 | The Vision (1968)Original Medium: Comic books Published by: Marvel Comics First Appeared: 1968 Creator: Roy Thomas image: © Marvel Comics. |
The Vision was a red-skinned android created by the robot Ultron, who had often plagued the Marvel Comics super-team, The Avengers. Ultron intended him as a means of defeating that group; however, he turned against his creator, and became a member of The Avengers instead. The story was told in Avengers #57 (October, 1968), in a story written by Roy Thomas and drawn by John Buscema. The character remained an Avengers member for many years, and eventually served a term as the team's leader.
The android's conscious mind came from a brain-scan recording The Avengers had made of Wonder Man, an earlier member who had apparently died saving the team. Wonder Man later "got better", as apparently-dead superheroes often do, and the two came to regard each other as brothers. The Vision's android body was originally believed to have been a refurbished version of the 1940s Human Torch, also an android, but this later turned out not to be the case.
But those were not his only forebears. He owed a lot to a character created by Jack Kirby in 1940, also called The Vision. In fact, except for coloring, the two looked virtually identical. The original Vision appeared for only a brief time as a back-up feature in Marvel Mystery Comics.
One character he probably did not owe anything to was DC's red-skinned android, The Red Tornado, also a revival of an obscure 1940s character, fashioned by a villain to oppose the company's most prominent superhero team, who wound up becoming a member of the team instead. Like The X-Men and The Doom Patrol, the two debuted so close together, it's hard to believe the similarity was anything but a coincidence.
The modern Vision later married The Scarlet Witch, also a long-time Avengers member. The two then retired from the group, but were soon back in action as a team. During a later absence from The Avengers, they became active in another superhero group, The Defenders.
After they'd been married several years, The Vision's memory was erased by paranoid U.S. government agents. He then became cold, emotionless, robot-like — and needless to say, this led to estrangement from his wife. Latest reports are that his memory and human-like personality are starting to return. Thus far, however, this has not led to a reinstatement of domestic bliss.
