[[{“value”:”
It turns out moviegoers will have to wait longer than expected to see many of the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe collide again, given the recent announcement that Avengers: Doomsday has been delayed six months from its previously planned release date next May to December 2026. But at least one of the Avengers is likely to make a live-action return before that. A television series focusing on Vision, the android hero played by Paul Bettany, has been in production for a while and is expected to premiere sometime in 2026.
Returning alongside Vision in the series is James Spader’s Ultron, the genocidal artificial intelligence that initiated Vision’s creation, and it seems the series will be delving further into Marvel Comics’ AI mythology, with the news that T’Nia Miller has joined the series, likely in the role of Jocasta, another android that in the comics Ultron creates in the hopes she will be his bride.
Where Did We Leave Off With Vision and Ultron in the MCU?
The main MCU Vision from Earth-616 was last seen in the 2021 series WandaVision. That series took place following the original version of the character’s death in Avengers: Infinity War, with his lover, mystically powered Avenger Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), unintentionally using her powers to will a new iteration of Vision into being as part of a larger Hex that transformed the town of Westview, New Jersey, into a sitcom-inspired reality. The actual physical, robotic body of the original Vision is also reassembled in the series by government agency S.W.O.R.D., with this iteration — whose metal skin is now mostly white in color — eventually being brought to life through exposure to energy from the Hex.
S.W.O.R.D. director Tyler Hayward (Josh Stamberg) sends this Vision, the result of a project called Cataract, into the Hex to assassinate Wanda, but he is stopped by the Westview Vision. The two androids fight for a time before the Westview Vision manages to reason with his counterpart by comparing both of their connections to the original Vision to the philosophical paradox of the Ship of Theseus. Westview Vision then restores the memories of the original, which S.W.O.R.D. had suppressed in the Cataract version, for him, with the latter then declaring “I am Vision,” before departing the town. With the Westview version being erased from existence when Wanda undoes the Hex, Vision Quest (or whatever the spin-off is ultimately titled) will focus mainly on the Cataract iteration. This Vision is clearly the MCU equivalent to Marvel Comics’ White Vision, although, as showrunner Terry Matalas recently noted, he will likely not be referred to as such frequently, given that the name evokes potentially offensive connotations.
The MCU’s main Ultron last appeared in the movie that introduced him, Avengers: Age of Ultron. At the end of that film, Vision prevents Ultron from sending his consciousness onto the internet as he had done previously, before he and the other Avengers seemingly destroy all of Ultron’s physical robotic bodies. Several alternate universe variants of Ultron, voiced by Ross Marquand rather than Spader, appear in the animated series What If…?, including one that succeeded in destroying all the other life in his universe. This is thanks to the power of the Infinity Stones, only for him to grow remorseful after eons of solitude. More thoroughly controlled, drone versions of Ultron, also voiced by Marquand, are employed by the manipulative superhero team the Illuminati in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Since Vision Quest is part of the Multiverse Saga, there’s certainly a chance Spader will be playing another separate variant, although, as WandaVision demonstrates, there are also plenty of other ways for supposedly deceased characters to return in a comic book universe, especially if they’re AI.
Who Is Jocasta in Marvel Comics?
Created by Jim Shooter and George Pérez, Jocasta first appeared in The Avengers #162 in 1977. Seeking a romantic companion, Ultron built her robot body and planned to imbue it with the consciousness of Avenger Janet “Jan” van Dyne/The Wasp, the long-time love interest of Henry “Hank” Pym, the original Ant-Man, who in the comics is Ultron’s creator (with the villain often directly referring to him as “Father”), rather than Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) and Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo), as in the MCU. Demonstrating an awareness of the Oedipal nature of his motivations, Ultron names his creation Jocasta, after the wife/mother character in the original Oedipus story.
After altering Hank’s memories so that he could work with him, and incapacitating several of the Avengers, Ultron abducts Jan and begins transferring her life force into the robot body. Jocasta surprises all by revealing more decency than her creator, signaling the remaining Avengers to rescue Hank and Jan, even though she believes that doing so will result in Jocasta herself dying.
A subsequent storyline reveals that although Jan has been restored to health, a significant enough portion of her consciousness was imbued into the robot — which Hank preserved for study — to bring it to life. When Ultron remotely activates this consciousness, Jocasta is at first compelled by her programming to seek him out and start a romance, but is ultimately repelled by Ultron’s evil nature and again aids the Avengers against him. She has continued to defy Ultron’s intentions for her in her further appearances, acting as a hero more often than not, although it takes some time for the Avengers to truly accept her. For a time, she harbored feelings for Vision, but the other AI did not reciprocate, given that he was already married to Wanda.
How Will ‘Vision Quest’ Tie Into the MCU?
It’s worth noting that the MCU has referenced Jocasta before, unsurprisingly, in Age of Ultron. After the creation of Vision, who is partially based on his simpler AI assistant J.A.R.V.I.S. (Bettany), Tony chooses a replacement for the latter. Although he eventually selects F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Kerry Condon), which continues to assist him in subsequent films, there is a pile of drives containing what are presumably other AIs at his workstation, including one labeled “Jocasta.”
Related
Why The Heck Hasn’t Tom Holland’s Spider-Man Interacted With These 10 MCU Characters Yet?
Ridiculous that Tom Holland met Andrew Garfield’s Spider-Man before Jon Bernthal’s Punisher.
This may just be the latest example of a Marvel Easter egg that contradicts a later, more significant interpretation of a character or other story element (such as the Infinity Gauntlet shown in Thor), but with Ultron also returning to the series, it wouldn’t be completely surprising for Miller’s Jocasta to be connected to this hint. All that has been confirmed about Miller’s character is that she is “cunning and powerful” and “driven by revenge,” so it’s impossible to precisely predict how she will or won’t be connected to past projects or characters, especially with the also announced return of Faran Tahir’s Ten Rings terrorist character from the first Iron Man suggesting that Vision Quest has some truly wild twists in store for viewers to rival those of WandaVision.
“}]] This Avengers ally has an unsettling history. Read More