With THE VISION now added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and about to receive his own title (at last!) and since we have been pondering his origins, I thought that it might be interesting to examine his beginnings.
Legend has it that ROY THOMAS wanted to add the Golden Age Vision to The Avengers but that STAN LEE wanted an android member (to be called *ahem* Android Man), so Roy combined the concepts. Also Roy had seen the Marvel characters be merchandised and licensed without the artists getting any compensation so he was always hesitant to create new characters, preferring to mine Marvel's Golden Age past for names.
Luckily for the Vision, Roy made him relatable and sympathetic and JOHN BUSCEMA gave him an almost iconic look. He became an anchor in the series and his first run as a member went from #58 to #212!
But regarding that early period:
- They made him a member with practically no probation time or test. I mean, Spider-Man had to capture the Hulk. All the Vision did was NOT kill them!
- And they trusted him very easily despite that fact that he was sent to kill them, created by a mad entity that tried to kill them and has the brain wave patterns of a man who tried to kill them!
- Let's think about his initial attack on the team: if he hadn't collapsed while stalking the Wasp, he would have killed her. If he hadn't decided to stop fighting later on, there was no way Goliath, Hawkeye and the Black Panther were going to win. They really got lucky here!
- Why wasn't Goliath (Hank Pym) more curious about the Vision and how he functioned? He never really examined him that thoroughly and though Pym was about to go through a really hectic time in his life, he never showed much interest in his "grandson".
- Did the Vision have a legal status? Right before the Kree/Skrull War, the Vision was sworn in to testify but then was told he couldn't because he was a machine. Yet he was sworn in, implying that he was considered a sentient being! Holy Data!
- I'm assuming that since Roy couldn't use THOR or IRON MAN that often, he wanted the Vision to be the team's powerhouse. Did this upset anyone's "vision" of Marvel's Big Five?
- Why WAS he given Wonder Man's brain wave patterns? Ultron-5 didn't want him to think like a human! Was this just to plant a seed for another GRIM REAPER clash? Or was there a plan in 1968 to resurrect Wonder Man?
- And even knowing about the Vision's (possible) origin, why did Ultron-5 leave him so human-looking? Why didn't he make him as robotic as he was? Ultron hated humanity. Why have a humanoid agent?
- Was the Vision capable of real flight or did he merely float?
- Roy Thomas always denied that Mister SPOCK from Star Trek was an influence but there are similarities. But was the Vision an inspiration for ST:TNG's DATA?
- It didn't take long for the Red-Faced Romeo to fall in love with the SCARLET WITCH. Was that always the plan or did Roy just want another romance in the book and both characters were available?
Unlike our Synthezoid friend, I'm tired! Thank you in advance!
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Reducing his density below that of air while remaining solid should cause him to rise, like a balloon. I suppose he might direct his flight using the same techniques parachutists use.
How an immaterial object would behave I don't know. Is there such a thing? When we move through smoke it doesn't move through us. Even a flame can't pass through a solid wall without harming it like the Vision does.
I suppose light can move through solid objects, and X-rays through objects that are opaque to visible light. Light is affected by gravity.
Philip Portelli said:
Legend has it that ROY THOMAS wanted to add the Golden Age Vision to The Avengers but that STAN LEE wanted an android member (to be called *ahem* Android Man), so Roy combined the concepts.
Interesting. I haven’t heard the Android Man name before. Glad it wasn’t used.
Luckily for the Vision, Roy made him relatable and sympathetic and JOHN BUSCEMA gave him an almost iconic look.
The Vision’s look was so great that he made an instant, indelible impression. I would go so far as to say that his costume was created perfectly out-of-the-box on the level of Spider-Man’s.
They made him a member with practically no probation time or test. I mean, Spider-Man had to capture the Hulk. All the Vision did was NOT kill them!
I guess Roy really wanted to pull out the “stops” and get busy involving the Vision in the Avengers’ missions.
Why WAS he given Wonder Man's brain wave patterns? Ultron-5 didn't want him to think like a human! Was this just to plant a seed for another GRIM REAPER clash? Or was there a plan in 1968 to resurrect Wonder Man?
It seems that Ultron-5 was being depicted as a knock-off inventor, not a real inventor. Why did he need Wonder Man’s brave waves and the Human Torch’s body? Couldn’t he do it on his own?
And even knowing about the Vision's (possible) origin, why did Ultron-5 leave him so human-looking? Why didn't he make him as robotic as he was? Ultron hated humanity. Why have a humanoid agent?
Maybe making him look close to human gave Ultron more options on how to use him.
Was the Vision capable of real flight or did he merely float?
I’m thinking if he was very light he could ride on the wind currents like Wonder Woman does/did.
It didn't take long for the Red-Faced Romeo to fall in love with the SCARLET WITCH. Was that always the plan or did Roy just want another romance in the book and both characters were available?
I always got the impression that Wanda and Pietro had been told so many times that they were other than human that it wasn’t that difficult for her to relate to the Vision.
While rereading the Vision's early appearances, I was kind of shocked to see that in Avengers #59, his artificial status was already public knowledge with the predicted murmuring from the crowd.
But by then, they (and us, the readers) had seen a lot of technological-based beings across the Marvel Universe besides Ultron:
So it's not like the Vision was a new concept beyond his benevolent attitude.
I don't have access to the story, but I'm surprised too. It's not like he looks any less human than Iron Man. How would it become public knowledge unless the Avengers announced it? The only public murmuring I definitely remember was when he became romantically involved with Wanda. I think Roy was itching to write a civil rights allegory.
Not only did he try to kill them in his first appearance, but he soon betrays them by bringing Ultron back to life again.
Why would Stan have wanted an android? Did he know about the Red Tornado and wanted a similar character for Marvel? Why (except for Cap and Namor) did Stan want new characters with the old names instead of the old guys back again?
The Vision's face always looked to me similar to Iron Man's helmet. Both of them have the same shape across the top of their heads, sort of a widow's peak.
The Avengers story being re-read on another thread explained Ultron only knew mechanical parts and couldn't figure out how to remake the Torch. With Horton dead (or was he?) he couldn't make him change his mind and had to use Wonder Man's brainwaves to replace the Torch's memories. (Which shouldn't have returned unless Horton deliberately gave him his memories back, since the Mad Thinker took them away from him in FF Annual#4.) So no, according to Steve Englehart, Ultron couldn't do anything on his own.
Didn't the Torch's original personality start to reassert itself during FF Annual #4, causing the Thinker to get rid of him? It would seem that Ultron was counting on Wonder Man's presumably villainous persona to keep the "erased" Human Torch persona submerged, only Simon Williams wasn't quite as bad as advertised.
On some of the other points raised: I always figured that the reason the Vision had those weird, essentially hysterical when encountering water & such, while the original Torch didn't have such episodes is that the Torch consciously knew how and why water & being buried alive were threats to him, while the Vision was only experiencing subconscious memories of a past life he never knew he had, thus the more extreme and irrational reaction. Unless of course the Vision turned out to have been made out of Adam-2, Volton, or random spare parts from Horton's lab, in which case, I got nothing.
The Torch's personality did but I don't think his memories came back.
Simon Williams' personality was pretty bad in that Legion of the Unliving Time Displaced story. We don't know what Englehart had planned for him since he left while Williams was still playing Simon Garth.
I figure it was the Torch's basic "good guy" personality that Ultron wanted to keep buried, so the mental patterns of an old Avengers foe seemed like it would do the trick. I don't think Simon Williams was ever fleshed out as a mostly good guy until after he actually was returned from the dead, altho in his original appearance, he did ultimately make the choice to not kill the Avengers, just as the Vision did. Luckily for the Android Avenger, Ultron didn't build a death sentence into the Vision's powers the way the Masters of Evil did to Wonder Man's. Once again, if any of the non-Torch sources for the Vision's body are the real story, why would Ultron need Wonder Man's mental pattern? Adam-2 was already evil, Volton was at least seemingly indifferent to humanity (his career as a super-hero at another publisher not withstanding), and spare parts hardly ever have a moral code of their own.
Maybe there's an Adam-3 we still haven't seen yet?
I think that Roy Thomas rethought the Vision's powers while the issue was being drawn. In the opening segment, the Vision enters the Wasp's hi-rise apartment by opening the door of the terrace. She escapes by flying through a keyhole into the next room. The Vision emerges through the wall with Marie Severin artwork and a crackling energy effect. The thought balloon in panel 3 appears to have been relettered.
During his battle with the Avengers at their mansion, he increases his density but never becomes intangible, instead he brawls with Goliath...until he just stops fighting.
Later after leading the others to Ultron's Lair, the Vision is caught with them in your standard "walls closing in" trap (apparently Ultron enjoyed those old movie serials!). He goes immaterial (without the energy effect) and walks through the wall. This power also played a part in Ultron's defeat.
My theory was that Roy got himself in a bind on how the Vision was supposed to escape the trap to confront Ultron yet keep the Avengers trapped so he may have figured that since the Solar Centurion could lower his density to fly, why not become intangible?
My guess that the above sequence had the Vision smash through the wall then had Marie Severin redraw it to have him pass through it as John Buscema was working on the later pages, thus why he didn't add the energy effect.
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