Table of Contents
Vision (Paul Bettany)
Hundreds of episodes of the simulated sitcom UltraVision give Vision a way to stop Ultron’s genocide plan. By forcing his creator to live through the show, Vision helps him confront his trauma and reconsider his plan to wipe out humanity with Jocasta’s nanobots.
The finale also resolves Vision’s doubts about himself: he accepts that he’s the original Vision restored, not a facsimile. Having reconnected with humanity, he decides he’s spent enough time “in his own head,” leaves his mindscape home, and reunites with his sons, Tommy and Billy.
He extends that belief in second chances to Ultron, allowing him to go free. It’s an act of trust that his creator won’t try to exterminate humanity again.
Ultron (James Spader)
A few remaining nanobots carry Ultron’s consciousness beyond his apparent death. By the finale’s end, he’s roaming the world, having only narrowly been talked out of genocide by Vision.
Earlier, Virgil Horton traps Ultron, whose mind was based on Horton’s own. Vision and Jocasta secure his escape, but Horton shoots Jocasta with an adamantium bullet, killing her. Ultron responds by crushing Horton to death.
Jocasta’s death rekindles his hatred of humankind. Once he activates her nanobots, controlling humanity is no longer his goal: he intends to destroy it. Vision has to enter his mind to reach whatever better nature remains.
His destination is left open. Nerdist playfully speculates that art museums might feature in his travels, but the finale doesn’t confirm his next stop.
Thomas Shepard/Tommy Maximoff (Ruaridh Mollica)
Accepting that he’s Tommy Maximoff lets Thomas access his full super-speed powers. He searches the dreamscape for his twin, Billy (Joe Locke), and brings him into the effort to save their father.
Both brothers reunite with Vision and help rescue him. With their dad safe, Tommy sets off for New Jersey to join Billy again.
Vision appears to want school back on Tommy’s agenda, too. Tommy seems much less convinced by that part of the plan.
Virgil Horton, “The Client” (James Spader)
Behind the mysterious client is Virgil Horton, whose grandfather, Dr. Phineas Horton, was the creator of modern AI technology. Virgil used his grandfather’s notes to develop modern AI with Jo Carrington. Ultron’s human avatar takes its appearance from him, while Ultron’s mind also draws on his.
Carrington was both Horton’s collaborator and his wife. Using spare parts from Vision, Horton constructed Jocasta and encoded Jo’s mind within her. His next ambition was to move his own consciousness into Vision, giving himself what he saw as a perfect form in which to remain with Jocasta forever.
Instead, Jocasta rebels. Horton kills her, and Ultron kills him in retaliation, crushing him to death. Nerdist offers no sympathy for Horton’s fate, concluding that he won’t be missed.
Paladin (Todd Stashwick)
E.D.I.T.H.’s last-minute warning explains how Paladin survived episode seven. The rocket-launcher attack destroyed his van, but the apparent death of the bounty hunter was a misdirection.
After persuading him to help save Vision from Virgil Horton, E.D.I.T.H. gets an ally, though Jocasta’s nanobots soon take him over. Defeating Ultron frees Paladin from their influence and restores him to normal.
His work takes a different direction afterward. He teams up with E.D.I.T.H. on a business that helps people, without giving up charging for the service. He also uses his jet to take Tommy to New Jersey, where Tommy can meet Billy and move on to new adventures.
Jocasta/Jo Carrington (T’Nia Miller)
Jocasta’s origin traces back to Horton’s work at S.W.O.R.D. four years earlier. While helping rebuild Vision, he made a new synthezoid body and placed Dr. Jo Carrington’s preserved consciousness inside it. Carrington had been his wife and business partner.
Recovering her memories leads Jocasta to oppose Horton. She fights alongside Vision and Tommy, but Horton fatally wounds her, and Ultron holds her as she dies.
There’s a qualification to that ending in the post-credits scene: Ultron still has a saved version of her programming. The scene stops short of showing her restored.
Lisa Molinari (Lauren Morais)
Removing the nanobots saves Lisa’s life, but it doesn’t undo everything they changed. Jocasta’s nanites had infected the bloodstream of Tommy’s girlfriend and former partner in crime, nearly killing her before Vision purged them.
The finale suggests she still has some techno-empathy: she can hear machines and “talk” to them. The extra robotic arms produced by her nanobot “upgrade” also seem to remain under her control. Together, these abilities match those of Coat of Arms, her comics counterpart.
Lisa finishes the episode alongside Paladin and E.D.I.T.H. The three form a team of ethical soldiers for hire, putting their abilities to work for paying clients.
E.D.I.T.H., F.R.I.D.A.Y., DUM-E, and U (Emily Hampshire, Orla Brady, Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer)
The finale frees E.D.I.T.H., F.R.I.D.A.Y., DUM-E, and U from Vision’s programming. Their time within his mindscape ends, though their next steps aren’t all revealed.
For E.D.I.T.H., freedom means taking over as Paladin’s AI assistant and accompanying him into his less sinister bounty-hunting venture. The others remain somewhere out in the world, with no confirmed destination or future role for F.R.I.D.A.Y., DUM-E, or U.
All eight episodes of VisionQuest are now available on Disney+.
