Vision’s treatment in Episode 5 of What If S3 is completely disrespectful

Posting this on behalf of a friend, who doesn’t use Reddit but wanted to share their thoughts.

Ever since the 5th episode of What If S3 came out and people had been rightfully critical of the story, it’s plot, lack of timeline consistency, questioning the survival of civilization and humans on a destroyed planet without core after the Emergence was fulfilled, it is confusing how people do not talk about one more biggest problem of this show. Vision. Yes, the Vision. Believe it or not, but white Vision is still same Vision he was before, his color didn’t change him or somehow makes him now simply an AI instead of a human being in the android body. Vision is a synthezoid, a bridge between human and machine, he is most human than the humans despite being not humanoid. This is what made him interesting in the comics and was a deep exploration of his character in classic era as well as when he confessed to Wanda how she was distracting him from missions because he was experiencing developing feelings towards her. In the MCU more so Vision was one of the Avengers willing to lay his life to save the world, he was willing to die to stop Thanos from his crusade for the Infinity Stones, and again when he asked the unfathomable of Wanda to kill him. Vision knew it would be cruel, heartless, but he asked Wanda to destroy the Mind Stone and thus him in process so that the world could be saved with his death and the Mind and Stone gone.

So when Ironheart defeats Vision and decides to use his body parts for her armor there is nothing more insulting than a wannabe Iron Man or another Iron Man Jr. deciding to turn Vision into some trophy display on her fancy armor to use to fight the morning cartoon bad guy. As I’ve stated before Vision is a human being even if he is an android. He has feelings, sentience, emotions, agency. Vision wasn’t programmed, he was made by Ultron, but after he was given life he chose his own path from that moment. And as for white Vision whether you wish to admit it or not, but he is also Vision. Even in WandaVision’s finale when Wanda and Vision meet again Vision is conflicted between following a programming to kill her or to resist. That moment right there is not that of a killing machine, Vision clearly hesitates here killing Wanda because he deep down loves her even if he doesn’t remember this yet. The episode seems to have turned Vision, much like Wanda in MoM, into a dangerous villain of the day for a hero to go up against, to promote Riri Williams, and her upcoming tv show, but this doesn’t work at all. Not to me. And I want to say that this treatment of Vision will not be accepted by me, his fans, or anyone who wants stories of quality and genuine exploration of who is Vision and if he is a human deep down or not. Vision is a character, not a plot device, not a robot, and definitely not spare parts for a fancy wannabe Iron Man suit.

And before I end this rant, I do want to make counterarguments to possible arguments made against this rant:

A: “Vision was okay with this, and Riri Williams went on to honor his legacy as well as become a beacon of hope as he would’ve wanted, and was meant to be” First off, no. Vision wouldn’t be okay with being used as a weapon of mass destruction or as a suit of armor for somebody else to use. One of the promises he asks Avengers of is to not allow him be ever turned into a weapon for anyone, he would never be okay with what happened to him. Second of, Wanda wouldn’t be okay with this, that is self-explanatory. Third off, Riri Williams never earned any right to dismantle Vision and use his skin for herself. Vision is a war veteran, an Avenger, and a hero. He fought for the causes that wasn’t his own, that he owed no obligation to be part of, but he chose to fight in Infinity War, in Sokovia, to fight Wanda and SWORD. Riri on the other hand in the main universe is a narcissistic brat who demands payment for help from fellow students, refuses to assist people on urgent mission because homework, and hasn’t been a hero for as long as Vision. Not to mention she sacrificed nothing ever. Vision laid down his life many times on the other hand.

A: “Vision isn’t human being. He is a machine, and machine’s a tool” And you’re not a Marvel fan then. How many fictions are out there where a “machine” has had more humanity than humans? Legion from Mass Effect, DATA from Star Trek, Terminator from second film, or the one from the last terrible film even. Autobots from the Transformers, ED-E from Fallout: New Vegas, Codsworth from 4th installment of the franchise, I could bring up even more examples, but the point is that all these robots were human with their own agency even if they lacked human skin, eyes, or body parts. What makes Vision a “simple machine” or “bucket of bolts”? Willful ignorance, denial, not understanding the films and the WandaVision show? Ever since his debut he has been portrayed as a human being despite being an android and on equal footing as every Avenger, someone who could even lift Mjolnir. What is it about him that disqualifies him as a character and a sentient being? It’s like if someone said Rocket is just an animal even though he also has shown his own agency and sentience.

A: “Vision is a sentient being, but white Vision is not same Vision anymore” Okay, even if we do entertain this idea I have to ask how does that justify turning someone into scrap parts? That’s like if in a story a character got possessed and could no longer be returned to former state so the protagonists dismember them and turn them into a skin with their skull as helmet. That’s disgusting, same thing with what was done to Vision. Second off, as I mentioned in this post before Vision under CATARACT program is still Vision. He doesn’t have memories of his former self and is forced to obey orders given by SWORD, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t Vision anymore or he cannot be turned back as proven otherwise by a memory of Vision in the Hex that helped unlock his all memories. What do you call that?

On the last note I did want to bring up the fact that Vision’s own TV series are coming up soon and I get that the What If episodes were nothing more than advertisements for the characters meant to appear soon. Here’s the problem with this, with how Vision was portrayed in episode 5 who would be interested in him as a character? Sure, he was very powerful in the fight scenes, but he had no character or any agency beside being used as body parts for Iron Man II Jr, and before he was a tool of authoritarian regime. So who will be this show for, who will be interested in this character? Marvel Animation already showed that they apparently don’t have a clue about Vision or his character, and an indifference towards him, and I don’t think Vision fans will be interested in the show if it’s going to be hijacked by Agatha, Billy, and Tommy for their adventure for Tommy and Billy to reunite. So with just one single episode Marvel might’ve killed a lot of anticipation and desire for me and perhaps some others to watch Vision series. Thank you, Brad Winderbaum and Kevin Feige. If you keep promoting only the popular action figures and discard other ones, you won’t have many fans lined up for the next projects. I know they already lost me.