The VisionQuest season finale ends with Ultron once again unleashed on the world, though he's not planning to wipe out humanity. Not yet, at least.
In a mid-credits scene, Ultron—who now resides in Virgil Horton's mansion—has the Jocasta Drive (first seen in 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron) in hand, suggesting he'll figure out a way to restore the "woman" he loves. If so, that's definitely a happy ending for the villain.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, VisionQuest showrunner Terry Matalas discussed the inclusion of this Ultron tease and why it felt like the right way to end the story.
"For me, it was just a promise of some kind that Ultron’s not done," Matalas said of the scene. "Whatever he’s going to do, for good or for bad, he promised Vision he doesn’t wanna do it alone. And he has this backup. So what is he gonna do? Then he completes it by spiking the lens and looking right at us. It’s kind of on us to decide. So to me, it’s a great question mark at the end of the piece."
The showrunner reaffirmed his love of Ultron, saying he wanted to "promise more Ultron" with the stinger and give fans "the sense that this guy is not done doing his thing. Where does he fall with humanity and connection? He had the one time he made this amazing connection with an entity [Jocasta]. Is he gonna continue that?" He did, however, caution, "It’s up to the MCU gods for what’s next for him."
Interestingly, Matalas confirmed that an extended version of the scene exists and that he hopes to release it somewhere down the line. "There was more to the scene that we may put out one day on a Blu-ray or something like that" (in other interviews, the filmmaker has suggested that the finale once featured a moment where Jocasta was revealed to have escaped in some of the nanobots).
VisionQuest closing chapter also includes a surprise second post-credits scene, which was revealed to everyone for the first time—including press—last night.
In that, Doctor Doom retrieves the Scarlet Witch's body from Mount Wundagore, where we learn that Wanda Maximoff is very much alive...and likely about to have her powers stolen by the Latverian. Matalas didn't have much to say about that, likely because the Russo Brothers shot it on the set of Avengers: Doomsday.
However, its inclusion was a fortuitous result of where VisionQuest fell in the MCU release schedule.
"We had no idea that we would be sandwiched in between Spider-Man and Avengers," Matalas told the side. "It’s fun to be part of this Marvel conversation in this way, but it was never really planned that way a year and a half ago because we weren’t sure we could have. You’re at the mercy of Disney+, you’re at the mercy of various streaming issues. It just worked out that way."
The finale also features the long-awaited post-Hex meeting for Billy and Tommy Maximoff. They meet in the Dreamscape and later team up to save Vision's life after he clashes with Ultron. By the time "Forever" ends, the brothers are planning to reunite in New Jersey.
Addressing Joe Locke's cameo, Matalas said, "We knew Billy was out there looking for Tommy. It was a question of when. We thought about seeing him in a dream sequence earlier, but then I felt like it robbed [us] from earning that moment of finally these two reuniting in the finale, which I think people are hoping for."
One character we don't see is Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness. As a result, while Billy talks to her, she's never shown on screen. "We couldn’t afford that," Matalas admitted. "That wasn’t ever really an option. I just thought that was funny. Tommy had watched Vision speaking to invisible people, and to me it seemed pretty clear that he would not be able to see Agatha. So the idea of Billy doing that felt like a great bit."
"It felt like this family needed to be reunited by the end. It had to be at the right time, the most hard-hitting emotional moment," he added. "[Billy’s] a kid who just learned he’s got witch powers, but he’s not amazing at it. He’s got Agatha as a guide, but is he gonna be able to get over to London from New Jersey in a few hours? You forget about that, so by the time he does come back, hopefully it’s chills."
VisionQuest is now streaming on Disney+.