BACKGROUND:

VisionQuest is the 14th live-action series in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be produced by Marvel Television and Marvel Studios. It concludes the WandaVision trilogy, which also includes Agatha All Along. Created by Terry Matalas (12 Monkeys and Star Trek: Picard), it stars Paul Bettany and James Spader. Bettany reprises his role as Vision, the synthetic android created in Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015, but actually dates back to 2008’s Iron Man, when Bettany first voiced Tony Stark’s AI, J.A.R.V.I.S. Spader also reprises his 2015 role as Ultron.

The rest of the cast includes Ruaridh Mollica as Thomas Shepherd, Todd Stashwick as Paladin, T’Nia Miller as Jocasta, Orla Brady as F.R.I.D.A.Y., Emily Hampshire as E.D.I.T.H., Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer as D.U.M.-E. and U, James D’Arcy as J.A.R.V.I.S. (reprising his role from the ABC show Agent Carter and Avengers: Endgame), and Lauren Morais as Lisa Molinari.

VisionQuest was filmed on location throughout the UK and at Pinewood Studios in London in 2025. The production built multiple practical sets on the soundstage, most notably the mansion that serves as Vision’s Mindspace throughout the series. According to the production notes, the Mindspace set featured seven fully practical, interconnected rooms.

The first two episodes of VisionQuest premiere tomorrow night, October 13th at 9 pm ET.

OPENING THOUGHTS:

^{You’re a ghost, haunting her footsteps.}

Every review of VisionQuest should begin with a discussion of Paul Bettany and James Spader. Both actors offer awards-worthy performances and make the entire production sing. Bettany has been a part of the MCU since the very beginning, and turns in his best work here. He gives a nuanced performance as “white” Vision, the recreated android from the end of WandaVision imprinted with the original Vision’s memories, but not his experiences. He slips into the role with ease, and plays several different iterations of the android flawlessly.

Spader is clearly having the time of his life returning to Ultron after a decade playing “Red” on The Blacklist. He relishes every line delivery, and the writing staff, led by creator Terry Matalas and including Cindy Appel, Nicole Falsetti, Christopher Monfette, Michael Taylor, and Matthew Okumura, provide Spader ample opportunities.

VisionQuest gets off to a fast start, wisely choosing not to repeat the same mystery structure from Agatha All Along. Instead, VisionQuest brings together all of the main players in the premiere. The show is filled with easter eggs that will delight longtime MCU fans, and especially fans of WandaVision. The attention to detail in all areas of the show is astounding, right down to the credits sequence, which changes each episode to match the state of Vision’s Mindspace.

SUPERLATIVES:

^{I have his memories, but not his feelings. I have his face, but not his virtue.}

The superlatives may start with Bettany and Spader, but they do not end there. Emily Hampshire, an actor I grew to love based on her work as Stevie Budd on Schitt’s Creek, is one of my favorite new supporting characters in the MCU on Disney+ era. She steals every scene as E.D.I.T.H., the artificial intelligence Tony Stark embedded in the sunglasses that he gifted to Peter Parker after his death (see: Spider-Man: Far From Home). The entire collection of Stark AIs living in Vision’s Mindspace are fantastically realized, but none more so than E.D.I.T.H. VisionQuest is much funnier than I expected, and most of the laughs come from inside Vision’s Mindspace, either from E.D.I.T.H. or the comedic duo of Henry Lewis and Jonathan Sayer as D.U.M.-E. and U.

Mollica is another standout. The most emotional moments of the entire series hinge on his performance as Thomas Shepherd, and he consistently delivers. He can express a full range of emotions with just his eyes as he struggles to understand the multiple memories plaguing his mind.

The Mindspace itself is a tremendous sci-fi creation. Production designer William Hughes-Jones built the best MCU sets since Loki, and filled them with over 40 custom Vision-branded props like “Firewall Hot Sauce” and “Mindstone Soup”. Computerized functions like reboots, firewalls, viruses, hard drives, malware, passwords, captchas, and more are visualized in inventive, fun ways.

I also want to applaud the entire editing team, including Amelia Allwarden, Jamie Gross, Drew Nichols, Christopher Gay, and McKenna Cook. They employ several techniques, including jump cuts, frame-slicing, and distortions, to simulate glitching effects that add a visual flair to the show.

ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT:

^{I want to know you. I want to be known.}

I had the most trouble connecting with Todd Stashwick’s character, Paladin. He is saddled with an extraneous subplot about his estranged daughter that muddles things, and his performance feels the most out of place among an otherwise fantastic cast. I watched the series twice for this review, and it was less jarring the second time, but still a weak point.

VisionQuest is not an action-heavy series, and most of the action looks pretty good. However, a few wonky bits of action pull me out of scenes in later episodes after a character is infected with nanobots. The effects in those sequences don’t quite match the quality throughout the rest of the series. At the end of the day, these are minor complaints that melt away once the credits roll, because everything else is so well done.

THE FINAL WORD:

^{Grief isn’t love. It is fear.}

VisionQuest doesn’t just feel like the conclusion to the WandaVision trilogy. It also feels like the end of an era of MCU storytelling on Disney+. If that is true, what a way to go out. VisionQuest is a love letter to WandaVision fans, clearly made by creators who adored it, and a perfect conclusion to its story and themes.

In a show about a synthezoid powered by half a dozen artificial intelligences, VisionQuest manages to be one of the most human stories Marvel has ever told. The theme of grief that has tinged many of the MCU’s Multiverse Saga projects is front and center again, along with themes of love and family that echo back to the Westview Hex in WandaVision. There is a moment in the finale that is such a pitch-perfect homage to Wanda that it elevated the series as a whole another half a point in my final rating.

VisionQuest is yet another worthy addition to the Multiverse Saga. Alongside Wonder Man and Daredevil: Born Again, 2026 may be the strongest year ever for Marvel Studios on the small screen.

8.5/10

-Greg