Vision (Marvel Comics)


Vision is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is an android and a member of the Avengers who first appeared in The Avengers #57. He is loosely based on the Timely Comics character of the same name.
Paul Bettany portrays the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films ', ', and . Bettany will be reprising the role in the Disney+ upcoming series WandaVision.

Publication history

Editor Stan Lee and writer Roy Thomas decided to add a new team member to the superhero-team series The Avengers. Thomas wanted to bring back the Golden Age Vision but Lee was set on introducing an android member. Thomas ultimately compromised by using a new, android Vision. The second Vision first appeared in The Avengers #57. Thomas wanted the character to be white as befitting his ghostly name, but printing limitations of the time would have rendered him colorless, with un-inked paper where his skin should be. He settled on red as he did not want Vision to be green like the Hulk or blue like the Atlanteans. The character has been compared with Spock from Star Trek, but Thomas said that he was barely aware of the TV series at the time. He acknowledged being influenced by the Adam Link character by Otto Binder, one of the first robots treated as a sympathetic character rather than as a mechanical tool.
In The Avengers #75, the Scarlet Witch is reintroduced to the team and soon becomes a love interest for Vision. Thomas recounted, "I felt that a romance of some sort would help the character development in The Avengers, and the Vision was a prime candidate because he appeared only in that mag... as did Wanda, for that matter. So they became a pair, for just such practical considerations. It would also, I felt, add to the development I was doing on the Vision's attempting to become ‘human.’" Thomas also came up with the idea of the Vision having been created from the body of the Human Torch, but only planted a vague clue to this before leaving the series. It was finally followed up in The Avengers #134–135. Writer Steve Englehart explained, "That plot was well known in-house for years, and since Roy and Neal Adams|Neal hadn't had a chance to do it, I did it on my watch with Roy's blessing."
In 1972 Vision appeared with Spider-Man in Marvel Team-Up #5, "A Passion of the Mind", in which a giant robot scout from the Kree-Skrull War is found to be interfering with Vision's brain waves.
Vision and Scarlet Witch were married in Giant-Size Avengers #4. The couple starred in the limited series The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #1–4, by writer Bill Mantlo and penciller Rick Leonardi. This was followed by a second volume numbered #1–12, written by Steve Englehart and penciled by Richard Howell, in which the Scarlet Witch gives birth to twin boys conceived with Vision through magical means.
The "Vision Quest" story in West Coast Avengers #42–45 by writer/penciller John Byrne took the character away from his earlier depictions as a "synthetic human" and emphasized his android nature. The story had the Vision's memory and human brain patterns wiped out, severed his relationship with his wife, revealed their children to be essentially imaginary constructs, and included a two-page spread showing a dismantled Vision. Journalist Karen Walker later commented, "This image alone has probably done more to shape how future writers perceive the character than anything before or since. Once seen broken down into component parts, it's hard to truly move past that image and think of Vision as a synthetic man, not a machine."
Vision appeared in a solo limited series, Vision, #1–4, by writer Bob Harras and penciller Manny Clark. Nearly a decade after that came a second four-issue volume, written by Geoff Johns and penciled by Ivan Reis.
The series Young Avengers, which ran 12 issues from April 2005 to August 2006, introduced a new Vision, who is a combination of the synthezoid Vision's program files and the armor and mental engrams of the hero Iron Lad.
Vision appeared as a regular character in the 2010–2013 Avengers series, from issue #19 through its final issue #34.
Vision again appeared in a solo series, Vision, with #1 that started in November 2015 and ended with #12 in October 2016.

Fictional character biography

The robot Ultron is the creator of Vision, a type of android he calls a "synthezoid", for use against Ultron's own creator, Dr. Hank Pym and Pym's wife, Janet van Dyne of the superhero team the Avengers. Ultron sends his new servant to lead the Avengers into a trap. Wasp is the first to encounter the synthezoid, and describes it as a "vision" while trying to escape. Adopting the name, Vision is convinced by the Avengers to turn against Ultron. After learning how Ultron created him, using the brain patterns of then-deceased Simon Williams, Vision becomes a member of the team. The team initially believes the Vision's body was created from that of the android original Human Torch. The Avengers later are told that the time lord Immortus used the power of the Forever Crystal to split the original Human Torch into two entities – one body remained the original Torch while Ultron rebuilt the other as the Vision. This was part of his plan to nurture a relationship for the Scarlet Witch that would prevent her from having any children, as her power level meant that any offspring she might have could threaten the cosmic beings of the Marvel Universe.
Not long after joining the team, Vision is temporarily controlled by Ultron, and rebuilds Ultron out of adamantium, battling the Avengers before regaining control of himself. Shortly after that, the Vision first meets Wanda Maximoff, the mutant Scarlet Witch, with whom he later becomes romantically involved. The two eventually marry and, via the Scarlet Witch's hex powers, they have twin boys named Thomas and William.
When Vision attempts to penetrate an energy field erected by the villain Annihilus, he "shuts down", and even after regaining consciousness weeks later, remains paralyzed and assumes a holographic form. He eventually regains control of his body and becomes team leader. Having become unbalanced by these events, he attempts to take control of the world's computers. With the aid of the Avengers, Vision is restored to his normal self, but now closely monitored by a coalition of governments.
In the "Vision Quest" storyline, rogue agents of the United States government, manipulated by the time traveler Immortus, abduct the Vision and dismantle him. The Avengers recover the parts, and Dr. Pym rebuilds Vision, but with a chalk-white complexion. However, the revived Simon Williams does not allow his brain patterns to be used again to provide a matrix for Vision's emotions, explaining that the original process, done without his consent, had "ripped out his soul". This, along with damage to Vision's synthetic skin when he was dismantled, results in the synthezoid's resurrection as a colorless and emotionless artificial human.
The original Human Torch also returns from his own apparent demise, casting doubt on Vision's identity. Vision and the Scarlet Witch's children are then revealed to be fragments of the soul of the demon Mephisto, who had been broken apart by Franklin Richards shortly before the birth of the twins. The twins are absorbed back into Mephisto, which temporarily drives Wanda insane. Although she recovers, Wanda and Vision separate, each operating on a different Avengers team.
Vision gradually regains his emotions, by adopting new brain patterns from deceased scientist Alex Lipton, and gains a new body that resembles his original. In addition, Simon Williams' brain patterns gradually reemerge and meld with Lipton's patterns, restoring Vision's full capacity for emotion.
Shortly after a reformation of the Avengers, Vision sustains massive damage in the final battle with the sorceress Morgan Le Fey, and although incapacitated for several weeks, is eventually rebuilt and recovers. While recovering, Vision gives up his attempt to reconcile with his wife, although he is revealed to retain a fondness for her culture, such as visiting a restaurant that specifically caters to Wanda's childhood community simply because he enjoys the ambiance. Remaining a member of the Avengers, he briefly becomes romantically involved with teammates Carol Danvers, and Mantis, before attempting again to reconcile with the Scarlet Witch.

Disassembled / Reassembled

Grief over the loss of the twins, however, drives Wanda insane again, and she attempts to alter reality to recreate them. This causes a series of catastrophic events that includes Vision crashing an Avengers Quinjet into Avengers Mansion. The Vision advises his teammates that he is no longer in control of his body, and then expels several spheres that form into five Ultrons. The Avengers destroy them, and an enraged She-Hulk tears apart the remains of the Vision, having been driven to a breaking point by the rapid slew of attacks against the Avengers. The Avengers later believed that Ultron may have put a command in the Vision that would have been activated by the Avengers' Code White alert during one of the many periods in which Vision was held prisoner by Ultron, though it was later revealed that Dr. Doom forced Scarlet Witch to send Vision against her teammates.
Vision's operating system and program files are later used in the creation of Iron Lad's armor, which becomes a sentient being of its own. In Mighty Avengers the original Vision and Iron Lad are briefly separated from this being by the power of the Cosmic Cube.
During the "Chaos War" story line, Vision is one of many deceased heroes restored to life after the events in the death realms. Vision joins with the other resurrected Avengers in their fight against Grim Reaper and Nekra. During the fight, Vision blows himself up while in battle with Grim Reaper, killing them both.
Following the "Fear Itself" story line, Tony Stark is able to rebuild Vision, who once again joins the Avengers. After being informed about what happened after his destruction, the Vision sees She-Hulk, telling her he does not blame her for what happened. He then goes to Utopia to confront Magneto, threatening Magneto to tell him where Wanda is. Magneto uses his powers to subdue the Vision but spares him, saying he believes Wanda still cares for the Vision and that Magneto does not want to hurt her more. Captain America talks to the Vision afterward, telling him he needs to move forward.
During a subsequent confrontation with the returned Wanda at the start of the "Avengers vs. X-Men" story line, Vision claims that her use of his body to attack his friends is something that he cannot forgive and, while he banishes her from the mansion, he also sheds tears after her departure.
During the Marvel NOW! relaunch, Vision leaves the Avengers in order to find himself following a battle with Sunturion. After departing the team, he is shown visiting Billy Kaplan, the teenage reincarnation of one of his sons.
Following the "Age of Ultron" storyline, Vision joins Hank Pym's Avengers A.I. alongside Monica Chang, Victor Mancha, and a reprogrammed Doombot. He also upgraded himself and is now actually composed of millions of microrobotic automatons or nanobots.
In the miniseries Ultron Forever, Vision and Black Widow of the present are drawn into the future by what appears to be Doctor Doom to join a team of Avengers from various points in the team's history, including an early Hulk, James Rhodes as Iron Man, Thor when he was afflicted by the curse of Hela, the female Thor of the present, and Danielle Cage from a future where she wields Captain America's shield. 'Doom' claims that he brought this team together to assist him in defeating Ultron's conquest of the world. Although Doom's true plan is revealed at the story's conclusion to be a desire to take Ultron's place, Vision eventually reveals that this Doom is actually the Doombot who worked with him in the Avengers A.I., convincing the Doombot to abandon his plan by noting that simply following Doom's example ignores the more positive aspects of Doom's history as the man who refused to let anyone else dictate his terms.
As part of the All-New, All-Different Marvel, Vision is a member of a new team of Avengers, although his emotional data has been lost once again after a series of hallucinations forced him to delete the emotional data to restore himself to a functional state, having been overwhelmed with guilt when he was unable to save the sole survivor of a crashed bus. However, after he provides fake evidence to force new heroes Nova and Ms. Marvel to leave the team, it is revealed that he is working for Kang the Conqueror as Kang mounts his latest assault on the team, having been contaminated when Kang interfered with his recent reprogramming. However, Vision is released from Kang's control when Iron Man manages to purge his software, allowing him to turn on Kang and help the Avengers defeat him, although in the aftermath he departs to consider how easily he fell under Kang's control.
In 2016, Vision was given a solo series. In the series, he lives in Fairfax, Virginia with a newly-created synthezoid family: his wife Virginia, son Vin, and daughter Viv Vision. They attempt to live a normal suburban life with Vision working as a consultant to the president, but they find socializing with neighbors difficult. The Grim Reaper attacks their house and nearly kills Viv. Virginia claims that the Reaper escaped, but Vision eventually finds his remains buried in the backyard. He lies to the police and covers for Virginia when asked about her whereabouts during the murder of one of Viv's classmates, whose father tried to blackmail Virginia for the murder. Instead of confronting her, he creates a synthezoid dog for the family in an attempt to return to normalcy. Unbeknownst to him, Agatha Harkness has a vision of the future and warns the Avengers that Vision and his family will cause a genocide. The Avengers sent Victor Mancha, Vision's "brother", to secretly investigate the family. When Vin discovers Victor reporting back to the Avengers, the latter attempts to use his electro-magnetic powers to contain Vin and prevent him from outing his operations, but a miscalculation caused him to damage Vin's nerve systems beyond repair. Vision sets out to Arlington Courthouse Jail to exact revenge on Victor. Virginia reveals to Viv that she had murdered her classmate. Viv's resulting emotional outburst prompts Virginia to let out her anger on Sparky, killing it. Among the dog's remains, Virginia notices a petal of the Wundagore Everbloom that it had consumed, a plant capable of giving a person a vision of the future under certain parameters. With Sparky's death having fulfilled the conditions for the Everbloom to work, Virginia eats the petal. Seeing that Vision would go down a dark path if he killed Victor Mancha, she flies to the jail and murders Victor herself. Fearing the fate of Viv if both of her parents were to be prosecuted for their actions, Virginia calls the detective investigating their neighbours' disappearance and claims full responsibility for both her and her husband's crimes, stating she had tampered with Vision's operative system. Virginia proceeds to drink water with corrosive properties from a Zenn-Lavian water vase they have in their home, and asks Vision to sit with her until the water kills her.
During the "Secret Empire" story line, Vision appears as a member of Hydra's Avengers at the time Hydra took over the United States and when Captain America believed himself to be a Hydra sleeper agent. Ultron/Hank Pym reveals during his "dinner" with members of the Underground, Captain America, and Hydra's Avengers that Vision has been affected by an A.I. virus. While briefing Captain America about the status of Hydra's Avengers, Madame Hydra mentions the virus was created by Arnim Zola, as well as stating that Vision is trying to fight its control. During the battle in Washington DC, Vision sees his freed daughter Viv. Seeing her enables him to free himself of the virus, which spreads to the Hydra Dreadnoughts and shuts them down.
During the "Empyre storyline, Vision and Doctor Nemesis met up with Luke Cage in Central Park where the Cotati have infested it with their plants. As Vision starts to phase through them while scouting, he is attacked by a Cotati that grabbed him with a special vine.

Powers and abilities

Vision is described as being "every inch a human being—except that all of his bodily organs are constructed of synthetic materials." The Solar Jewel on Vision's forehead absorbs ambient solar energy to provide the power needed for him to function, and he is also capable of discharging this energy as optic beams; with this, he can fire beams of infrared and microwave radiation. In extreme cases he can discharge this same power through the Solar Jewel itself which amplifies its destructive effects considerably, albeit at the cost of losing most of his resources. By interfacing with an unknown dimension to which he can shunt and from which he can accrue mass, thus becoming either intangible or extraordinarily massive, Vision can change his density, which at its lowest allows flight and a ghostly, phasing intangibility, and at its heaviest, a density ten times greater than that of depleted uranium, which gives him superhuman strength, immovability, and a diamond-hard near invulnerability. On one occasion, Vision uses this extreme density to render unconscious the villain Count Nefaria; at other times, he thrusts an intangible hand into them and then partially re-materializes it, a process he describes as "physical disruption." This effect typically causes great pain and results in incapacitation, as when used against the Earth-712 version of the hero Hyperion. Being an artificial life-form/android of sorts, Vision has superhuman senses, superhuman stamina, reflexes, speed, agility, strength, superhuman analytical capabilities, and the ability to process information and make calculations with superhuman speed and accuracy. The Vision was trained in hand-to-hand combat by Captain America, is an expert in the combat use of his superhuman powers, and is a highly skilled tactician and strategist. The Vision is an expert on his own construction and repair.
After the Age of Ultron, Vision joins the Avengers A.I. team where his "evolve" protocols were activated and now his body is formed from millions of nanobots. He can now split himself into smaller parts and change shape.

Other versions

Anti-Vision

During the story arc "The Gatherers" in the Avengers' books, the villain Proctor, who was from an alternate timeline, came to Earth-616 with a version of Vision from yet another timeline. Proctor would wind up switching the bodies of both Visions and have his version infiltrate the Avengers as his mole. The original Vision would eventually be freed and he would eventually take the Anti-Vision into custody when he came back to collect his original body.

Mainframe

The Earth-691 version of Mainframe is a future counterpart of Vision that is featured in the title Guardians of the Galaxy. Main Frame is the chief operating system of an entire planet, and the guardian of the shield of hero Captain America. He soon joins the Guardians of the Galaxy spinoff, the Galactic Guardians.

Earth X

A version of the modern Vision appeared in Earth X. Vision and the Avengers were fighting the Absorbing Man who had absorbed the intelligence of Ultron, giving him enhanced intelligence and better control over his powers. Vision watched as his teammates and wife the Scarlet Witch were slaughtered before his eyes. In response, Vision downloaded a computer virus into the Absorbing Man. When the Absorbing Man tried to purge the virus by shrinking and changing into stone, the Vision smashed him into pieces. In order to prevent the Absorbing Man from being reborn, the Vision had the parts of Creel distributed among various loners and reclusive super-heroes. When Tony Stark created a group of Iron Avengers, robots based on Stark technology and modeled after the deceased Avengers, Vision was tapped as the group's leader. He would lead the Iron Avengers and defend them from such threats as the parasitic Hydra, Asgardian Frost Giants, and the Skull's invading army.

Exiles

A bloodthirsty and arrogant version of Vision was a member of the Exiles' counterpart Weapon X. This Vision was very single minded in completing their murderous missions. He had a habit of pointing out to his teammates that he would survive many attacks that could kill them. He was able to single-handedly hold off the entire Exiles himself before being incapacitated and damaged by advanced Nimrod Sentinels on a parallel Earth dominated by the mutant hunting robots. Despite the damage inflicted by the Sentinels he continued to serve on several more Weapon X missions. Ultimately Vision was blasted into pieces by King Hyperion when he refused to join Hyperion in his plan to conquer one of the many parallel earths. Although briefly left alive in pieces Vision was finally killed when a huge asteroid, launched by that world's Magneto, struck the Earth and destroyed both the planet and Vision.

MC2

Vision appears in the MC2 universe. The character is an adviser to the President of the United States and joins the young heroes in A-Next, a future version of the Avengers.

Ultimate Marvel

Several versions of Vision are published under the Ultimate Marvel imprint.
The first version is a female who appears in the limited series Ultimate Nightmare. The Ultimates and X-Men discover a damaged, sentient robot who claims that its name's closest English translation is "Vision". The robot warns of the coming of the space invader Gah Lak Tus, Eater of Worlds. Vision is featured in a self-titled limited series, involving a confrontation with the organization led by George Tarleton, A.I.M, along with her reflections of her history with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Dr. Sam Wilson.
The second version is a robot called "Vision II" who is built by Hank Pym along with Ultron, trying unsuccessfully to sell them to Nick Fury as S.H.I.E.L.D. super-soldier replacements. They are later used to attack the Liberators.
A third, unrelated iteration later debuts in ' as part of the West Coast Ultimates. The new version is revealed to be Robert Mitchell''', a young African American prodigy who was arrested by S.H.I.E.L.D. after trying to build an antimatter generator. Robert was recruited and given superpowers by Nick Fury before being put in stasis alongside Tigra, Quake, Dane Whitman the Black Knight, and Wonder Man.

''The Last Avengers Story''

The limited series The Last Avengers Story is set in an alternate future, where Vision has two sons by the Scarlet Witch, who died in an accidental skirmish between the android and her brother Quicksilver. This version of the Vision joins the surviving Avengers in a battle to the death against villains Kang and Ultron.

Marvel Zombies

In the limited series Marvel Zombies vs. The Army Of Darkness, Vision is seen as one of the Avengers that are being aggressive around Ash. Also in the limited series Marvel Zombies 3, Vision has been partially dismantled and is being used as a communication tool by the zombie Kingpin. The character is still hopelessly in love with the zombified Scarlet Witch.

''Marvel Mangaverse''

In the Marvel Mangaverse, Vision is a member of the Avengers roster. His personality and powers are similar to his 616 persona, however, his appearance is drastically different, appearing shorter and more robotic. In the second volume, he, along with fellow Avengers Hawkeye and Captain America, are killed by the Mangaverse version of Doctor Doom.

''House of M''

During the House of M story line, Vision was a theoretical design for a new model of Sentinel robot from Howard Stark. Rushed into mass production, no-one checks the coding, which includes an override circuit which allowed him to use them as a private army. In the end they were all swiftly destroyed.

''X-Men Forever''

In the X-Men Forever timeline, using his Victor Shade alias, was an attendee at the funerals for Wolverine and Beast. When the Avengers believed the X-Men to be involved in the deaths of Beast and Tony Stark, they assaulted the X-Men at the X-Mansion, where Vision was quickly taken out of the fight by Shadowcat's phasing ability. Recovering in time for the X-Mansion to explode, he analyzed the remains, saying nothing could have survived the blast and that radiation levels were increasing.

Age of Ultron

In the alternative timeline in the 2013 "Age of Ultron" storyline in which Ultron has conquered the Earth, Vision serves as Ultron's emissary and barters with Luke Cage to turn over She-Hulk in exchange for Cage's freedom.

Marvel 2099

In the Marvel 2099 era, Vision is a young woman with precognitive abilities. She secretly uses her powers to find threats for Iron Man 2099, a member of Alchemax's Avengers.

In other media

Television