Sandbox / Marvel Comics: Vision

The Vision

"Behold... the Vision!"

Notable Aliases: Victor Shade

First Appearance: The Avengers #57 (October, 1968)

Team Affiliations: The Avengers, Avengers A.I., All-New, All-Different Avengers

If you're looking for the Young Avengers version of Vision, go here.

The Vision is a Marvel Comics superhero created by Roy Thomas and John Buscema. A synthetic humanoid built from the remains of the android Human Torch, the Vision made his debut in The Avengers #57 (October, 1968) as a creation of the super-villain Ultron. The Vision is convinced to rebel against his creator after encountering The Avengers, who invite him to join the team. Named by The Wasp, who described him as an "unearthly, inhuman vision", the Vision becomes one of Avengers' longest-serving members until his death during Avengers Disassembled. This went to the point in the 1970s when The Avengers standard cover masthead picture in the left hand corner was just him. He came Back from the Dead a few years later and once again features in Avengers books.

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• Affectionate Nickname: In flashbacks during the 2015 comic, Scarlet Witch affectionately calls Vision a "toaster", in reference to a joke he made. During an argument, she also calls him this as an insult.
• Alternate Company Equivalent: Red Tornado is often said to be the DC Comics equivalent of the Vision, and vice versa.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: His skin is entirely bright red.
• Appropriated Appellation: Originally, Ultron didn't even bother giving him a name, on the grounds Vision was just a tool to him, "and what right does a tool have for a name or number?" Vision took his name from an alarmed outburst of Janet Van Dyne's (appropriately the closest thing he has to a 'grandmother').
• Badass Boast: Vision delivers one to Principal Waxman after he disrespects Vision's family members.
  Vision: I am the Vision of the Avengers. I have saved this planet thirty-seven times. Each day you live, each breath you take, each beat of your heart, each is due to my actions. Thirty-seven times over.
• Battle Couple: Vision and Scarlet Witch
• Be Careful What You Wish For: In The Vision and the Scarlet Witch, it was his suggestion that Wanda use magic to make herself pregnant. That one suggestion became the basis for years of traumatic stories for both of them.
• Best Served Cold: Dr. I.S. Bishoff, aka the supervillain Isbisa, waited thirty years to take revenge on Robert Frank.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's a stoic family man who also effortlessly defeated multiple Avengers and nearly killed Victor.
• Black Eyes of Evil: As initially drawn, his eyes were totally black, and he was created as a servant of Ultron.
• Blinded by the Light: The Vision can emit a flash of solar energy from his forehead jewel bright enough to temporarily blind Thor.
• Boom, Headshot!: Battling three children transformed into their costumes during Halloween, the Vision violently blasts the pumpkinheaded "Jack O'Lantern" right in the head, blasting it into pieces. Instead of killing the child, the shot actually broke the spell and returned the child to normal.
• Brain Uploading: The Vision originally possessed the brain patterns of Simon Williams, the then-deceased hero known as Wonder Man. Later, after the U.S. government dismantles him, the rebuilt Vision would use the brain patterns of the dead scientist Alex Lipton until Simon's patterns reemerge.
• Cannot Dream: As a synthezoid, he shuts down during the night so that his system can process the previous day's input, but he does not dream.
• The Chew Toy: Because he can always be rebuilt or have his memories restored, he gets killed a lot. In JLA/Avengers he's the only hero who appears to be dead at the end, and his friends barely show any concern, with Thor telling Superman that the Avengers scientists have fixed him before and can do it again.
• Comic-Book Fantasy Casting: An earlier example, the Vision's features were modeled on Leonard Nimoy.

• Continuity Snarl: Was the Vision's body rebuilt from the 1940's Human Torch? Originally, the answer was a simple yes, but when John Byrne wanted to bring the Torch back without sacrificing the Vision, he retconned the character's origin. Busiek and Stern's Avengers Forever spends an inordinate amount of time untangling this question. (The answer: Immortus used Applied Phlebotinum to allow the Human Torch's body to exist twice in the same timeline, one of which was used to build the Vision and the other of which remained the Torch.)
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: At the end of Ultron Forever, Black Widow accuses him of complicating things by not telling everyone his suspicions. Vision points out if he had, they probably would've thought he'd flipped his lid, something Nat concedes. Asking people to trust a Doombot would have that effect.
• Creating Life Is Awesome: Zig-zagged. Vision clearly cares about his new family, as suggested by his frantic efforts to repair Viv and his willingness to protect Virginia when the truth of her killing comes to light. However, Vision secretly felt fear when Virginia opened her eyes for the first time. He has to remind himself that Virginia is his wife and he has to love her.
• Crisis of Faith: Vision finds no solace in philosophical or religious traditions after Vin's death. However, he does pray with Viv to comfort his daughter and himself.
  Vision: I have spent this time thinking about my brother, Victor Mancha.(...) And I have rigorously applied those scenarios to a variety of philosophical and religious traditions. Despite my efforts, unfortunately, I cannot see how, in any scenario, in any philosophical or religious tradition, this current outcome is just. I must therefore conclude that it is not just. And what is not just must be addressed.
• Dark Secret: He agrees to keep the events surrounding Virginia's killing and failed blackmail a secret to protect his family.
• Depending on the Artist: Many iterations of the Vision depict him as broad-shouldered and muscular. In the 2015 comic, he's lanky.
• Depending on the Writer: His level of stoicism is one of those things that bounces around from writer to writer. Does he have a sense of humor or doesn't he? Can he quip or is he entirely Literal-Minded? Is he capable of casual conversation, or is it all Spock Speak?
• Determinator: As Agatha Harkness observes, Vision will stop at nothing to protect his family.
• Do Androids Dream?: Explored from many sides over the years. To cut a long story short; yes, yes they do.
• Empty Shell: Averted. Ultron-5 designed the Vision to be a "nameless, soulless imitation", but the synthezoid's time with the Avengers gave him a name and a purpose. Vision did spend a brief period in The '90s as an Empty Shell after being taken apart and rebuilt.
• Eye Beams: The Vision can fire solar energy beams from his "thermo-scopic eyes".
• Face–Heel Turn: In All-New, All-Different Avengers, he's somehow turned rogue, most likely at the hands of Kang the Conqueror. He's able to get Ms. Marvel and Nova kicked off the team before attacking the Sam Wilson Captain America and Jane Foster Thor, leaving only Iron Man and Miles Morales left to face him and Kang.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • The Vision runs into a group of angry citizens in Avengers #59 who claim that he was too "awful" to walk the streets with "decent folk". One woman shields her child with her body while an older man says that "crummy androids" should be strung up by their jumper cables.
  • Often on the receiving end from Quicksilver. That Vision and Pietro's sister Wanda are a couple has something to do with this.
  • In The Vision (2015), the Vision and his family endure suspicion, hostility, and hate crimes as synthezoids living among humans. In one scene, vandals spray-paints "Socket Lovers" on their garage door. In another scene, Grim Reaper tries to kill Virginia, Viv, and Vin out of hatred.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Vision's hunger for normalcy (or the appearance thereof) leads him to make ethically questionable decisions.
  • The comic implies that Vision created a synthezoid family because he longs to relive his old life with Scarlet Witch. His greatest flaw is that he cannot let go of the memory of his first love.
• Fiery Cover-Up: Virginia buried Grim Reaper's remains in the backyard. When George stops by the synthezoids' house, he sees a furrow carved into the backyard, and readers will notice that the dead body is missing. It's strongly implied that Vision burned Grim Reaper's body with a blast from his forehead crystal.
• Flying Firepower: He can levitate and fly, as well as fire lasers from the jewels in his forehead.
• For Halloween, I Am Going as Myself: Moving into a new neighborhood after leaving the Avengers, the Vision and Wanda had a good laugh in The Vision and Scarlet Witch #1 once the townpeople felt comfortable enough to approach the couple. The night: Halloween.
• Flight: Vision can fly by lowering his density to minimal levels.
• "Freaky Friday" Flip: During the 90s, he got body-swapped with a psychopathic version of himself from another reality. Things got a little complicated when that Vision got himself killed.
• Future Me Scares Me: During Ultron Forever, he runs into a version of himself in a Bad Future, a mutilated and willing servant of Ultron who tries to turn him into a Manchurian agent. Vision kills his future self while vowing to never become him, before admitting to Jim Rhodes how unsettling the experience is.
• Half the Man He Used to Be: Vision experiences this at the hands of She-Hulk during Avengers Disassembled.
• Head Blast: The Vision can also fire solar beams from the gem on his forehead.
• Heartbroken Badass: The series ends with Vision raising Viv alone, after Vin's death and Virginia's suicide.
• Heel–Face Turn: He was originally supposed to be a tool to be used by Ultron but ended up rebelling against his creator.

• I Just Want to Be Normal: He creates Virginia, Viv, and Vin so that he can have a family, but as they all discover, normalcy is beyond their reach.
  Agatha: Vision thought he could make a family. A happy, normal family. It was merely a matter of calculation. The right formula, shortcut, algorithm. What a shock then to (...) discover that it was all beyond him.
• Ignored Epiphany: In spite of all the evidence that he and his kind will never truly integrate into "normal" human society, Vision tells Scarlet Witch that he still wants to be normal in issue #11.
• Insistent Terminology: The Vision calls himself a "synthezoid" (a synthetic human being), and even protests and corrects people when he's called a robot or an android. The term, however, is exclusive to Marvel Comics, and has no scientific nor technological usage, being a term Hank Pym just made up one day just before making Ultron.
• Intangible Man: Possessing complete density control, the Vision can shunt enough of his mass into another dimension to become completely intangible.
• Journey to the Center of the Mind: Comatose after the battle with Dr. I.S. Bishoff, the Vision's dreams are explored in The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #3.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Due to a bad case of My Skull Runneth Over, just before his 2015 miniseries began, Vision erased any and all emotions related to Wanda from his mind.
• Legacy Character / The Nth Doctor:
  • For a while, it was deliberately unclear as to whether or not the teen Vision from Young Avengers was a successor to the original, or simply the original Vision in a new, younger body. It turned out to be a case of the former.
  • Subverted with his backstory of being built from the remains of the Golden Age Human Torch—the two have nothing in common aside from being android superheroes.
• Made of Iron: The Vision's durability depends on his density. At his maximum density, the Vision weighs 90 tons and becomes as hard as diamond.
• Magic Pants: Justified in that he wear "clothes that phase" to preserve his modesty when he phases out.
• Manly Tears: After being inducted into the Avengers, he heads out of the room for a moment. For you see, even an android can cry. And Vision didn't want the Avengers to see (it was the 60s, after all).
• Mind-Control Device: Ultron-5 installed a control crystal in Vision's head that has been exploited over the years.
• Minovsky Physics: His density control is later established to be the result of Pym particle treatments on his body by Ultron.
• Misplaced Retribution: The Grim Reaper has often attacked Vision for having the brain-patterns of his brother, blaming Vis for grudges against Simon, or Simon being dead. The Grim Reaper is not terribly sane even on a good day.
• Monochromatic Eyes: His eyes are white with no irises or pupils.
• Mundane Utility: Issue #8 shows him melting snow with his forehead laser.
• The Needless: He doesn't require food or water. While he does shut down at night so that his system can process the day's events, they don't technically need sleep.
• Not So Above It All: As their love scene shows, Vision's stoicism is no match for Virginia's feminine charms.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Ultron-5 was destroyed by its own rage after taunting the Vision for having emotions.
  Vision: You ridiculed me for having emotions yet you possess them no less than I! Or else you would not have leaped at me in your rage to your own utter annihilation!
  • Also notable in their origins, both Ultron and Vision turned out to not be what their creators expected within seconds of being turned on. But where Ultron immediately decided Hank Pym, and all humans everywhere, needed to die the minute it turned on, Vision was driven by curiosity and intrigue.
• Old Flame: He was previously married to Scarlet Witch. The comic implies that he created his synthezoid family because he's trying to recreate his old life with her.
• Outliving One's Offspring:
  • He's terrified when he nearly loses Viv.
  • The last page of issue #9 shows Vision holding Vin's dead body, begging his son to wake up after Victor kills him.
• Papa Wolf: When Tony Stark is about to shut off the power Vision is using to revive Viv, fearful that it will kill Vision, Vision threatens him into refraining.
  Vision: Tony Stark, you are my colleague. You are a fellow Avenger. You are my oldest friend. But if you touch that button, I will kill you.
• The Paralyzer: Called "physical disruption", the Vision can stun opponents by solidifying part of his intangible form inside their bodies to produce a sudden shock to the nervous system and excruciating pain.
• Phlebotinum Battery: The Vision is solar-powered and functions something like a solar battery, capable of sharing his power reserves during emergencies.
• Power Crystal: The Vision has a solar jewel on his forehead that absorbs ambient solar energy, even at night. Solar energy can be fired from this jewel at greater intensity than his eye beams, but it taxes his power supply at a higher rate.
• Power Parasite: Dr. I.S. Bishoff from The Vision and the Scarlet Witch #2 siphons radioactive energy from the superpowered manchild Nuklo in order to seek revenge against the child's father, Robert Frost.
• The Power of the Sun: Has it installed in his forehead, as a gem that absorbs latent solar radiation and grants him his powers. Naturally, Light Is Good.
• Projected Man: The Vision temporarily assumed a holographic form after his physical body was paralyzed during a battle with Annihilus. And again at the start of Avengers vol 3, when he's smashed by Morgan leFay.
• Punch a Wall: When Virginia confesses what really happened with Grim Reaper and Leon Kinzky, Vision smashes up the living room and backyard offscreen. Readers see the aftermath when George visits.
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "She...is...my...DAUGHTER! And I will...SAVE HER!"
• Ridiculously Human Robot: From Avengers #57:
  Hank Pym: According to my examination, he's every inch a human being... except that all his bodily organs are constructed of synthetic materials!
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Vision fights his way through the Avengers and arrives at Victor's jail cell with the intent to kill Victor. Virginia suddenly appears and kills Victor instead to avert the Bad Future she and Agatha foresaw.
• Robosexual: He is capable of physical intimacy, having been in relationships with the Scarlet Witch, Ms. Marvel, and Mantis.. The comic depicts a love scene between Vision and Virginia and references his past romantic relationship with Scarlet Witch.
• Sanity Slippage: When he discovers that Virginia killed Grim Reaper and buried his remains in the backyard, he goes on an offscreen rampage, smashing up the house. Later, the narrator states that Vin's death precipitated Vision's full descent into madness.
• Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: His speech is stilted compared to baseline humans, and his vocabulary is much larger.

• Speed Blitz: The Vision once stunned half a dozen escaped prisoners by flying through their bodies faster than they could react, ending the blitz with a full-density punch to the villain Klaw.
• The Stoic: Most of the time, he's calm and collected.
• Suicide Attack: During Chaos War, the Vision defeats super-villain Grim Reaper in this manner.
• Super-Reflexes: Vision's reflexes are more than twice as fast as the average human.
• Super-Senses: Of the technological variety, naturally.
• Super-Strength: The Vision's strength increases with his density, maxing out at 75 tons.
• Survivor's Guilt: After Vin's death, Vision regrets not giving him more attention. He removes his eye and replays a moment in which Vin was sharing Shakespeare with him, but he was too busy to pay attention.
• Tangled Family Tree: As the 'son' of Ultron and (ex)husband of Wanda Maximoff, he's part of the hideous snarl that is the Pym-Maximoff family tree.

• Uncanny Valley: Human onlookers In-Universe find him unsettling and inhuman.
• Underwear of Power: Vision wears a pair of yellow trunks as part of his iconic design. However, like many other superheroes, his live-action design abandoned the undies.
• The Unsmile: Vision has this problem from time to time.
  • During Kurt Busiek's run on The Avengers, The Avengers become a UN organization, and have to get new photo IDs to go with the change of status. Vision's attempt to smile for his photo at She-Hulk's urging is priceless◊. He seems to do just fine on the rare occasion that he actually wants to smile, but apparently, photo day is his downfall.
  "I do not like this...'smile'."
  • At one point during Geoff Johns' run of The Avengers, he's asked to smile for a photo. He does so technically, but it's... well, damned creepy looking. So Vis alters the photo to get rid of it.
  • In The Vision (2015), the Vision's fake smile◊ when he greets George and Martha for the first time cannot be unseen.
• Voice Changeling: The Vision can replicate nearly any voice he's heard.
• What Could Have Been: Originally intended be stark white but printing limitations would have rendered his pages translucent.
  • Roy Thomas originally wanted to add a Golden Age alien character named The Vision to the Avengers lineup. His editor, Stan Lee, vetoed that idea and ordered Thomas to create an android character instead, so Thomas created an android with the same name.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Often treated as less than human by unpleasant characters. His "death" in Disassembled has a nasty version of it. After being smashed and torn to pieces, rather than being sent to anyone who might have any knowledge of how to fix him, Vision's body is unceremoniously packed up in crates and sent off to a warehouse to rot for years.
• When You Coming Home, Dad?: His work with the Avengers and with the President frequently keep him away from home, to Virginia's disappointment.
  Virginia: I do not relish asking this of you. You are an Avenger. You are needed there. Obviously. I am just trying to say, you are needed here as well.
• Why Isn't It Attacking?: In The Avengers #57, Black Panther noticed that the Vision was programmed to kill the Avengers, but the synthezoid wasn't actually making any moves against the team.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: In the Bad Future seen by Agatha and Virginia, had he succeeded in killing Victor, he would've gone mad with grief and killed every living thing in the planet, starting with the Avengers.
• The Worf Effect: Much like Cyborg of the Teen Titans and Red Tornado of the Justice League, the Vision is often the first Avenger to be taken down in order to demonstrate how powerful the villain of the week is. The fact that he can be rebuilt after being destroyed certainly helps. Completely averted in Vision: when Tony realizes Vision is coming to kill Victor, he hits the panic button and orders Kid Nova to bring in "Everybody!" This amounts to, in alphabetical order: Beast, Black Panther, Blue Marvel, Captain Marvel, Crystal, Doctor Strange, Falcon, Iron Man, Kid Nova, Medusa, Miles Morales, Ms. Marvel, Spectrum, Spider-Man, and Thor (Jane Foster). Vision takes them all out with hardly any effort. This is a strong reminder he was originally built to take out the Avengers.
• Working with the Ex: After his marriage with the Scarlet Witch goes south, the two Avengers worked together off and on. Then Disassembled happened. Vision was slightly less willing to work with Wanda after he got better, though they did eventually manage to mend most of their fences.
• Xanatos Gambit: Ultron-5's plan regarding the Vision had two intended outcomes: the Vision kills the Avengers or the Vision leads the Avengers into a death trap. The Vision takes a third option, but Ultron still wins thanks to the control crystal in the synthezoid's head.