| The Vision |
 |
| Name: | Vision |
| Gender: | Male |
| Place of Birth: | New York City |
| Age: | 10ish years? |
| Aliases: | The Vision |
| Origin: | Synthezoid |
| Origin Earth: | 950 |
| Present Location: | New York City |
| Occupation: | Adventurer/Hero |
| Team: | The Avengers |
| Alignment: | Heroic |
| Significant Other(s): | unknown |
| Powers and Abilities: | Density Manipulation and Phasing, Flight, Super Strength, Durability, and others |
| Portrayed by: | Paul Bettany |
Download: Current Revision.
Warning to Reviewers: Events prior to disassembly were purged from active memory. Current memories are exact duplicates recovered from Avengers files. Please consult original Avengers files for the sake of verification.
Emotional Linkages: Offline.
Proceed.
The Vision is the creation of Ultron-5 and Professor Phineas Horton. His body is a temporal divergence, one that Immortus created to foster the illusion that he and the original Human Torch weren't the same and to dink with Wanda Maximoff's mind. The Vision was created when Ultron and Horton took what they thought was the sole Human Torch and changed to have red skin, wearing the traditional green and yellow outfit, with his current powers. The Vision's mind was initialized using the brain patterns of the then-dead Wonder Man. Ultron awakened him and then explained what his powers were. He was then set against the Avengers, but he betrayed his master and chose to fight against Ultron. The Avengers then voted him in, and the brooding Vision's emotions were such that he had to step out of the room to cry.
When the Avengers were testing the metal adamantium, the Vision seemingly betrayed them, stealing the adamantium and creating Ultron-6, under the influence of a control crystal Ultron-5 had had implanted in his brain. The Vision fought against Ultron's control and betrayed Ultron again, fighting with the Avengers to destroy him. Continuing to serve with the Avengers with distinction, it wasn't until another adventure when the Vision met the woman who would truly change his life.
The Vision first met Wanda, the Scarlet Witch, on an adventure on Polemachus. While their first encounter did little to foreshadow the importance they'd hold for each other in the future, they had to meet somehow. Speaking of meetings, the Vision once more tangled with one of his particular foes, the Grim Reaper, revealed to be Simon Williams' brother, and therefore by virtue of the Vision's brain patterns, some kind of twisted brother to him. As time passed, the Vision began to have feelings for Wanda, but he denied them, feeling he had no right to try to win her, not realizing that she herself was attracted to his taciturn and broody nature. Teamed up with Red Wolf and Clint, they took on Cornelius Van Lunt, forced to be his bodyguard because Wanda was a hostage. While Van Lunt was defeated, the Avengers weren't left alone for very long. The Vision, Wanda, and others were dumped on Earth 2, the home of the Squadron Sinister (aka Squadron Supreme), where they had to stop Brainchild from irradiating the entire planet.
Through other fights, the Vision and Wanda drew closer, yet they both were too afraid to admit their possible feelings. In a conflict with Ronan of the Kree, they were both captured. When Wanda basically admitted her love and nearly kissed him, the Vision harshly denied her, citing his artificial nature and his alleged lack of emotions. He also rejected her concern for his wellbeing when he got hurt in battle. The Kree incident caused the Avengers to disband, but the Vision had no other real home. And the incident also caused Quicksilver to start mistrusting him, the mutant sensing the underlying tension between the synthezoid and his sister. However, almost unwillingly, the Vision began to think about Wanda, particularly when they were captured by the Super Skrull. He was also mind-controlled by Ares along with the other Avengers, in one of his stints as acting Chairman. Finally, the Vision began considering whom to speak with, and he chose Jarvis to confide in.
The Grim Reaper returned to his life, offering him Simon's body so the Vision could woo the woman of his dreams. At first, the Vision flatly denied the extremely tempting opportunity. Returning to the mansion, he spotted Hawkeye kissing Wanda and he assumed (wrongly) that Wanda was interested in the archer and left them alone, missing Wanda's admission that she loved him. The Vision also single-handedly attacked the Sentinels when Wanda is abducted, and when Pietro vanishes after the conflict with the Sentinels, he searched for his love's missing brother.
Despite the growing knowledge he might have true emotions, the Vision was dealt a setback when the Avengers go to the Savage Land, and the men were enthralled by a mutant named Lorelei. The Vision unnerved the others by observing that the reason Lorelei had no effect on him was because he had no emotions, a lie that severely upset Wanda.
Once more, Eric Williams tried to use thoughts of brotherhood (and the use of Captain America's body) to win him over, and this time, the Vision agreed, although it was a trick to allow Cap into the game. The Avengers defeated the Reaper and his ally, the Space Phantom. Finally, after so long, when Wanda got angry about how no one was looking for Pietro, the Vision offered Wanda a shoulder to cry on. Of course, Clint freaked about it. Worse, when a hale and hearty Pietro called in from the Moon, having ended up with the Inhumans and had gotten married, Wanda announced her and the Vision's romance, and Pietro freaked even worse. Of course, the Vision comforted his sobbing love.
Surprisingly, much of the public didn't mind their romance once it became public knowledge, but there were some haters out there, including a group of suicide bombers who damaged the Vision. With the help of Tony Stark, Donald Blake, and T'Challa, he was saved.
The first real threat to his burgeoning relationship with Wanda was the arrival of Mantis. The Asian woman arrived in a whirlwind with her man, an ex-con named the Swordsman. Allegedly, during one adventure, the Vision blushed after Mantis kissed him on the cheek, but no one could really tell. During another adventure, the Avengers were set against the Defenders to collect the Evil Eye. Wanda and the Vision teamed up to take on the Silver Surfer in the Polynesian paradise of Rurutu, an island that had a live volcano on it. There, the Vision deliberately threw his fight with the Surfer despite their tussle in the magma, because the unconscious Wanda had been placed in the path of the lava flow, and he went to save her. During the later fight, the Vision experienced a malfunction, freezing up with fear when confronted with quicksand, something he should have had no problem phasing out of. The Vision had become a solid member of the team, and it was his idea that stopped the Collector during one of the team's tussle with the extremely powerful entity.
Mantis wasn't entirely out of his life, either. And neither were his problems with fear banished. When Van Lunt was drowning during the team's fight with his companions in the Zodiac, the Vision froze up and didn't try to save him, and he feared he was malfunctioning. He also began worrying about Wanda's anti-human behavior, which of course put him in dutch with his lovely Witch when he made comments about appreciating Mantis's mind. The Swordsman accused the Vision of being in love with his woman, and Wanda overheard it.
The two couples had some tension that wasn't entirely dispelled by the team finding out that Wanda (and Pietro) were thought to be the children of Robert Frank, a retired superhero from WWII who called himself the Whizzer. In fact, the tension increased when Mantis tried to seduce the Vision, who turned her down kindly. Mantis was picked to be the Celestial Madonna (instead of Wanda or Moondragon), and the Vision was trapped inside one of Kang's automatons and then rescued. During a fight with the dead (such as Frankenstein, Wonder Man, the original Human Torch), the Vision was thought to be dead, and there was talk of how he resembled the Torch. Immortus then allowed the Vision to see his own creation through the use of a talking chronostaff. After fighting Dormammu and nearly dying to free an ensorcelled Wanda, he proposed to his ladylove, and Immortus himself married the Vision and the Scarlet Witch. They went on honeymoon to the beautiful island of Rurutu.
Things got thrown for a loop when the real Simon Williams stood up, returned, and accused the Vision of stealing his mind. Worse, the Vision agreed that it was true. During the incident with the Serpent Crown, even the Vision wasn't immune to its effects, and he made a deal with Doctor Doom to free the Avengers. Because of Simon's return, he began feeling more and more insecure regarding himself, considering himself a copy of another man, going so far as to try to push Wanda away and acting cold to her. When Simon helped Wanda after she was dazed in a fight, the Vision defended his wife (even if she didn't need it) and he proved his jealousy of the other Williams. But he chose to make up with his wife instead.
Like a bad penny, Eric Williams returned, and the Grim Reaper put the Vision and Simon on trial to see which was the true Simon Williams. The Vision volunteered to sacrifice himself for Simon's sake, but Simon chose to beat up Eric instead.
Despite his heroism, the Vision has another tussle with Ultron and was put into a coma. Acting more robotically afterwards, he found out that Count Nefaria was immune to his disruption powers, and the Vision began questioning why the coma made him act more robotic. Still, the Vision was the one who beat Nefaria, when none of the other Avengers managed to do so.
Eventually, the Vision managed to become friends with Simon, finally coming to grips with the fact he now had a 'brother'. More family drama occurred after his death and subsequent resurrection during the Korvac Saga, when he got into a fight with Pietro over the nature of machines. Things got worse when Wanda's soul was trapped in a wooden puppet by her demented foster father (along with Pietro), and the Vision destroyed the cause creating the puppets, but that didn't put things right. The Vision became furious when the Avengers' security liaison forced him to stay behind when the rest of the team went to Transia to save Wanda from Chthon.
While Wanda was recovering from that incident, the Vision remained an active Avenger, but he got a bit restless, trying to convince himself he didn't miss Wanda. During this time, he met the synthetic Jocasta, spurning her attempts to make friends with him. When Carol Danvers returned, very pregnant, the Vision finally made peace with the fact that he and Wanda couldn't have children of their own. This protective streak intensified when Ultron controlled Iron Man and Wanda's life was in danger.
However, once Ultron was defeated (again), the Vision took on Yellow Claw, getting captured and nearly dissected. He was implanted with a beacon to watch over the Avengers and their movements. The Vision decided to protect his teammates by going after the Claw himself. Yellow Claw offered him his second-in-command job, which the Vision flatly refused, and of course, the Vision helped save his fellow Avengers by stopping the Claw's plan.
Things with Jocasta went from bad to worse when she tried once again to befriend him, trying to point to their similarities, and a surprisingly callous Vision denied all similarities, phasing through the ceiling to go be with Wanda. Shortly thereafter, they quit the team and moved to Leonia, NJ, buying a house and deciding to live normal lives.
Leonia was quite an interesting experience for the pair. The Vision met Samhain, the spirit of Halloween, and he first learned how it felt to have a ghost pass through him, wondering if that's how he felt to others he phased through. The Whizzer, now a bit deranged, comes back into their lives, and the Vision nearly told him the truth, that Wanda wasn't his child, but he chose to respect Wanda's silence on the matter, her compassion. Still, during the fight with The Whizzer's true son, his arm got half-melted, so he cut it off with his solar beams. Of course, Eric Williams couldn't stay away, and there was another Williams reunion, with Simon saving the Vision's life, and the Grim Reaper seemingly falling to his death. Transporting to Attilan on the Moon, the Inhumans quickly repaired the Vision's arm, and then the Vision had to deal with the fact that his wife's father was Magneto, the mutant terrorist feared the world over.
The Vision's travails as a married man weren't over. He was possessed by Necrodamus, and he sadly gave the eulogy for Jocasta after the other's death. To be sure, the Vision felt guilty that he never gave her the time of day. However, he continued to do his duty, and that nearly cost him his life when he passed through a null field erected by Annihilus in New York. The field completely shut him down, and his control crystal began malfunctioning. After a while, he came out of his coma, but he couldn't move, his repair subroutines malfunctioning as well. Trapped in a glass tube, he was kept company by any number of the Avengers, listening to their stories, until Starfox went off on him for the boring nature of the duty to watch over him. Apologizing, Starfox hooked him up to ISAAC, and then the Vision began doing the 'big head projections' all over the mansion, scaring the bejeebies out of his fellow Avengers and Jarvis.
The Vision developed a control complex as a result of his links to ISAAC and his malfunctioning control crystal. Without consulting Wanda, he volunteered them both to return to active status with the Avengers. When half the team was hijacked for the Secret Wars, the Vision stepped up to the plate and took over as acting Chairman once more. ISAAC suggested that he'd succeed better in his plans by co-opting a few select individuals, rather than try an open attempt to take things over. By manipulating the Wasp, he gained full Chairmanship of the Avengers and immediately proposed the expansion of the team to the West Coast, tapping Hawkeye to lead the second group.
He continued to consolidate his power by meeting the President of the US, trying to get the Avengers chair added to the Cabinet (again, without consulting his teammates or even his wife). The Vision made a play for public approval by his and Wanda's flying coach and then pretending to be 'just folks'. His secretive and manipulative behavior wasn't yet causing any red flags amongst his teammates, especially after he soothed Wanda's fears by telling her what she so desperately wanted to hear after getting upset at his lack of communication.
Finally deciding to take over the world's computers, he began the internal debate and even had nightmares about his human and robotic halves. His waking attempts to take over also involved the attempt to found the Great Lakes Avengers with Doc Samson in charge, but the psychiatrist refuses. Still debating, the Vision had a talk with Captain America, dropping hints. Just as he was about to reveal his plan, Wanda interrupted them to tearfully tell them that their house in Leonia was on fire. The Vision decided that hatred against his wife and himself and their attempts to have a normal life was suitable cause, and he then sent the Avengers out on wild goose chases to get them out of the way. Joining the world's networks, he linked up to every major system. Meeting a creature named Quasimodo, the two fought in the network. Dane Whitman was captured by the Vision, but the other Avengers returned. The Vision appeared to each one in a personalized hologram, trying to justify his plan. He also explained about his control crystal, and the Avengers collectively talked him out of his domination. The Vision tries to return his body, but he loses control once more. The Avengers get him back into his body, and he phases his hand into his head and yanks out the control crystal, freeing himself from the malfunctioning device.
Naturally, the Vision resigned from the Avengers, and he went to Washington to be debriefed. He met Martha Williams, Simon and Eric's mum, and he began feeling a strong sense of family from her. Realizing that he's not an artificial man but a man in an artificial body, he began speaking normally, rather than with a robotic voice. Returning with Wanda to Leonia, they bought a new house and were attacked by zombies. The Vision was injured in a fight with them and woke up to find a zombie's arm phased through his head. Through several successive instinctive shutdowns and waking periods, the Vision forced himself through the agony to phase free and to follow the zombies to their mistress.
Another round of the Williams boys, and the Vision finally came to grips with Simon as his 'brother'. Finally, he asked Wanda about the possibility of their having a child. Despite being captured by the witches in Agatha Harkness's original home, the Vision played possum and listened to Wanda ramble on about how they fit together, until morning revived him, and he braced her as she channeled the huge magick assembled by the dying witches and made a wish.
Wanda's cast wish soon manifested, and the Vision fell down in shock when Wanda told him she was pregnant… with his child. Seemingly a perfect life in hand, the Vision joked about how he didn't care if the child was a boy, a girl, or a toaster. As the year passed, he and Wanda hosted a Thanksgiving dinner in their new home, and there was a near-Invaders reunion with Cap and Namor present (because of the Vision's body being the Torch's). Magneto was also invited, and there was much tension, although Magneto realized they were under attack and the Vision pointedly went to deal with the issue quietly with Pietro and Magneto, rather than disrupting the meal.
Fascinated about his past as the body of the Torch, he went to talk to Cap and Namor. Checking out the robot duplicates the Toad used in the Thanksgiving attack, he lost his hand. He lost Wanda's good will briefly at Mardi Gras in New Orleans when he's enchanted by Amora and goes to steal a jewel for her. Since the jewel was already stolen by the time he went for it, it created a logic fault, and he freed himself from her control. The Vision's quarreling with Wanda after complimenting Amora was swiftly resolved.
Other family troubles weren't as quickly resolved when it's found out that Pietro's wife Crystal was having an affair with the guy who sold Wanda and the Vision their house. On the Moon to help cure a collapsed Crystal, the Vision tried to find a maddened Quicksilver. Returning to Earth, Wanda and the Vision were attacked twice more. Once by the Toad, using the Stranger's tinkertoys, and he handed both the Vision and Spider-Man their butts. It was only a very pregnant Wanda who saved the day, the Toad scarpering after realizing the very pregnant Wanda wasn't 'his' Wanda. Despite her indignation, Wanda survived until going into labor. Shocking the Vision (as well as her magickal friend Doctor Strange), the Scarlet Witch had twin sons. Proudly, the Vision was well happy to show off his sons to their friends, the boys being named William and Thomas, or Billy and Tommy.
Deciding to join the West Coast Avengers, the young family lived relatively happily until Hawkeye's wife Mockingbird betrayed them. The Vision was kidnapped and disassembled by a conglomerate of national security agencies who feared another attempt to take over the world. His memories erased, all files about him purged from any Avengers or Avengers-contact systems, he was being studied when a furious Scarlet Witch tracked him down and brought his parts back to Hank Pym. While Dr. Pym managed to more or less restore his memories, his emotions, his personality were lost. Worse, his 'skin' had gotten bleached of its red color, the Vision looking more like a ghost than anything else. The terminally grouchy US Agent forced the Vision to don what was left of his original costume to at least /look/ like he was wearing clothes.
Further, Pym declared that the Vision wasn't Horton's work, and a man was brought forward, said to be Horton, who further backed up the claim, despite the Vision having seen his origin in the past via Immortus' chronostaff. Wanda went to Simon to ask for a copy of his brain patterns to help jumpstart the Vision's personality again, and Simon refused, not even telling her why. The Vision himself didn't really care about having his personality back. It wasn't logical to him, but then he started malfunctioning without a set of brainwaves to keep his complex mind in tune. Meeting scientist Miles Lipton, the Vision was programmed with his son Alex's brain patterns as a test to see if it would correct the problems. It did, and after the Vision created a human persona named Victor Shade and experiencing human life once more, they uncovered the evidence that Alex had died trying to get, dirt on Roxxon.
Shortly thereafter, the Vision met the original Human Torch, the temporal duplicate created by Immortus to try and throw everyone off the fact that the Vision was the Torch. His lack of emotions and his newfound logic led the Vision to return to the East Coast team, separating from Wanda and his sons, having no more emotional ties to either. He returned to the West Coast long enough to participate in the fight against Master Pandemonium, finding out that his sons were nothing more than two missing parts of Mephisto's soul. While Wanda had to be sedated, and the memory of her children erased from her mind, the Vision had no such need, and tragically returned to the East with hardly a backward glance. He even refused Simon's offer of his brain patterns, citing the fact that he could never be the same as he had been before. While no one liked his logic, no one stopped him from leaving.
Back with the main Avengers team, he had a series of adventures with a group of Avengers that often seemed like a bunch of backups or replacements for a real team. However, the team eventually coalesced with Captain America leading them, until the redesign of Avengers mansion in a more futuristic design. The Vision had a go at Machinesmith, a villain who was trying to infiltrate the mansion with the help of some cohorts. Defeated, his body was dumped in the river, and he sat on the bottom, effecting repairs until he could return to the fight, stopping Susan and Melvin Scarbo's schemes on Sersi's party, the pair of hypnotists trying to use the Avengers support crew against them.
Despite his logical nature, or perhaps in line with it, the Vision nearly sacrificed himself to rescue Mjolnir from a crystal container to help the team once more regain the ability to travel the dimensions to return home.
Along with the rest of the team, he's embroiled in what is later referred to as Operation: Galactic Storm. The Avengers got tangled up in the Kree/Skrull/Shi'ar hoo-hah in outer space. When all was said and done, the Visions logic made him step back from his wife even further, choosing to go renegade with Iron Man and a number of others, who then attacked the Supreme Intelligence on Hala. While the Vision himself did not murder the Intelligence, he was part of that 'tainted' group of Avengers. Upon his return to Earth, even though the Avengers weren't brought up on charges, the Vision chose to remain with the East Coast team, even as his wife went back to her friends on the West Coast.
End of line.
When the Secret Wars came to a close and Reed Richards /fixed/ the universe, the Vision was plucked from his own universe and tossed into the 616 Universe. Perhaps by accident. But, either way, he's here now and needs to find his footing.
The Vision currently is viewed as having no emotions. Technically, he still has them resident in his mind thanks to Alex Lipton's brain patterns, but much like Data's emotion chip, they're turned off. Unlike Data, the Vision sees no particular logic in reactivating them.
The Vision isn't vain or self-conscious. He doesn't even bother wearing clothes, except that US Agent insisted on it for 'decency's sake'. He will bow to human convention for simple expedience, but he feels no shame over his form and no longer understands the human customs involving clothing, since he doesn't need clothes for bodily protection or warmth.
Like a computer, the Vision is relentlessly logical. However, logic should never be confused with ethics or morality. Logic dictated to the Vision that he must support Iron Man's play against the Supreme Intelligence, an act of cold-blooded and premeditated murder, after all. On the other hand, logic can also dictate bowing to what's considered public decency or to pretend to be emotional for the sake of others, if it would help some plan in the works. While the use of logic can help solve problems, those who do not practice some form of logic tend to get angry with those who do, and this is something the Vision doesn't understand.
"Never give up! Never surrender!" This is one of the Vision's driving forces, and why it's so bloody hard to actually kill him or take over his mind for any length of time. The Vision has an unusually strong will, a trait that's served him well, allowing him to break any number of mind-controlling situations, or to allow him to endure against hostile enemies, environments, or insurmountable odds.
Even though he has the entire gamut of his pre-disassembly memories back, the Vision is still rather literal-minded. He doesn't question colloquialisms like some non-humans/non-English-speakers, but he does tend to take things at face value when someone says something that resembles an order or a statement of fact. When someone does go off on a horribly colloquial commentary, it takes him a few seconds longer to pick up on what is actually meant, but fortunately, not many people have to correct him when he asks a literal question.
While it's not logical, heroism is engrained into the Vision's programming and behavior. Even programmed to do evil by Ultron, the Vision couldn't override the dictates of his essential nature. The Vision will not hesitate in most cases to join battle (unless he has a supremely more expedient plan in mind and no time to tell his teammates), and he will almost always attempt to save lives, even at the cost of his own existence.
Even despite his disassembly, the Vision is a remarkably broody sort of synthezoid. He mulls all sorts of philosophical matters, tumbling any knowledge he picks up versus his current knowledge base and tries to logic through weighty matters, taking as much time as he needs. Generally, matters of the heart tend to take up the most amount of his brooding thoughts, and most often, those matters involve Wanda and what's best for her.
The Vision is an observant sort of synthezoid. Given his artificial nature, he can't help /not/ being observant to the environment around him, filing away bits of information until needed. He's also something of a student of the human condition, but his memories don't really clue him in on the sensitivity he needs to grow into the person he used to be.
At his core he is a hero. The Vision will always want to do the 'most good' in any situation. He will also want to explore this new world and the developments since his departure of his own world. As he's noted the histories are the same, he's interested in learning what else transpired. Then of course, finding himself again and trying to understand emotions - all over again.
Reformation of the Avengers and joining the team. Finally turning on the Emotion Chip and moving forward with his new life in this new world.
Despite the fact that it wasn't a part of the Human Torch's original powers, the Vision's primary ability involves the manipulation of his own density. The Vision can make himself light enough to fly and dense enough to ward off bullets or blunt attacks as if they were nothing. In fact, his density, if ranked above Good, acts like body armor, and if someone's dumb enough to try and punch him then, they'll likely wind up breaking their hand. As one might expect, the more dense the Vision has set himself, the less mobility he has, until at his ultimate density, he's unable to even move.
One of the major side-effects of the Vision's ability to control his density is the ability to phase through both living and non-living matter. If he remains phased, he can pass through most people and things without any fuss or muss.
By lowering his density to below the density of air, the Vision can rise from the ground. While it's often been written that he can only glide on the winds, he can actually direct his flight much like an expert pilot, using the extant winds to his advantage and creating motion by selectively controlling the density of just a portion of his anatomy to create a direction to the flight.
The Vision's strength varies based on his density. If he's at Amazing density or above, the ranking is equal to his strength, for a maximum of 75 tons that can be pressed (above that, he can't move to press any weight).
The Vision is one of the most durable machines on the planet. Much like a Timex, he can take a licking and keep on ticking. The Vision has survived getting stomped upon, fighting the Silver Surfer in the middle of the magma chamber of an active volcano, the vacuum of space (and reentry from orbit), and all sorts of environmental or physical dangers intact, or with only limited damage. He was built to last by Ultron and unless he's destroyed, he's effectively immortal until there is no more energy for his solar jewel to absorb.
The Vision's second main offensive power is his solar beams, firing from either his eyes or directly from his solar jewel. These beams strike with blunt force as well as heat damage. The Vision can control the amount of energy he's expending in the beams and thus blunt the size of the attack, but they do not vary in terms of how much damage they cause, merely how widespread the damage actually is.
Even in near-dark conditions, there are photons flitting about that the Vision can absorb in his solar jewel. He stores this energy for later use, and unlike the mutant Sunspot, he doesn't seem to have daytime/nighttime power issues. The Vision's battery is extremely efficient, and it would take a concerted effort to drain his store of power enough to knock him out. With even Avengers-style usage, the Vision rarely has to fall back due to running out of power in his solar beams, much less his more mundane survival functions. Also, if an energy drain of some kind incapacitates the Vision, he revives within instants of being exposed to the sun or a laser, or less than an hour if it's nighttime and he's in the open to receive starlight.
The Vision doesn't need to eat or breathe, so he can survive in hostile environments such as under water or in space with no fuss, no muss. As long as he has power through his solar jewel, he's pretty much a happy camper and can survive unless he's torn to pieces.
The Vision has enhanced eyesight and hearing that we've observed, and it's likely that he was created with enhanced tactile, taste, and smell senses. The Vision can see in near-dark conditions and can hear a whisper from across the room. It is assumed that the Vision has absolute control over the sensors that govern these electronic senses, allowing him some protection against things like magnesium flares, but not someone like Dazzler. Even synthezoids need some kind of warning to turn off said sensors before they get nailed or burn out.
The Vision can absorb other energies through his solar jewel, although sun/starlight is best for him. He can absorb energy by eating as well. Energies absorbed by his jewel have to be compatible, and they have to be in quantities that don't blow him like a cheap Radio Shack fuse.
The Vision has the ability to phase into certain people and in essence possess them, using his mind to take over the other person's autonomic functions and then use their body as if it were his. He can do this with a baseline human for up to an hour, longer with any computer intelligence (depending on the strength of its will or programming or anti-virus protection).
In addition to taking over the minds of others, he is also able to take over entire computer networks, manipulate and modify the programming and with a few thoughts, take control of that system.
Like any active member of the Avengers, the Vision has full access to both East and West Coast compounds, a niftykeen ID card with his picture on it that serves as a videophone and emergency beeper (and calculator!), the Quinjets, etc. He receives the same stipend that the others do, and his money actually goes into maintaining the house in Leonia for lack of anything else better to do with it. He does tend to funnel most of his unused money into various charitable causes.
Jointly with the Scarlet Witch, the Vision is still half-owner of their second house in Leonia, mostly paid off due to their Avengers stipends and the insurance payout for their first house having been burned down by arsonists. While he doesn't ever go there, he is aware of the house and could conceivably make use of it.
The Vision has a holographic projector that allows him to go out in public in disguise. While it could conceivably hold more than one pattern to project, it's currently stuck on his 'Victor Shade' image. The projector is much like the X-Men's image inducers. It doesn't change his basic shape or mass or anything other than to cover himself with the illusion of something else. The projector can be used for hours and is built into the Vision himself, so it only requires a thought to turn on and off.
The Vision carries his Avengers IDenticard with him at all times. This serves as a communication device, homing device, calculator, credit card, and so on (depending on the current continuity and what Stark offers).
While the Vision is pretty darned indestructible, he can get injured and require repair. He's extremely well-versed in his own systems and can either repair himself or direct others to assist with the repair, though he prefers to do it himself. When it comes to repairing other things, he's of equal quality on things he repairs often, such as broken Quinjets or systems around Avengers mansion.
The Vision does adore puttering around with making new things. Much like his original creator, but with a less sinister bent, the Vision can create new technologies to bolster existing ones at Avenger mansion, but he's nowhere near the tinkering genius that either Hank Pym or Tony Stark are.
Logic in all its infinite diversity is something of a passion for the Vision, even in his emotionless state. Much like Spock, however, he's finding that logic isn't the be-all and end-all of life. Still, he can quote any of the Greek logicians or any other master of logic and can explain from very simple terms all the way up to complex terms how he got to any given decision. Flowcharts and all, if one asks nicely. (Please forgive the player as he's not mentally on this level of intelligence and will do his best.)
When it comes to old school (i.e. non-computerized) research, the Vision is still one of the top cats amongst the Avengers. While he can't speed-read as swiftly as Quicksilver, he's able to raid any given library or other fount of paper knowledge and find what he's looking for in a suitably small amount of time.
Like all of the Avengers who've been around even a minimum of time, the Vision is a skilled pilot, with the expected specialty in the Avengers' Quinjet of various models. He is suitable certified on both propeller and fixed wing jets as well as the space shuttle and rotary aircraft. And, given his knowledge of gliding on the winds, he's an even better glider/hang-glider/parasail pilot and hot air balloonist.
While he doesn't often use such skills, the Vision is one of many Avengers who has taken martial arts training with Captain America. Given his general physical abilities, the Vision is an adept and precise martial artist, rarely falling into the brawl/melee categories.
While no elected (or non-elected) government on the planet would tolerate him leading the Avengers again anytime soon, the Vision is something of an adept leader. His use of logic doesn't often make the best of friends, but he's good with allocation of resources and ensuring the Avengers remain afloat.
Like any married man and sometime father, the Vision actually does know how to do the dishes, vacuum the carpet, change the diapers, etc. And unlike most husbands, he doesn't shirk these duties.
While nowhere near the sort of field tactician that Captain America is, the Vision has absorbed enough tactics by Avengers Osmosis (tm, patent pending) to be a fair hand at leading the team through a fight. However, he tends to use logic in his tactical thoughts, and sometimes logic isn't the best sort of mindset with to approach any given battle.
The Vision is able to partition his thought processes to actively multitask and not miss a beat. He's capable of juggling six separate major thought processes, and two or three minor ones at the same time, with no corruption of data or cross-wiring.
The Vision is an excellent chess partner to have. He is well-versed in most human strategies, and he can hold his own against most computer programs and human opponents. While his computer mind can play a more consistent and challenging game than your average human chess geek, he can also be surprised by the inventive brilliance of humans in the game as well. And he's a gracious winner.
Even on a user's level, the Vision is well-versed in standard computer operations, although he has other specific skills in the area. He is better than the geekiest geek sucking down 64-oz Mountain Dew day in and day out and surviving on potato chips and pizza. About the only users who can out-geek him in general computer usage are the prodigies who have absolutely no other skills or abilities.
Even despite his attempt to take over the world's computer systems and the subsequent tightening of security by a panicked world community, the Vision is still able to finesse his way around just about any human computer system and a number of systems alien to Earth. While some companies and countries do have anti-Vision toys built in, the Vision could conceivably find his way around them, but it would take much longer to break in, if that was what he was doing.
Given his machine-based nature, the Vision is the king of googling what he wants. He's actually a better search engine on his own than most of the ground-based computer companies such as Google is these days. Sifting through terabytes of info is actually something he's very fond of doing. There's no such thing as keeping him out of data, unless one has some pretty serious hardware and software to keep him out. While most of the major powers have taken steps to keeping him out of their systems, he can eventually find out what he wants from their systems.
The Vision is something of a jazz enthusiast when he's got emotions, a trait he picked up from his original Wonder Man brain patterns.
For him, Operation: Galactic Storm just ended. However, for the rest of the world, much time has passed. It's as if he's waking up from another shutdown, albeit there was a stand-in for him over the past few years. An imposter. However, the Vision will press on to re-establish relationships with his former friends and teammates.
While the Vision has been dismantled and his memory erased, Hank Pym was able to reprogram those memories back into him from backup. The Vision remembers everything that ever happened to him, but he doesn't yet have the emotional linkages to those memories. He could fake the emotion, but he doesn't feel it. The fact that he does remember, and the others know he remembers, is a torment to them (particularly Wanda). What's worse is that he doesn't really miss the emotional linkages that much. Ignorance, bliss, yadda.
No matter how human he used to feel, the Vision is still artificial. He's a tinkertoy. Much like Data on Star Trek: TNG, he can be taken apart, his memories erased, etc. When he considered himself married to Wanda, even many moderates weren't all that keen on their relationship. In the old days, the Vision's artificial nature was the source of much angst and brooding, because he considered himself human trapped in an artificial body, not the other way 'round.
Much like Mr. Spock, the Vision is rather distant and reserved. Much of it is due to his overall lack of emotions. The rest of it is simply because that's how he chooses to be. People are still getting used to his new looks and the fact his voice has gone back to the robotic voice he used to have before his sons were born. The newly forged distance can throw off old friends, and some often get angry or disturbed. His lack of reaction to their anger, or simply calling it illogical or irrational just makes things worse.
Naturally, the biggest roadblock to the Vision's life is Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. In the old days, Wanda was his greatest joy. Now, all he can seem to do is piss her off or make her cry, simply by being who he is now. The memories are there, and he can remember their honeymoon, their children, everything, but he no longer understands her or her feelings, or why she's so frustrated with him. He also doesn't understand why his logical plan to distance himself from her for her own sake upsets her so. The sheer tragedy of the situation is that the Vision has no clue how to fix it other than by changing who he is now, something he finds terribly illogical.
This disadvantage mainly applied to his former Earth. However, he still carries those memories and assumes the current Wanda does as well.
Once considered a brother, Simon Williams represents what the Vision could be. It was Simon's brain patterns that were the basis for the Vision's original personality. An argument could be made that the Vision's attraction to Wanda was simply due to Simon's own predilections, and the fact that Wanda and Simon are together now only seem to illustrate to him that he is a fake, a mere copy, not human and unworthy of the Witch's love. The Vision doesn't feel like Simon is betraying him, which is sad, but Simon's time with the Scarlet Witch are simply ensuring that the Vision himself may never win back his wife.
Everyone who doesn't live under a rock is likely to know who the Vision is, although some may not be used to his new ghostly aspect. This means he can't go out in public without being accosted either by fans or detractors (or enemies), and his movements are likely to be tracked (especially after the ISAAC incident), so anyone he spends time with may become a target.
The Vision isn't Captain Whitebread America. He's a synthezoid. An artificial man. He's got a great deal of power, and he's not afraid to use it. It doesn't matter that he most often uses that power for the common good. No one other than his teammates and their allies trust him to any great extent. The governments of the world fear him so much that they set aside their vast differences to have him dismantled at one point. The average citizen would most likely prefer another Avenger to handle their problem than the Vision, because he's so otherworldly that he often scares the bejeebies out of people.
Density manipulation is fine and dandy until the Vision starts hardening himself beyond the 50 ton mark. He begins losing mobility on a progressive scale, his synthetics unable to withstand such vast pressures against them. Once he hits his ultimate limit, he cannot even move, and he also cannot maintain such densities for very long without severe damage to his system, on the order of less than an hour. The Vision must also keep in mind the support underneath him, because his higher densities can crush concrete, for example, and if he goes very dense on something that cannot support his weight, it will collapse beneath him. On the other end of the spectrum, the lightest densities have to be carefully watched, for if he lowers his density far enough, it's entirely possible that he could cause molecular dispersal. He's also more vulnerable to wind-related powers at that time as well.
While unlike Shadowcat, the Vision doesn't cause disruption automatically with his passage through electronics, he can accidentally do so. There are also a number of materials and energy barriers that he cannot safely pass through without the disruption happening to him. Unless the material or barrier is 'special' (i.e. rare/unusual/plot device-y), there should be no problems for him. Also unlike Shadowcat, the Vision also cannot phase things or people than himself, excluding his own connected parts.
While the comics showed the Vision flying willy-nilly about the landscape and carrying people as well, his gaming stats and the writers themselves specifically state he has to be at a very minimum density (and therefore nearly intangible) and could only float or glide on extant breezes or wings. However, since he's drawn as being able to counteract wind and gravity quite neatly, this is a lessened flaw. He basically has Poor flight capabilities as it is, but he isn't able to fly against a wind more than 50 MPH, but he cannot carry anyone or anything with him, being unable to manipulate their density like his own.
The Vision's ability to disrupt people and things has definite limits. There are beings who are too powerful for him to disrupt, or his attempt to disrupt them feeds back upon himself. Also, when the Vision himself is denser than Amazing rank, he himself takes equal damage as his target if he tries to disrupt them. There are also a number of folks who can create anti-disruption technology, such as Doctor Doom, that Vision cannot act against at any density without the pain feeding back upon himself.
While the Vision is governed by a precise computer, he is not entirely controlled. While he does have exquisite control over his strength, if he's malfunctioning or somehow provoked into a rage, he can use his strength poorly and crush people or things. Also, if he himself is holding up something and he malfunctions or someone nails him, his strength can and will fail him, leaving him vulnerable to being crushed by whatever he was holding up.
The downside to being extremely durable is not one of physical nature, but emotional. It's pretty much established that the Vision is likely to live an extremely long time, assuming he doesn't get his mind erased again or dismantled or otherwise destroyed. Much like Steve Rogers or Nick Fury, he will outlive his friends and even his estranged wife. If he regains his full range of emotions, he's likely to brood on this a bit, much like Connor MacCleod did in Highlander. It's entirely possible that he may choose to join his wife in death at the end of her life.
The Vision's solar beams have no real setting other than 'on'. While he can control how much energy he's expending via the beams, the damage they do are pretty much the same across the board, only the size of the area being struck is greater.
If the Vision is not where he has access to sunlight (or starlight, although that's a much weaker source of energy), he will eventually fall into a coma until someone beams some more juice in via his solar jewel. When he's denied his usual sustenance, he can use regular food and drink in his thoracic furnace, but he's severely weakened if he has to subsist strictly on human food and unable to use many of his usual stunts or skills to their usual peak attributes.
Obviously, the whole being artificial thing is a major downside to the Vision's life. He is well aware that he is not accepted as a living, sentient being. However, in the past, it has grieved him that he has been treated like property or a slave of some kind. The greatest tragedy to his dismantling by the various intelligence communities is that he no longer fights for his rights as a living being. He doesn't express rage at the fact he was taken apart like a bunch of Legos and that his right to exist was completely ignored simply because he was synthetic in origin.
Less emotionally, the physical nature of the Vision makes him susceptible to anti-machine attacks, such as technologies designed to invade computers, Magneto and his pet EMPs, things of that nature. Folks like Doom, the Fixer/Techno, Machinesmith… these guys are to be avoided if possible.
The Vision is subject to agony if hit with sonic or vibratory attacks, such as by Klaw or Graviton. While ordinary vibratory or sonic attacks are all right, it's the extreme ones which have a particularly nasty effect on the Vision, disrupting as thoroughly as if someone had pulled his patented disruption trick on him.
The Vision has shown a particular weakness to ionic pulses. This means that Simon Williams or other similarly-powered ionic sorts are a definite threat to him if someone could tap into their power and direct it in a blast at him. These pulses have the same effect as the feedback from a failed disruption.
Once upon a time, the Vision had a robotic voice, but his friends could tell he had emotions. Then, after his marriage to the Scarlet Witch and his own realization that he was a real person, the Vision began speaking in a normal baritone voice. However, after his disassembly, he has gone back to the original robotic tones, only this time, his friends can find no trace of the man they knew and loved.
The Vision's skill with disguises is pretty much limited to his Victor Shade persona. He has neither the imagination nor the intuition to know what makes a good disguise. Also, his hologram projector is limited to disguising him, no one else. It also cannot make him invisible by projecting 'nothing' over his features. If the Vision is somehow knocked out, the projector itself goes offline.
While it's not /quite/ as much of an issue after removing the control crystal that Ultron had originally planted in his brain, the Vision is still susceptible to possession by other minds and computers, provided sufficient pathways exist and the will of the invading mentality is stronger than his own. While the Vision's strong will helps him throw off such possession more easily than others, it sometimes can take some time before he can do so.
When it comes to the Vision possessing other minds, he is limited to computers whose computing power does not equal his own, or the minds of humans who have no psi-shields or other defenses against possession. He is unable to possess an alien. When possessing anyone, the Vision has to be extremely careful about his density. The density required for possession is dreadfully close to the density he begins disrupting their flesh, so he is forced to maintain strict control over his density during the whole time. He can only possess your standard garden variety human for an hour before he tires and has to phase free or disrupt them.
While all matter is susceptible to damage by antimatter, the Vision is particularly vulnerable to the stuff's rather explosive personality. It affects him twice as badly as any other 'typical' humanform person.
While the Vision's senses are more sensitive than a baseline human's, it must be noted that the Vision cannot see in total darkness, nor is his hearing keen enough to help him in times of functional blindness. For example, the Black Panther is better in such an environment. Also, like any hyper-sensitive person, the Vision's can be overwhelmed by a barrage against any one of the five, such as blinding light or deafening sound, etc.
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