Maggie McAteer ’30
Staff Writer
It’s no secret that the Marvel Cinematic Universe has been on its way out for a while now. After Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023), I think everyone pretty much gave up hope. That’s not to say there haven’t been exceptions — Thunderbolts* (2025) is one of the best things I’ve seen in years — but the general trend is clear. Marvel just isn’t putting out good media anymore.
VisionQuest is no exception. The television show centers around the Vision, an AI synthetic robot created by Tony Stark as he navigates his identity with the help of other Stark-created AIs like J.A.R.V.I.S. and E.D.I.T.H. Matters become complicated when mysterious bounty hunter Paladin bursts into his life and brings with him the Vision’s possible child, Thomas Shepard. Then, time grows short as Paladin hunts the Vision and Thomas across Scotland, receiving orders from a mysterious client demanding the Vision’s death. It’s got humor, an incredible cast (including Ms. Diane “Philomena Cunk” Morgan), and the perfect setup for family angst; it should be great.
Unfortunately, it’s poorly paced, with surprisingly cringy dialogue (even for a superhero show), and while it has a fun visual style, it’s generally just kind of boring. It’s not actively mind-destroying, unlike other recent MCU projects (Quantumania, looking at you), but it’s certainly not good in the way that Loki (2021-2023) or Wandavision (2021) were. Those were intentionally crafted, and the effort and passion that went into them were clear. VisionQuest is just another checkmark on the list of “things to watch before Avengers: Doomsday.”
And yet, I’ve been watching it anyway (and not just because of Doomsday). Even though I can tell that it’s poorly written as I stare at my laptop screen, I can’t bring myself to look away. I am somehow, against my better judgment, genuinely invested in this show. As it turns out, it’s not my fault; it’s Marvel’s, and the reason why I can’t stop watching VisionQuest is the same as why I and one million other people already have our tickets for Avengers: Doomsday: because, unfortunately, I have spent far too many hours of my life consuming Marvel films and shows to give up now.
It’s more than that, though. All of this other media providing a background makes it so that the creators of the show don’t have to work as hard to get us hooked. We see the Vision’s name in the title and cheer because it’s been five years since Paul Bettany was on our screens playing a sexy robot. It doesn’t matter if the show is actually good or not; what matters is that the characters we’re obsessed with are back. Other filmmakers did the work to create interesting, well-designed characters and worlds, and now newer creators can just piggyback off of that and get easy views.
One of the most beloved Marvel projects ever created is Wandavision. It follows Wanda Maximoff after the events of Avengers: Endgame, and is simultaneously a poignant representation of grief and a masterclass in aesthetics. VisionQuest is essentially season three of Wandavision, with season two being Agatha All Along. I’ll be honest, part of the reason I started watching was that I hoped Wanda would be in it. I haven’t seen her in a while, and I’m starting to get anxious.
Each series is connected through its focus on the Maximoff family (Wanda and Vision and their kids, Tommy and Billy), but they also share a similar commitment to visual aesthetics. Both Wandavision and Agatha were highly stylized series, and parts of VisionQuest seem to latch onto that as well. It’s most prominent in the scenes that take place in Vision’s Mindspace, which take their inspiration from Edward Hopper and M.C. Escher. While the visual style is great in those scenes, much of the time we’re in the “real world,” and it’s clear that not as much effort has been put into that aspect. It feels like VisionQuest is trying to straddle two worlds, pumping in just enough Wandavision nostalgia to keep us hooked while secretly trying to move into a more realistic, more typical modern superhero setting.
The MCU has had this confused tone for a while now, refusing to pick a consistent style. Some films are relentlessly grounded, like Thunderbolts*, while others, like The Fantastic Four: First Steps, are desperately trying to depart from that style. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate that not all Marvel movies look the same — it’s nice to get some variety in there — but at this point, it feels difficult to reconcile them as one overarching universe. Even though classic Marvel films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man had separate vibes, they weren’t so visually incompatible that it felt jarring to see them side by side.
There’s also an aspect of fandom in this. The MCU was incredibly prominent for so long, so there is a huge fanbase. Due to the fact that there is so much time in between projects, these fans tend to go a little crazy. Fan theories flood online spaces, essayists analyze every frame of each new trailer, creating so much anticipation for the project that by the time it actually comes out, nobody cares about the intricacies of the writing; they just care about the plot. They want to know what happens, and in that pursuit, they are willing to overlook how the showrunners make it happen. Marvel knows this; it’s why they brought back Robert Downey Jr. for Doomsday. They’re aware that now, everyone who was even remotely invested in the Infinity Saga will want to watch this new Avengers film to understand how RDJ can be Victor von Doom.
Will I still be watching Avengers: Doomsday even though it will probably be bad? Yes. Will I still be finishing VisionQuest even though sometimes the dialogue makes me want to claw my eyes out? Also, yes. Because, like a true Marvel fan, I buy into the sunk cost fallacy. I’ve come too far, and if Wanda Maximoff shows up in the finale, I need to be able to tell people I was there for it.
