Vision

How Vision is actually created, and why. Ultron wants a body of organic-synthetic tissue — vibranium plus a regeneration "cradle" — so he can be indestructible. The Avengers steal it mid-upload. Stark and Banner want to put J.A.R.V.I.S. in it; Rogers objects violently, having just watched them create Ultron by exactly this method. Thor settles the argument by striking the cradle with lightning.

What emerges is neither Ultron nor J.A.R.V.I.S. but a new being: Vision, with the Mind Stone in his forehead. The proof he's trustworthy is that he casually picks up Mjolnir and hands it to Thor mid-conversation.

The team splinters. Thor leaves to investigate the Stones. Stark steps back. Rogers and Romanoff train a new roster: Wilson, Rhodes, Wanda, Vision.

Team Stark: Stark, Rhodes (paralysed in the fight), Vision, Romanoff (who defects mid-battle), T'Challa, and a recruited 15-year-old Peter Parker. Team Rogers: Rogers, Barnes, Wilson, Wanda, Barton, Lang. The losers are imprisoned in the Raft; Rogers breaks them out. Barnes goes into voluntary cryosleep in Wakanda while T'Challa's scientists work on undoing his conditioning.

The Black Order — Thanos's four adopted enforcers, also called the Children of Thanos. Ebony Maw (telekinesis and manipulation; blown into space by Stark and Parker), Corvus Glaive (killed by Vision), Proxima Midnight (killed by Wanda), Cull Obsidian (killed in Wakanda). All four dead by the end of the film; the 2014 versions return briefly in Endgame and die again.

Sequence of acquisitions: Power (Xandar — the attack on the Nova Corps happens entirely offscreen between films, acknowledged only in a passing news report), Space (Loki), Reality (from the Collector, in a trap), Soul (Vormir — the Stone requires the sacrifice of someone you love, so Thanos throws Gamora off a cliff), Time (Strange gives it to him voluntarily to save Stark's life), Mind (torn from Vision's head).

How does Wanda destroy the Stone, and how does Thanos undo it? Vision spends the film begging her to do it, arguing one life against half the universe. She refuses until the last possible second, then holds off the entire battle with one hand while destroying the Stone — and Vision — with the other.

Thanos then uses the Time Stone to reverse the last few seconds locally, restoring Vision intact, and rips the Stone out of his skull while he's alive and conscious.

Wanda watches her partner die twice inside a minute. It is the cruellest beat in the franchise, and it is why WandaVision makes sense.

Wanda Maximoff, unable to process Vision's death, unconsciously seizes the New Jersey town of Westview and rewrites it into a sitcom reality where Vision is alive and they have twin sons, Billy and Tommy. Three thousand civilians live inside her grief as puppets, aware and screaming.

Wanda dismantles the Hex, losing Vision and her children. She takes the Darkhold and goes into isolation to study it. This is a bad decision.

Where does White Vision come from? S.W.O.R.D. reassembled the original Vision's body from salvage as a weapon. That body is White Vision — colourless, with no memories and no personality — and Hayward deploys him to destroy Wanda's Vision.

The two Visions meet and, instead of fighting, debate the Ship of Theseus problem: if you replace every part of an object, is it still the same object? Wanda's Vision resolves it by transferring his memories directly into White Vision's mind. White Vision processes it, says "I am Vision," and flies away. He has not been seen since — he is the subject of VisionQuest (series, expected late 2026).

The most-cited setup for VisionQuest and for the Young Avengers.

Paul Bettany returns as White Vision — the S.W.O.R.D.-rebuilt body that flew off at the end of WandaVision with the original's memories and none of his humanity. James Spader returns as Ultron.

Tier 2 — the texture that makes the above land Winter Soldier (FILM) · Doctor Strange (FILM) · WandaVision (SERIES) · Falcon and the Winter Soldier (SERIES) · Multiverse of Madness (FILM) · Shang-Chi (FILM) · No Way Home (FILM) · Hawkeye (SERIES) · The Marvels (FILM) · Agatha All Along (SERIES) · VisionQuest (SERIES)

Phase Four (2021–2022): FILMS — Black Widow · Shang-Chi · Eternals · No Way Home · Multiverse of Madness · Love and Thunder · Wakanda Forever SERIES — WandaVision · Falcon and the Winter Soldier · Loki S1 · What If...? S1 · Hawkeye · Moon Knight · Ms. Marvel · She-Hulk · Guardians Holiday Special

Phase Six (2025–2027): FILMS — The Fantastic Four: First Steps · Spider-Man: Brand New Day · Avengers: Doomsday (18 Dec 2026) · Avengers: Secret Wars (17 Dec 2027) SERIES — Ironheart · Wonder Man · Daredevil: Born Again S2 · [The Punisher: One Last Kill](/title/the-punisher-one-last-kill/) (special) · VisionQuest