Paul Bettany, who plays J.A.R.V.I.S. aka Vision in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was one of the few performers to appear in the Studios’ first film, Iron Man, starring Robert Downey Jr., as well as the next two installments.

Bettany’s first three MCU appearances were all in the recording studio, before he finally got physical as Vision in Avengers: Age of Ultron. This led to two further appearances in Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War before landing a role in a TV program that earned him a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited Series or Movie.

The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a new book, reveals that Paul Bettany was meeting with a big-time Hollywood executive who warned him his career was gone, just before he was notified by Joss Whedon about his position in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

“I was thinking, ‘Maybe he’s right? Maybe I’m done. Maybe my career’s over,” Bettany says in the book. When his phone rang, Whedon offered him a job. Bettany says that after swiftly agreeing, he went around and flipped off the building where he had just held his meeting.

“It taught me a really nice life lesson,” the actor adds. “If you’re good to people and you slip, people will put their hand out and help you back up. If you’re an a–hole to people and you slip, people just look at you floundering on the floor. So it was nice to get the affirmation that having good manners [pays off]. I will always be grateful.”

The book also stated that it was always the MCU’s intention to transform Tony Stark’s J.A.R.V.I.S. into the famous Avengers villain.

“Look, I don’t know if I can help you with this, but I do know this: If you do it, and you do a sequel, in the sequel, it has to be Ultron. And then he has to take Jarvis and make the Vision. Because Paul Bettany has to play The Vision.”

As fate would have it, a sequel to the Avengers was created. Then two more were created, and Bettany finally earned his own television show opposite Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch.