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‘This isn’t the place for me’
“If you saw his eyes right now, I’m sure you’d learn that even an android can… cry!” Those dramatic lines closed 1968’s Avengers #58, in which Earth’s Mightiest Heroes overcome their mistrust of the synthezoid Vision and induct him into their team. Between writer Roy Thomas’ melodramatic narration and artist John Buscema’s final splash panel depicting Vision wiping away a tear, Avengers #58 has become one of the most recognizable images in all of comic history.
So it’s no surprise that the upcoming series VisionQuest would return to the story for inspiration. Talking with Brandon Davis about the show’s themes, star Paul Bettany described issues that were present in that classic issue of Avengers. “Vision is always in the business of wondering who he is,” Bettany explained. “And I think the main message is you are who you think you are. It’s not your parents who decide who you are, it’s not your cohort, your friends, your teachers, your church… it’s you who decide who you are. You, of course, who you are. But it’s also about the power of acceptance of pain.”
Those are heady issues, but they’ve always been part of the Vision’s story, both in the comics and in the MCU. The character first debuted in Avengers #57, also by Thomas and Buscema, as a mysterious figure who felt drawn to the Avengers HQ. Over the course of issues #57 and #58, Vision and the Avengers learn that he was the creation of the rogue android Ultron, who wanted to emulate his “father” by also making a complex robot.
As in the movie Avengers: Age of Ultron, Vision’s sudden appearance and connection to Ultron raises the heroes’ suspicions. And in the comics, Vision had to prove himself, in part, by defeating the team in combat. However, the team soon decides to make him a member, leading to the emotional response at the end of Avenger #58.
