Marvel’s Disney+ era has been marked by three shows centered on the love story of Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) and the Vision (Paul Bettany). Kicking things off with WandaVision back in 2021, it truly started the Marvel Cinematic Universe on the streaming platform and, for many fans, it is still the defining series of the MCU. Since, we have gotten two spin-off shows based on WandaVision: Agatha All Along and now the soon to be released VisionQuest.
Like WandaVision and Agatha All Along before it, the show uses its central character to set the overall tone of the series. Wanda’s love of sitcoms allowed her series to have episodic tropes and references to the shows that Wanda loved. Agatha’s connection to witchcraft brought out the witchy vibes throughout the series. Now, with VisionQuest, it is all tied to the A.I.s that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) built.
Part of what makes this series so beautiful boils down to the Vision’s constant need to understand human emotion. White Vision, who is the version of the character we now embark on this journey with, has been someone who has a more complicated relationship with humanity and love and loss than the previous version of Vision. So much of VisionQuest is rooted in Vision having to learn what it means to be a father and a husband, something the Vision in Wanda’s hex experienced first hand.
And this journey means that we are reminded how much these two characters changed each other for the better.
Who have you lost?
Part of this trilogy that remains important through each new season of television is the idea of loss. In Vision’s case, he doesn’t feel emotions in the same way Wanda or Billy (Joe Locke) does. Or even to her own extent, Agatha (Kathryn Hahn). He recognizes why Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica) connects with him but there is a lack of understanding on a human level that has always been part of Vision’s coding.
But the loss of Wanda is something felt throughout the show. Whether it is Ultron’s (James Spader) need to put sitcoms on television as some sort of sick torment for Vision or the obvious references to Wanda Maximoff, there is a connection back to the Scarlet Witch. And for someone like me who loves Wanda Maximoff most of all, it left me bereft as I watched showrunner Terry Matalas’ 8 episode series.
“What is grief if not love persevering?” has been a staple among fans throughout the years. It is a simple yet poetic truth: Our grief is showing the love we lost and how much that hurts. For Vision, he is the one who gave Wanda that bit of relief from her grief. But now he is trying to understand who this new version of himself is without Wanda, Tony, or the people who helped to make him feel whole.
What does it mean to be human?
Much of Vision’s journey in the MCU has been rooted in his need to understand humanity. As the show points out, Vision looks at an apple and sees its chemical make up, not the food it represents. Still, moments throughout VisionQuest show the breaks in Vision’s armor. He has always been more human than he’d probably like to admit and Bettany beautifully plays with those cracks in Vision’s facade.
Yes, the inhuman like head tilts do a lot to show the robotic nature of the Vision. But his care for Tommy and their connection almost overpowers Vision’s robot-like nature at times. And it isn’t a case of Bettany forgetting he’s not human but rather a brilliantly crafted performance of an AI remembering that he’s far more connected with his own heart than most humans.
The Vision must remember
This version of Vision was featured in WandaVision as a recreated version of Wanda’s former love, turned into a weapon and told to end the Hex and Wanda Maximoff. It gave us the Ship of Theseus debate between Hex Vision and White Vision that made the White Vision question his motives and his new design. So when we see him in VisionQuest, he’s trying to discover who he used to be.
That is easier said then done and many times throughout the show, Vision tells people that it was the other Vision’s memories and not his own but that excuse continues to crack as more people try to connect with him. Even his fellow A.I.s show that they have emotions because that is the way to understanding humanity: Through emotion and connection. But a huge part of that struggle with Vision comes down to his relationship with Tommy.
Mollica’s approach to Tommy is different from that of Locke’s time as Billy. Mainly because there is no hiding who Mollica is playing this time around. The joy of the series though is rooted in how Tommy has to navigate his own thoughts and feelings on the Hex, how he has changed from Thomas Shepherd to the Tommy that Wanda and Vision created together, and what it means to connect with your A.I. father.
Tony Stark’s greatest creations
I am someone who has named my electronics after Tony Stark’s A.I. systems. My phone F.R.I.D.A.Y. calls me Boss, my computer is JARVIS, I have headphones for E.D.I.T.H. and so on and so forth. So it was a delight seeing the physical embodiment of all of Tony’s work in the mind of Vision.
Orla Brady takes over for Kerry Condon for my beloved F.R.I.D.A.Y. and reminds Vision time and time again that she is, technically, the updated version of him. And JARVIS, played by Edwin Jarvis actor James D’Arcy from Agent Carter, still has an important place in the line-up of systems. Emily Hampshire perfectly capture’s E.D.I.T.H’s energy and even Dum-E (Henry Lewis) and U (Jonathan Sayer) get their moments to shine.
Seeing all of the A.I.s together though did remind me how much I missed this aspect of the MCU.
Hello old friend
Part of the initial allure to VisionQuest was the return of Ultron. Spader’s portrayal not only brought Bettany into the live-action (he previously only voiced JARVIS as Tony’s A.I.) but it also was run to think about the two 80s stars (Downey and Spader) working together once more. Now, Ultron’s relationship with the Vision has changed. Their intellectual battles are still present within their relationship but much of their dynamic is rooted in trying to understand their place within humanity.
Does it confound the other A.I.s that Vision continues to keep Ultron around? Yes. But it has been long considered that Vision did kill Ultron. Learning that he didn’t actually delete him at the end of Age of Ultron does color the way many of us view the Vision and his relationship to Ultron.
And the show uses that to its advantage. Two very different kind of characters finding common ground makes their dynamic addicting to watch.
A beautiful end to the trilogy
A huge part of what works with VisionQuest is the love fans have for WandaVision and Agatha All Along. But it does a lot of work to make Vision a character you also connect with, despite how his own connection with human emotion is fractured. Through it all though, the series does an absolutely incredible job reminding audiences that these shows continue to be the best of the MCU for a reason.
Wanda, Vision, and the world built around them is rich for breathtaking stories and emotional beats because these characters struggle with how they feel in the same way that many of us do. And if that means having a series of Stark A.I.s try to tell Vision what to do and how to feel, so be it.
VisionQuest airs Wednesdays on Disney+.
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