Vision #1
Dreams and Madmen
The Vision has been haunted by recurring dreams of a farm house in middle America where a woman and her two children wait for their husband/father to come home. This troubles the Vision a great deal because, as a synthetic being, he should be able to have dreams.[1]
After one episode, the Vision goes out on patrol and rescues a couple getting mugged along the pier. As he anticipated, the would be victims turn out to be more frightened by him than they were of the muggers. It’s then that the Vision is visited by the Avengers’ newest associate, Deathcry.[2] She had come because she noticed that the Vision has been spending time at this particular piece of waterfront and would stare off into the distance until sunrise. When she asks him what he thinks about, she assures him that he isn’t doing anything more interesting than running system diagnostics and routine maintenance. As they head back to the mansion, the Vision asks if Deathcry dreams. She tells him how she dreams of her friends and family back home. When she asks if he has dreams as well, he lies and says that he does not. When they arrive, Deathcry invites the Vision to accompany her in the morning on a shopping trip with Crystal. The synthezoid politely declines, saying he has little knowledge when it comes to women’s fashion.
The Vision then heads up stairs where the Avengers butler, Edwin Jarvis, is preparing the morning’s breakfast. He admits to Jarvis that he lied to Deathcry about having dreams. Jarvis is a little surprised to see the Vision drinking tea — which the android doesn’t notice until it’s pointed out to him — but tells the Vision that having personal secrets are ordinary. Still troubled, the Vision decides to make an appointment with Hank Pym about this anyway.
The following morning, Pym — aka Giant-Man — gives the Vision a full diagnostic to figure out why he has been having dreams recently. The results of the scan come up clean, however Hank wants to keep an eye on things since the Vision’s mind was recently transferred into this body and there might be some long term trauma down the road.[3] However, the Vision’s dreams interest Hank the most. Thinking about the mind-wipe that erased his capacity for emotion, Pym realized that it could not have been completely erased due to the various back-up systems and redundancies in the Vision’s databank. Pym theorizes that perhaps the Vision’s capacity for emotion have been inaccessible and these dreams are a subconscious way of doing that. The Vision dismisses this theory outright, saying that that part of his past are dead and gone and should remain buried.
The Vision then flies off and soon finds himself drawn to the city of New Orleans for some reason he cannot fathom. Putting on a trench coat and hat to disguise himself, he happens upon a jazz bar playing some sad music and decides to go inside. Inside he is drawn to a man drinking alone at a table. This turns out to be no man at all, but the Vision’s creator, Ultron.[4] The typically unfeeling robot is now inexplicably speaking in a Louisiana accent and somehow drunk. Ultron invites his “son” to sit with him so they can mend their relationship, Ultron insisting that he has changed, that he has been infected with something that has changed his personality. The Vision thinks that this must be some kind of trick and refuses to entertain the idea, smashing the bottle of booze Ultron was drinking from.
Ultron then begins demanding the bar tender bring him another drink. While doing so, Ultron reveals that he is actually a robot making everyone panic. When the bartender pulls a gun and shoots at Ultron, it only makes the robot mad. Luckily for the barkeep, the Vision gets in between the two when Ultron fires a retaliatory energy blast. With the Vision knocked out, Ultron calls him a fool, then raids the bar, and leaves to go get wasted some place else.
When the Vision wakes up he finds himself sleeping in a bed in a shabby apartment that he has never seen before. He is visited by Jocasta, who tells him that he has been infected with the same thing that is affecting both her and Ultron.[5] For the first time in a while he finds himself thinking about Simon Williams, aka Wonder Man, the man whose mind was first used to create him.[6] He doesn’t understand why, nor does he care, but something compels the Vision to pull Jocasta in close and kiss her on the lips.
Recurring Characters
Vision, Giant-Man, Deathcry, Ultron, Jocasta, Edwin Jarvis
Continuity Notes
As we’ll learn in Vision #4, these dreams are the product of manipulations of Anti-Vision, the Vision’s evil counterpart from another dimension. The dream wife and children are composites created from the Vision’s past personas. The woman is an amalgamation of the Scarlet Witch and Laurie Lipton, while the children are based on Billy and Tommy, the children he had with the Scarlet Witch. Allow me to explain:
The Vision and the Scarlet Witch had been married for years, starting in Giant-Size Avengers #4. The marriage came to an end after the Vision was disassembled and put back together. The process erased his capacity for emotion, estranging the android from his wife. See West Coast Avengers (vol. 2) #42-45.
Billy and William were the product of the Scarlet Witch’s magic creating the twins in Vision and the Scarlet Witch (vol. 2) #3. Wanda gave birth to them in issue #12 of that series. The twins were later erased from existence during a battle with Master Pandemonium in Avengers West Coast #51-52. The two will later be reincarnated, as explained in Avengers: The Children’s Crusade #6 and will turn up alive again in Young Avengers #1.
Nancy Lipton is the wife of Alex Lipton. Following his death, Alex’s brain engrams were used to correct a programming error in the Vision’s operating systems. This gave him access to all of Alex’s memories and (apparently very briefly) his emotions. See Avengers Spotlight #40 and Avengers #348.
Deathcry had recently joined up with the Avengers in Avengers #363. Her interest in the Vision stems from an attraction she has had for him, which was revealed in Avengers #367.
The Vision’s was mind-swapped with the Anti-Vision in Avengers #360. The Anti-Vision was exposed and was seemingly destroyed in Avengers #362, leaving the Vision trapped in Anti-Vision’s body. As we’ll see in Vision #4, Anti-Vision actually survived, but the body he stole was left severely damaged.
You know the Vision was created by Ultron, right? See Avengers #57-58/134-135.
This version of Jocasta is from another reality, as seen in Avengers #372-373. Per Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Alternate Universes 2005 #1, she comes from Reality-943.
When Simon Williams seemingly died due to a perceived side effect of gaining his Wonder Man powers, the Avengers made a copy of his mind, circa Avengers #9. This brain engram was then stolen by Ultron who used it to create the Vision’s personality. These engrams were alleged to have been erased for good when the Vision was later dissassembled.
