Victor ShadeThe Vision

Winds of War

Robotics genius Phineas Horton constructed a “synthezoid” of his own design while war was brewing overseas in the final days of the 1930s, little dreaming of how revolutionary his creation would become. Headstrong in his beliefs and vision, the scientist grew discouraged when the mechanical man burst into flames upon being exposed to air and set about revising it to address its faults. Later, the android gained sentience and operated as a Super Hero known as the Human Torch during World War II.

After the war, the Torch deactivated himself following exposure to radiation and “slept” away the decades, until his reactivation in modern times for a brief fling with artificial life again. Soon after, the time-traveling Immortus chanced upon the android while he was once more inert and created a duplicate Human Torch. The original Torch would go on to other adventures, while the Torch duplicate fell into the hands of the Avengers’ robotic adversary, Ultron. Forcing an aged Phineas Horton to aid him in rebuilding the duplicate Torch as a new entity, Ultron sent his android out to infiltrate and destroy Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

Now dubbed the Vision and operating with human brain patterns, the synthezoid broke through Ultron’s programming to create his own path as a hero, rather than as an instrument of death. Earning Avengers membership once his fellow heroes realized his plight and his good-yet-synthetic heart, the Vision began to discover what it meant to be a champion for humanity.

Android Abilities

Beyond the outstanding qualities of the Vision’s artificial body, which include great strength, resistance to harsh conditions, and automatic self-repair, his computer systems rank as world-class and deliver an almost-universal interface with other systems, extensive data storage, and holographic projection.

The Vision sports a “solar gem” on his forehead which can not only collect sunlight to provide energy for him, but can also project heat beams of powerful intensity for offensive purposes. In addition, Vision is able to control the actual density of his android frame to make himself ultra-light, ultra-dense, and even immaterial, all of which may be utilized for defensive and offensive actions. By making himself light, he can also fly to great heights and at high speeds.

The android continues to upgrade himself for better operation and higher functionality. More recent advancements include nanotechnology, shape-shifting, and a supernova burst.

Even an Android Can Make Enemies

Over the course of Vision’s existence, he has made more than a few personal enemies, beginning with his “father,” the murderous mechanical named Ultron. Created by Hank Pym, Ultron saw the creation of the Vision as a way to not only become a parent, in a twisted fashion, but also to eradicate his own enemies, the Avengers. Unfortunately for him, his “son” managed to override his programming with knowledge of the human conscience Ultron granted him, and thus defeat the mission.

The costumed criminal called the Grim Reaper bedeviled the Vision more than once, believing the android a mockery of the Reaper’s own brother, Simon Williams (AKA Wonder Man), whose brain patterns helped Vision toward humanity. Ultimately, the criminal lost his life to an android the Vision himself built years after his own creation.

Other important figures in the android’s rogues gallery are the so-called AntiVision, an evil version of the Vision from an alternate Earth, and the Gremlin, another offshoot of Phineas Horton’s early robotics work who went on to master use of the solar gem as an agent of the Russians.

Family and Friends

Without a doubt, it remains the Vision’s closest allies and loved ones who have impacted his search for purpose and growth as a person the most. No list of these individuals can be made before placing Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch, as the first entrant.

The Vision met Wanda in his earliest days as an Avenger, and despite his artificial existence, he felt a strong attraction to his teammate, one which she reciprocated. Despite doubts and even hatred for their growing romance, particularly from Wanda’s brother Pietro, the two saw it through and, deeply in love, eventually married. Through many ups-and-downs, they persevered as a team of two, even going so far as to retire from Avengers membership and concoct a way for Wanda to have children, but ultimately their union dissolved after one of the Vision’s most extreme bouts of emotion purging. Happily, they’ve built a friendship since, and watch over each other as they continue through life.

When Simon Williams returned from supposed death, he made the acquaintance of the Vision and learned of the android’s use of his brain patterns. The heroes fell to blows when tempers flared over trivialities, but they began to look at their relationship as two brothers, and despite Simon’s love for the Scarlet Witch, he and Vision have maintained that bond over the years. Likewise, when Vision learned of another robotic creation of Ultron named Jocasta, he pushed her away at first, but grew to see her as a kind of sister and a fellow artificial person in need of guidance through a strange existence.

Others who have become close to the android are fellow Avenger Captain America; Victoria Anderson, the granddaughter of Phineas Horton; and the two young heroes Wiccan and Speed, the Vision’s thought-to-be lost sons with the Scarlet Witch.

Data Files

While constantly questing for his own humanity, the Vision has racked up quite a lifetime of adventures and accomplishments. Unfortunately, some of them have come at the cost of periodically losing his free will and even his very existence.

After many missions with the Avengers, adventures with the Scarlet Witch and other heroes, and solo battles against a multitude of foes, the Vision reactivated after one strenuous event by linking him to an alien computer known as ISAAC. This link skewed the android’s sensibilities to the extent of his designing a plot to take over the entire planet’s computer networks, thus becoming a kind of global dictator until he realized what was happening and took steps to dismantle the part of his mechanical brain that caused the problem.

As a result of the event, Vision suffered through a period of deep mistrust for his actions throughout the world which led to his abduction by a group called Vigilance and his complete and utter dismantling. When the Avengers managed to reassemble their compatriot, he no longer possessed his unique, human-like emotions, a situation which drove a wedge between him and Wanda Maximoff.

Vision submerged himself back into Avengers duties until the day he received new human brain patterns and was able to enjoy emotions again. At that time, he fashioned a “secret identity” as “Victor Stone,” which he could use to study humans even closer.

More stress and strain on his synthetic status followed, including the destruction of the lower half of his body during an Avengers clash with the sorceress Morgan le Fay, and more memory loss thanks to an attack by the Gremlin. Perhaps the greatest indignity arrived for the Vision when his ex-wife the Scarlet Witch destroyed Avengers Mansion while temporarily insane. In the process, she destroyed him by inciting the mighty She-Hulk to literally shred his android body.

Afterward, some of the Vision’s programming was merged with a suit of armor from the future to create a “young” version of the android, who joined with others to form the Young Avengers. The real, original Vision returned when Tony Stark, Iron Man, found a way to reactivate his friend and set him back on his path to humanity. That path subsequently led Vision to exile himself into outer space where he developed a new range of abilities to further his career as an Earth champion. This all-new android later joined both the Avengers A.I. offshoot and the Avengers Unity Squad, a grouping of mutant and non-mutant heroes.

Recently, the amazing synthozoid crafted his own “family” when he relocated to Washington D.C. for a job as a presidential liaison. With a wife and two children of artificial construction like himself, Vision hoped to carve out a “normal” life to balance his super heroic activity, instead it provided him with even more challenges, as well as dire circumstances for his new family and others around them.