The Problems With Resurrecting Vision

The Vision's resurrection means Marvel is faced with some very difficult choices. The simple truth is that, for Avengers: Endgame to feel like a satisfying close for Phases 1-3, the Infinity Stones need to go away. They're too strongly associated with the MCU's past, and after the Thanos plot they've outlived their usefulness. The Avengers now know the unlimited power of the Infinity Stones, and they're aware they have the potential to erase half the life in the entire universe. They'd be fools to leave the Infinity Stones out there, which naturally means that they will ultimately have to extract the Mind Stone from the Vision. Given that the Mind Stone is a part of the Vision, that would literally rewrite his character.

Related: How Thanos May Have Got The Mind Stone For Loki In The Avengers

So, how can the Vision come back from the dead? There are two possibilities. The first is that perhaps he could be rebuilt by Wakandan technology; Avengers: Endgame is a time travel film, with the Avengers attempting to undo or avert the snap. It could well be that, as part of the final timeline, the Vision was never killed in the first place. If that is indeed the case, though, the MCU will really still need to write the Mind Stone out of the plot somehow, perhaps by having it extracted and destroyed by Scarlet Witch.

Page 2: How Vision Was Resurrected in the Comics

What Happened When Vision Was Broken And Rebuilt In The Comics

How would the removal of a part of the Vision's mental makeup affect him? As is so often the case, there's actually a comic book precedent. In the late 1980s, the legendary John Byrne took charge of the Avengers West Coast comic, and he launched a fascinating, complex story in which the Vision was taken apart by the world's secret services. A recent arc had seen the Vision go rogue, and successfully take control of the entire planet's nuclear arsenal. Although the Avengers had managed to put matters right, the world's espionage agencies conspired to find a way to completely decommission the Vision, destroying him so as to ensure the threat of nuclear annihilation never happened again.

In the comics, the Vision's computer matrix is just as complex as in the movies - albeit with different constituent parts. His brain patterns were based on those of another superhero, Wonder Man, and suffice to say Wonder Man was never entirely comfortable with the fact the Vision was essentially his copy. That was particularly the case given Wonder Man, like the Vision himself, found himself deeply attracted to the Scarlet Witch; he found himself resenting the Vision, correctly deducing that Scarlet Witch was drawn to the copied humanity she sensed within the synthezoid. Although Hank Pym was able to rebuild the Vision, Wonder Man was unwilling to donate his mental patterns, in part because he realized it would reveal his hidden love for Wanda. The result was a new version of the Vision, one largely bereft of any real humanity at all; as the comics put it, it was as though the Vision's very soul had been ripped out of him. The relationship between the Vision and Scarlet Witch became rather tense, given he was no longer capable of love. As a visual hint of the changes, this new Vision was completely white, a change that was explained as a consequence of the damage he had sustained while being taken apart by the secret services.

Related: What Is Vision's Future In The MCU?

In Avengers: Infinity War, when Thanos tore the Mind Stone from the Vision's head the deactivated synthezoid turned pale - a clear visual nod to this plot. That may simply be an Easter egg for comic book readers; alternatively, it could also be a sign that Marvel intend to follow this particular arc.

How Vision Could Be Different In The MCU After Avengers: Endgame

The John Byrne era establishes a clear precedent for what could happen if a part of the Vision's mental matrix were to be removed. It's crucial to that, as far as the MCU's version of the Vision is concerned, the Mind Stone isn't just some abstract force or power that the Vision has access to; when Tony Stark scanned it in Avengers: Age of Ultron he detected signs of sentience, and the Vision's comments in Avengers: Infinity War suggest there's always been a certain bleed-through between the Mind Stone's intelligence and the rest of the Vision's mental patterns. The loss of the Mind Stone will mean that the Vision is no longer the being he was.

This would be a fascinating direction for the MCU to take, not least because it would make the TV series - Young Avengers Speed and Wiccan, who appear to be mystical constructs created by Scarlet Witch as her children.