iron Man or its expected tie-in, The Avengers. "It just made a ton of money – I would imagine so," he chuckled. "I mean, I don't know, but I'm guessing with the way the world works: they make a ton of money from a movie and then they make another one."