Marvel's VisionQuest Episodes 1 & 2 Review (No Spoilers)

VisionQuest may have a bit of a hard time recreating the main hero in this MCU after WandaVision, but at least the series has James Spader's Ultron to fall back on. Read our spoiler-free review of the first two episodes.

The first two episodes of Marvel's VisionQuest premiere on Disney Plus on Wednesday, October 14.

One of the most frustrating things about the post-Endgame MCU is how long it takes for Marvel to turn around and follow up on poor results. Heck, they waited five years between Spider-Man sequels. And that means something from the many post-credits scenes that still remain unresolved. VisionQuest is another example of Marvel taking its sweet time dealing with a character stuck in story limbo. Five years after WandaVision ended, we finally have a series dealing with the fate of Whitevision's Paul Bettany. But it's not necessarily Vision himself who emerges as the beating heart of the series.

WandaVision is basically the final stage of the trilogy, which was started by WandaVision in 2021 and continued by Agatha All Along in 2024. When we last saw Bethany's characters in the WandaVision finale, regular Vision had returned to blissful oblivion, while his soulless clone fled Westview to fend for himself. Half a decade later, he is still in the contemplation stage. By day, he works in a bar and tries to master the nuances of human interaction. At night, he literally lives inside his head in an imaginary structure populated by various artificial intelligence units designed by Tony Stark. He is a being who barely exists in the physical world anymore, until circumstances arise that force him back into action.

Honestly, as much as Bettany's Vision is one of the MCU's best and most nuanced characters, the series is a bit of a tough sell. For one thing, the idol's mansion feels like a poor man's recreation of what Vandavision was doing all those years ago, only without the swagger of the TV sitcom. It also feels like an attempt to nod to Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Valletta's incredible Vision 2015 comic, albeit only in the most superficial sense. The production design in these scenes can't really be faulted, but there's nothing that WandaVision or Loki wouldn't have done better.

On a deeper level, Vision is not at all the character we've come to know and love over the last 11 years. The old Vision, despite being an artificial life form, was by far the most humane and kindest of the Avengers. He was responsible for some of the most poignant lines in the MCU. This new perspective completely lacks that charm. He is cold and distant. He does not understand humans, let alone appreciate their struggles and weaknesses. That's the whole point of the series - the question of whether this carbon copy can achieve the insight and emotional maturity of his predecessor.

Now it's Ultron who has something to teach Vision about the plight and beauty of mankind.

Regardless, this newer, less sympathetic Vision is a harder character to relate to. Bettany certainly makes a firm distinction between roles in her performance, but there's little about Vision that shows such contempt for her fellow man and kills with abandon. By the end of episode 2, this problem starts to subside somewhat, but there is definitely a huge adjustment period that fans of the character will have to endure.

Fortunately, the show has a solid supporting cast to fall back on if the show is trying to make its main character fully resonate with viewers. It's a lot of fun to see the various AI entities that have taken on "human" form in Vision's mind. which includes F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady), E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire), and best of all, James Darcy's return from Agent Carter to J.A.R.V.I.S. role Each character is tasked with helping Vision understand humanity in some way, and they all serve as fun foils for our two-pronged hero.

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Then the main highlight of the series in parts 1 and 2 is James Spader's Ultron. Say what you will about 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron, but Spader was an inspired casting choice, and the series promises to finally realize the character's enduring and untapped potential in the MCU. Ultron is neither quite friend nor foe of the Vision, but more of a moody and bored prisoner left over from a bygone era. Spider plays this role with gusto, bringing a deeper appeal to the AI, which considers itself the smartest man in any room. These episodes make the most of the role reversal, as it's now Ultron who has something to teach Vision. Human Misery and Beauty If it's hard to fully connect with Vision out of the gate, Ultron alone makes the series worth watching.

That's not to say the series lacks any compelling human characters. As Agatha All Along featured the debut of Billy Maximoff (Joe Locke), VisionQuest focuses heavily on his brother Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica) and his own struggle to understand his existence and reconcile two very different sets of memories. Tommy makes for a fascinating secondary hero in Episode 2, and his presence finally forces Vision to come out of his vibranium shell a bit.

On the villain front, these two episodes introduce us to Paladin (Todd Stashwick) and his guardian (Diane Morgan). The two make a fun pair despite the fact that all of their interaction takes place over the phone. Overall, Stashwick brings a lot of campy energy to the screen, while also making his character someone who feels like a legitimate threat to Vision despite his vastly superior strength and his refusal to engage in mind games.

VisionQuest is a show that probably should have been brought up a lot sooner, but at least Marvel finally decided to pick up one of the biggest loose ends from WandaVision. The series definitely faces an uphill battle in getting fans to connect with this rebooted, unsympathetic version of the character. Fortunately, it makes a noticeable improvement by the end of the year with Episode 2. It also has a strong supporting cast to fall back on when the main character falters, the highlight of which is easily James Spader's Ultron. If not a flawless start to the series, these first two episodes serve as a blueprint for Vision's future journey.