Attending the premiere of VisionQuest at the BFI London Film Festival last night, I didn’t entirely know what to expect from the final chapter of Marvel’s informal trilogy following WandaVision and Agatha All Along. But two episodes in, I’m completely hooked—and honestly, it already feels like it has a much stronger hook than its predecessors.
The series waste no time throwing us into the deep end. We pick up with White Vision attempting to process the fragmented existential identity left behind by his predecessor—who met his end against Thanos, only to technically face oblivion again at the climax of WandaVision. He isn’t just lost; he’s a Vision with no emotion. With his mind also housing the AI’s of Starks past, he is trying to emulate his predecessor with mixed results. However his life is thrown upside down when a new threat appears. Enter Paladin, making his MCU live-action debut. A deep cut of a reletively little known character in the Marvel comics, making his debut back in 1978 and just being ‘there’ ever since. But, the addition of a bounty hunter on his trail brings a relentless, thriller-like momentum to the story of Visions journey of self discovery.
What surprised me most is White Vision’s fighting style. Gone is the gentle, philosophical restraint of the original synthezoid. This version is a brutal, ‘take no prisioners’ brawler. It’s a sharp, jarring, and thoroughly welcome change that grounds the action and highlights just how different he is from the Vision we knew. We briefly saw the scale of Visions power during the What If episode ‘What If… Ultron Won?’ when Ultron, in the body of Vision was able to slice Thanos in half with zero effort. So to see this version of Vision being able to execute with ease was a welcome shock to see!
At the same time, the emotional core of the narrative is surprisingly complex. Vision isn’t just on the run; he’s protecting Tommy, whose soul has ended up housed in a young man in London following the chaos of Agatha All Along. The show balances this high-stakes chase with a fascinating dive into Vision’s psyche. The “Vision Mansion” inside his head serves as his internal sanctuary, populated by the AI voices from across Tony Starks history but now with human avatars alongside a seasoned, yet still menacing Ultron. The inner world is stuffed with clever little easter eggs and visual gags including the names of the food in the cupboards to the GIF low res fireplace which got a solid chuckle out of me.
By the time the credits rolled on Episode 2, the stage was set for what could be a truly intriguing conclusion. Knowing that this serves as the bookend to the WandaVision and Agatha storyline makes everything feel more intense. As well as knowing this is the last series we get before Doctor Doom arrives on our screens. The biggest lingering question keeping me up after leaving the screening: who on earth hired Paladin? In true Marvel fashion, hiding the benefactor’s identity practically guarantees it’s someone we already know—and the implications for the rest of the season are huge.
If these first two episodes are anything to go by, VisionQuest isn’t just resting on the shoulders of what came before; it’s carving out a tight, character-driven mystery of its own and showing us that the man of vibranium still has a heart.
New episodes of VisionQuest will be available to stream on Disney+ each Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. PT, or 9:00 p.m. ET. Here in the UK episodes will premiere in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
