Today's rundown of favorite scenes could just as easily have been expanded to the Avengers themselves, and may indeed be the case at some future point; but for whatever reason, the Vision took precedence in my mind and must be served first, as one of their oldest and most unique members who was with the team in some of their most noteworthy and memorable stories. My own recollections of this character will likely omit certain scenes which for some of you come to mind just as meaningfully; for myself, I chose to focus more on scenes featuring the character in the classic sense, the time when he still struck a chord for readers of the book and seemed to be at his most prevalent within their ranks.
In this brief collection, you'll find my choices see-sawing between displays of the Vision's amazing abilities, and snapshots of his developing character. Fortunately, a good deal of attention was paid to each by his writers of the time, while his artists obviously enjoyed featuring him either in action or in interaction. As an example of the former, we start with a crisis which has a Wakandan ship in a nosedive toward Avengers Mansion, and an attempt by Hawkeye to halt their plunge brought to near-disaster by, of all things, a broken bowstring.
It wouldn't be the last time where the Vision proved to be pivotal in a crisis involving others plummeting to their death, though there were times when you wondered just how he was able to prevent fatalities. Take, for instance, another situation at Avengers Mansion, where Carol Danvers is on her way there by helicopter only to have to desperately radio for assistance when her transportation sputters out. For some reason, the Vision believes that by placing himself beneath the 'copter at the point of impact, lives will be saved.
(Isn't Rick Jones just the bomb, barking orders as if (a) he was being paid any attention to, and (b) the Vision wasn't ten steps ahead of him.)
Wanda certainly got an earful from the Vision just for showing a little concern for him (probably because she didn't clear it with Rick first), but here's the question: How is Carol able to avoid being seriously hurt, or worse? Wouldn't she have been just as injured no matter what her 'copter crashed into, whether it was the roof or the Vision face down on it? The Vision isn't secretly employing the abilities of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, is he?
A similar instance occurred when Goliath took a fall several stories down, the resolution of which snagged it a special Weird Science mention for The Most Perplexing Bit of Reasoning Used By an Android for that month. Regardless, Goliath survived, and I'm sure he doesn't really care how he's still among the living.
It's no high-rise, but Captain America and Quicksilver also survived their own plummet from Avengers Mansion during the attack of the Man-Ape--a three-story fall that would take seconds on our watches (if that, considering they're being hurled to the pavement rather than just falling) but takes awhile to play out on the Avengers' clock, just long enough for the Vision to save both men from a few weeks in traction.
And as long as we're covering heroism from great heights, look who took down Count Nefaria with a single strike (after the other Avengers had spent considerable effort just trying to wear him down):
Mantis, another victim of villain-hurling when Zodiac attempts to use their star-weapon to kill everyone in the city born under the sign of Gemini, takes the fall when Ares tosses her off the roof of a skyscraper. An old hand at this by now, the Vision uses his abilities to slow her fall enough so that she survives the crushing impact--his logic apparently being that the lives lost from the collapse of the building, critically damaged in the process, would be an acceptable balance. (Maybe our android's mind works a little too quickly.)
"He could not fly while carrying this one, since he must be lighter than air to rise..." Oh, Mantis. The streets are littered with those of us who have pounded our shoe on our respective desks stressing the very same point, to no avail. Live long enough and you'll see that rationality has no place in comics reading.
But let's turn to less controversial scenes, such as one of my top five--the Vision's secret meeting with the Grim Reaper, who has an appropriately macabre offer to make him in exchange for his cooperation in a villain venture. First, though, the Vision must make his way past two low-lifes who have deadly designs on his wallet, in an eye-catching opening sequence by artists Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott.
The meeting over, that would normally be that--but our two murderous morons are hanging around hoping to run into their pigeon again. Their mistake, as, by now, the Vision was in no mood to be trifled with.
This time around, Wonder Man proved to be only a ruse of the Reaper's where the Vision was concerned--but the deceased Simon Williams would come to evoke worrisome feelings within the Vision upon his return to life, untimely showing up just after the Avengers announced a new lineup.
Yet "worrisome" grew quickly to a state of annoyance and outright anger when it seemed that Wonder Man was taking an interest in the Scarlet Witch, now the Vision's wife. At this point in time, the Vision was in a state of conflict about his own feelings, his own humanity--just the same, he wasn't about to stomach a possibly more successful relationship being flaunted before him.
Like the Reaper, other villains have at times attempted to conscript the Vision to their cause. Take shady financier Cornelius Van Lunt, who has become the target of the individual who calls himself Red Wolf--a man who has secured the Avengers' cooperation in bringing Van Lunt to justice, but finds that Van Lunt has his own methods of doing the same.
The brief skirmish between the Vision and Goliath notwithstanding, Van Lunt eventually faces the music. (By the way, wasn't it nice of the Vision to increase his mass for no reason before his impact, just to give the topography some additional distinction?)
We don't know why the Vision didn't report his meeting with the Grim Reaper to the Avengers, if only to warn them that the Reaper has an imminent plan to "annihilate them," a clear and present threat you'd think the Vision would feel compelled to relay. Instead, he's only forthcoming with Captain America about a more personal dilemma, marking the second time he's admitted to having feelings for another. The scene pairs nicely with an earlier conversation he had with the Avengers' butler, Jarvis--the "pantry summit," which would be given additional recognition in the sixth issue of the "FOOM" fan magazine.
There doesn't seem to be anything "robotic" about slumping in a chair in a state of profound internal struggle, Cap, but what do I know.
The Vision also let his growing feelings for the Scarlet Witch slip... that is, explode during the Kree-Skrull War and a confrontation with the Skrull who launched "Plan Delta" against the Earth but whose knowledge of the whereabouts of Wanda was uppermost on the android's mind--a brutal interrogation which tipped off his fellow Avengers to the heretofore unlikely possibility that his concern for Wanda ran deeper than what he might have shown for a fellow Avenger. If you were looking for an indication that the Vision was as human as his equally volatile human-born comrades who have also been known to lose control over their feelings for another, look no further.
Over time, the Vision unquestionably made a name for himself as an Avenger--joining their ranks not long after the induction of the Black Panther, and adding a unique power set to the group. By the time the team faced their deadly conflict with Korvac, a foe who was mowing down Avengers one after another, the Vision fit like a glove in the assembling of a core group of the team's strongest members who were making a last stand against their enemy as well as his powerful consort.
Enow, indeed. Time runs out for both Korvac and Carina--but while the Vision's life, his evolution, and his association with the Avengers would go on, these scenes encompass the Vision that's most memorable to myself, and serve to lead to a separate post which more directly addresses the Vision's legacy.
4 comments:
I always thought Vision did some nice moves in Avengers #85 when we first meet the Squadron Supreme. Worked his powers with style under John Buscema/Frank Giacoia art.
Outside comics, in the cartoon The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. The episode "Behold the Vision" introduced our red-faced android as the newly created tool of Ultron. The Vision simply annihilated all opposition (Avengers and Wakandan military) with a devastating mix of density/mass control and solar beams.
Of course, like in the comics, once Vision became a hero and an Avenger, he did almost nothing but the "partially solidified fist in the chest" maneuver. How very dull.
Vision and flying. It occurs to me that he lowers his density to become lighter than air. If he can lower his mass to the extremes he can raise his mass, then he'd be quite the effective diamond-hard, man-size, better-than-helium balloon. Vision wouldn't be able to fly with Mantis, but should be able to soft land her (sort of like when Mr. Fantastic shapes himself into a parachute)
I dunno, Murray--if your theory holds true, then the incident with Mantis would have been precisely the situation for him to have put it into action. He reaches Mantis, shifts his density and mass accordingly, and they end up hitting the ground no harder than they've done here (in fact, let's cross our fingers and say they would probably have done so at less velocity), thereby precluding the need for the Vision to endanger the building or its occupants.
Someone get me rewrite! :D
That battle royale between the Vizh and Wonder Man is one of my favorite fight-scenes in comics!
What's not to like? It was a long time comin' and even the floor got tore up.
Whatever else one says about Shooter, (megalomaniac, etc.) he could write a good story arc with some real character development. The reader just knew these two guys were gonna throw down.
The Vision is a character who's interesting (and a bit scary at times) because he doesn't say much, or react much, but inside his head there's a lot going on.
When somebody like that finally blows up, watch out. I felt bad for that Skrull.
M.P.
It's interesting, M.P., how the Vision started out in a more human way of interacting with his fellow Avengers (I can't imagine the Vision of the '80s saying things like "Don't get panicky, bowman" or talking/thinking his way through a crisis rather than letting the narrative take over) but in time turned more introspective and reserved following the shock of learning that Simon Williams was still in the picture in one way or another and calling into question his own humanity.
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