Vision is a classic Marvel character, now known to millions as part of the MCU.
From his humble roots in the comics to his unique story on screen, this is everything
you don't know about the mysterious android.
Vision may be the most popular character with that name in the Marvel universe, but he wasn't
the first to claim the moniker.
Decades before the Vision you know first appeared, a totally different character named Vision
appeared in 1940's Marvel Mystery Comics #13.
Also operating under the name Aarkus, this Vision is an alien who has teleportation and
ice-based superpowers.
He occasionally fights alongside superheroes like the Human Torch and Namor as part of
the Invaders, an early Marvel superhero team.
In the 1960s, a number of these classic Golden Age characters, including Captain America
and Namor, came back into the spotlight.
Vision, however, was not lucky enough to receive this treatment.
Though comics writer Roy Writer initially wanted to revive Aarkus for the 1960s, company
mandates forced him to create a new character for the name Vision to be applied to instead.
Thus, the very first Vision in Marvel Comics history quickly faded into obscurity.
However, that doesn't mean this early Vision has been totally forgotten.
Since the 1970s, Aarkus has managed to make a handful of appearances in the comics, including
a 2013 X-Men: Legacy storyline.
Most recently, he managed to become a playable character in the mobile video game Marvel
Contest of Champions.
Some superheroes like to dress exclusively in bleak colors.
Not so for Vision: This particular Avenger is readily identifiable by his head-to-toe
bold colors.
A yellow cape and gloves compliment Vision's green body and red face — he's easy to spot
in any crowd.
However, his distinct look wasn't popular with one very important person at Marvel.
Creator Roy Thomas explained to The Hollywood Reporter,
"...Stan [Lee] hated the color of The Vision.
'Why'd you make him red?
Red's not a good color!'
I didn't want to make him green like The Hulk or Blue like the Atlanteans.
I suppose I could have made him white, but the paper we printed on was so poor, that
you would have been able to see the other side, so we didn't make things white that
we didn't have to.
Though Lee wasn't initially satisfied with Vision's colors, it's those same hues that
have made him one of the most visually distinctive Marvel superheroes around.
Sometimes, iconic characters come about due to spur-of-the-moment creative inspiration.
Others, like Vision, come out of something as simple as a mandate from the boss.
According to Roy Thomas, Vision was created as a solution to Stan Lee's mandate for new
Avengers members.
Thomas explained to Yahoo,
"Stan suddenly said it was time to make up a new character, to bring in a new Avenger.
I didn't like to create new characters for Marvel, because I wouldn't own them.
I wanted to bring back the old Vision ... But Stan wanted an android.
He didn't say why.
He just said he wanted the new character to be an android."
Thus, the Vision the world knows and loves was born, all thanks to Stan Lee's insistence
on an android Avenger.
It may not be the glossiest origin story for an iconic superhero, but Lee's mandate did
have its advantages.
Chiefly, it immediately helped make Vision stand out on any Avengers roster — and still
does, in fact.
The distinguished superhero team has had all kinds of unusual members, but an android like
Vision still manages to catch your attention all these years later.
In the 50-plus years he's existed, Vision has often drawn comparisons to Star Trek's
Spock.
It isn't hard to see why.
On the surface, there's the fact that they're both sci-fi characters introduced in the late
1960s.
On a deeper, more specific level, they're both no-nonsense figures who are usually the
only non-humanoid members of their group.
What does Thomas say about these comparisons?
He told Yahoo,
"People have told me they see a resemblance to Mr. Spock.
If there is, I didn't do it consciously.
I was vaguely aware of the show.
We would play poker while our wives and kids sat in the next room watching Star Trek.
So I would hear the TV playing."
Rather than using Spock as a model, Thomas actually drew inspiration from a robot named
Adam Link in Otto Binder's short story, "I, Robot."
In this tale, which also inspired Isaac Asimov's book of the same name, Link is falsely accused
of murdering his creator.
In the ensuring chaos, Link becomes all too aware of the adverse effects his very existence
has on human beings, who are immediately suspicious of a robot.
Adam Link's tragically self-conscious qualities are immediately apparent in Vision, in addition
to the character's unintentional overlap with Mr. Spock.
connection
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Vision is played by actor Paul Bettany.
Prior to his multi-film turn as Vision, Bettany appeared in a wide variety of movies.
Among those acting credits was an earlier role in the MCU as Tony Stark's A.I. helper,
J.A.R.V.I.S.
"Jarvis, you there?"
"At your service, sir."
A reimagining of the comics' Edwin Jarvis, who is a human butler, J.A.R.V.I.S. was not
a role that Bettany initially put much stock in.
At the time of Iron Man's release, Bettany said that while he was recording his voicework
for J.A.R.V.I.S., he didn't actually know that it was for a superhero movie.
While Bettany started out as an outsider oblivious to the larger machinations of the Marvel Cinematic
Universe, he didn't remain that way for long.
After playing J.A.R.V.I.S.
across four different MCU installments, it was announced in February 2014 that Bettany
would be taking on a physical role in the MCU as Vision.
When Joss Whedon was putting together his ideas for Avengers: Age of Ultron, he intended
to use the mammoth box office success of the original Avengers to realize some of his grander
ambitions.
Specifically, he wanted to use Ultron as the primary villain and introduce Vision, as played
by Paul Bettany.
Like many of Whedon's plans for Age of Ultron, this was a notion he had carried with him
long before the cameras even started rolling on the first Avengers movie.
He told Collider,
"Before I took the first [Avengers], I said, 'Well, I don't know if I'm right for this
or if I want it or you want me, but in the second one, the villain has [to be] Ultron
and he has to create the Vision, and then, that has to be Paul Bettany.'"
Whedon went on to note that his fascination with the character derives from Vision's unusual
power set, as well as the fact that Vision was a focal point of the comics he grew up
reading.
As for his longstanding dream of having Bettany inhabit the role, the director joked that
Bettany's sharp cheekbones make him a natural fit for the part.
Though he's existed for over half a century in the Marvel Comics canon, Vision has usually
acted as a supporting player.
First introduced in the comics as a creation of Ultron who is convinced to fight back against
his creator, Vision subsequently became a fixture of the Avengers comic books.
Over the years, Vision has factored prominently into the Avengers' adventures — the wedding
between himself and Scarlet Witch even acts as the centerpiece of Giant-Size Avengers
#4.
Still, being a standout member of an ensemble is not the same thing as headlining your own
comic series, a feat that most other Marvel superheroes have been able to do regularly.
While Vision has been a supporting player for most of his fictional life, he's still
played a major role in numerous storylines that have shaped the Marvel universe.
Moreover, the character has managed to secure a handful of solo adventures over the years.
The first of these was a four-issue Vision series published in 1994 by Bob Harras and
Manny Clark.
More recent is 2015's 12-issue Vision series by Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta.
Even if Vision isn't a go-to figure for headlining Marvel comic books, these acclaimed stories
starring the mysterious character show the value Vision has as a leading man.
If you're going to be a superhero in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, you're going to have to
put on an elaborate costume.
Sometimes, this costume is the motion-capture suit Mark Ruffalo has to wear to portray the
Hulk.
Other times, it's the patriotic get-up Chris Evans had to pull on to Captain America.
In the case of Paul Bettany, properly portraying Vision means having to undergo extensive application
of makeup and prosthetics.
Transforming Bettany into the boldly-colored Vision is not an easy task: A two-hour process
is required to make the man into the machine.
Perfecting Vision's look proved to be a time-consuming task even in the concept stage, well before
Paul Bettany took his seat in the makeup chair.
The makeup artists for Avengers: Age of Ultron were so determined to get the character's
unique look right that they put extraordinary effort into mocking up some prototypes for
the final product.
Makeup artist Nik Williams told Make-up Artist magazine in 2015,
"The make-up went through a lot of stages.
In order to make the lines absolutely perfect, as though he was born from a computer, we
actually 'sculpted' the make-up in 3-D over a cyber-scan of Paul's head and printed out
in clear plastic."
While Vision's look wasn't easy to put together, all this exacting effort certainly paid off.
Vision came to the silver screen looking like he'd walked straight out of a comic book.
Vision isn't the first character to carry that moniker in the comics, so it should be
no surprise that he's also not the last character to bear the name either.
Whereas the Vision created in 1967 is a massive departure from the one created in the 1940s,
though, the newest superheroes to carry on the Vision name have been directly inspired
by the crimson-colored android.
In 2005, a new version of Vision debuted in Young Avengers #5.
While he looks like a dead-ringer for the original Vision, this new hero is younger
and goes by the name Jonas.
Speaking of newer and younger versions of Vision, the mainstream Vision's most notable
superhero successor emerged in the form of his own daughter, Viv Vision.
First appearing in Vision #1, the character starts out as one part of Vision's fragmented
attempt to create a traditional American nuclear family for himself.
In the years since that run, Viv has blossomed into a standalone superhero in her own right.
In a 2018 interview, Bettany revealed that the chance to portray Vision in the Marvel
Cinematic Universe came just as it looked like his acting opportunities were about to
dry up.
"I had just had a meeting with a producer, who will remain nameless, who told me that
my career was over."
For a short time after that meeting, the actor was gripped with despair, before getting a
phone call from Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon.
Whedon proceeded to ask if Bettany wanted to play Vision in the then-upcoming Avengers
sequel.
That one phone call turned things around for Bettany completely.
As Bettany reflected to Insider,
"I sort of looked up to heaven and thought karma's very quick these days ... It happened
just like that.
I sat down and my phone rang.
Very funny.
But you know if I had a dollar for every time somebody told me my career was over, my career
could be over."
Since then, Bettany has portrayed Vision in a number of MCU titles, and the franchise's
first Disney+ series, WandaVision.
Beyond the MCU, Bettany has also landed roles in films like Solo: A Star Wars Story and
Uncle Frank.
So whoever it was who said Bettany's career was over just moments before he landed one
of the biggest roles of his career probably needs to have their own vision checked.
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