With Avengers: Age of Ultron cleaning up at the box office right now, it's no surprise that it's being heralded as a great, fun film. The action sequences were large in scope, the jokes struck home and the romances made everyone uncomfortable, as is the want of the world. One thing that truly stood out to me on both occasions when I watched this movie was the character of the Vision, played by Paul Bettany.
Pretty much everyone, other than my friends that I saw the movie with, thought Vision was a great, interesting character and I for one cannot wait to see more of him. We recently learned, not to any surprise, that Vision would be returning to the big screen next year in Captain America: Civil War. Now, I anxiously anticipate another encounter with the character. What was it though that made this character such an interesting one? Well my friends, for me, there are quite a few factors that key into my answer to that question.
1. His Characterisation
One of the standout moments of the film for me was Vision's "birth". Seeing him come out of the cradle, looking confused and his immediate instinct being to attack Thor was reminiscent of an animal's fight or flight response to danger. Upon his introduction, we're led to think he's either scared, or already evil. Then there was that lovely brief moment where he looks out on New York and Thor makes the other Avengers hold off. Then he starts monologuing and by Lucifer's beard, was it a hell of a monologue. Within those first few moments, I just understood him. Obviously, he's a character I've understood for years in the comics, but that monologue flowed so naturally and came to such a nice conclusion that you just immediately get Vision's entire purpose. My favourite line of Vision's is when he says, "I am not Ultron. I am not J.A.R.V.I.S. I am... I am." I don't know if it's just because I'm a writer or whether it had this effect on everyone, but that line just put a massive grin on my face. It's the sort of character-defining line you hope everyone can have and it turns a character into a person, which is what Vision really needed, being an android and everything.
2. His Power Set
Vision's powers weren't made entirely clear to us going into this film. We all expected the usual stuff like density control and the super strength that comes with that and thankfully enough, that's exactly what we got. The best part about that for me was that these are powers we haven't really seen explored all that much. We've seen Shadowcat running through walls and phasing through people, we've seen plenty of super strength, energy blasts aren't anything new either, and flight is Comic Book Hero 101. For some reason, Vision's power set just stuck out more than all of those things on their own. They're not exactly powers that we've seen explored in the Marvel Cinematic Universe yet. Flight, in terms of how Vision does it, hasn't been seen before outside of brief moments in Thor's movies and Iron Man's method of flight is pretty different from Vision's too. In terms of strength? He lifted Mjolnir for crying out loud! We're not really sure whether it was because he was worthy or whether he density controlled it, but still, he lifted it and it was amazing. His density control was expertly portrayed too. Having him tearing Ultron drones apart by phasing his hands through them and just reverse bear hugging that shit was awesome to see. Lastly, the energy blast stuff. That moment when he, Thor and Iron Man are all blasting the hell out of Ultron. Need I say more? I think not!
3. His Philosophy
By far my favourite aspect of the Vision was his philosophy. Finally, all these years after we got Dr. Manhattan, we have an on screen super hero that thinks! His scene with the last remaining Ultron drone was probably my favourite scene of the film too. Purely because of the little discussion the two of them share. We got a real insight into his mind and just how different these two characters are, polar opposites in every respect. One an agent of life, the other an agent of chaos and death. Sidenote: chaos and death are aspects of Entropy, the idea that all things decay in accordance with time's arrow and also one of the four cosmic beings on the mural in Guardians of the Galaxy. Yeah, I just suggested Ultron was Entropy, what of it?! Back on topic, this scene also has my favourite dialogue exchange in all of the MCU.
ULTRON
They're doomed.
VISION
Yes. But then something isn't beautiful if it lasts.
ULTRON
You're unbearably naive.
VISION
Well... I was born yesterday.
That was another grin-inducing moment. Vision has never been much of a witty character in the comics, which I think is a missed opportunity but at least now, in the MCU, there's room for him to use his superior intellect to crack wise. If you think about it, Vision should be witty in the comics too, intellectuals are renowned for being incredibly funny people. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Stephen Hawking, Brain Cox and Bill Nye are four guys who're essentially pillars of the scientific community; some of the funniest and most well-humoured men on the planet. That all spawns from a deeper understanding of things and an acceptance that we're pretty much the most insignificant thing in the universe. Despite that likely being something Vision knows, he still advocates for life and believes there's something worth saving about the human race. I admire his character for that.
4. His Design
In terms of looks, I think Vision has been one of, if not the best adaptations from comic book to movie screen in the MCU. Obviously it's not a one hundred per cent accurate adaptation, but he still looks ridiculously cool. Him taking his fashion cues from Thor's attire was a nice little moment. Just seeing him look Thor up and down before conjuring a cape and gauntlets for himself was pretty satisfying to see. In the comics, I never really saw the point in Vision having a cape. I was just glad there was something of a reason for him to have one this time around. The wrist gauntlets don't bother me that much. After all, the green parts of him are technically his clothing and so it comes as no surprise to me that they wanted there to be something red on him that wasn't skin, and if that had to be the boots and the gauntlets, then so be it. I can't complain at all, I think he looked absolutely boss and definitely brought a new aesthetic to the MCU's costume department.
5. His Importance
One of the first things my friends said when we left the theatre after seeing the movie was that Vision did nothing to help the team or move the plot along. He cut Ultron's connection to the internet during the final battle! What could have been more important than that? Why was Vision's importance a breath of fresh air, you may be wondering? Well, let's face it, Marvel have a tendency of introduing characters that everyone expect to do something great but then they do practically nothing. Like Collector in Guardians of the Galaxy, or better yet; Thanos. I was just glad to see Vision wasn't just there to provide exposition for Ultron's plans and whatever else. In a way, he's also the one who brought the team together and got them ready for the final battle. He did two very important things, and you can't ignore that.
6. His Future
Not too surprisingly, the gem in Vision's forehead turned out to be the Mind Stone, something a lot of people had already speculated, or otherwise just believed it was an Infinity Stone. That means he's going to have a lot of interesting things going on for him as his arc continues in the MCU. Especially once Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 rolls around. We have to wonder, can Vision even survive without the Mind Stone in his forehead? Will Thanos just remove it, or will he full on decapitate everyone's favourite synthezoid? Only time will tell. Also, we got the little hint that Vision and Scarlet Witch may develop something of a relationship. I felt there were two hints really. One being when Scarlet Witch said she could read his mind in the cradle and then the other, the one everybody picked up on, was when he saved her from the train carriage as the city fell back to Earth. Needless to say, he's one of the few characters whose future is layed out before him and we can say with honesty that we know more or less where he's heading. Unlike some other characters I could mention...
Seriously, why would they even bother introducing Howard the Duck? It aggrivates me that I sat through the credits of my favourite movie of all time to see this little pleb sipping down a martini with the Collector. I was so hopeful! When they showed Collector sitting there with Cosmo, every fibre of my being was willing for Adam Warlock to be there with them. But no. We got Howard the [frick]ing Duck.
Anyway, those are my reasons for thinking Vision was a breath of fresh air in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Who was your favourite character in Avengers: Age of Ultron? Are you looking forward to seeing more of Vision in future instalments to the MCU? Be sure to let me know in the comments section below.