‘VisionQuest’ Raises the Stakes With a Shocking Identity Twist | Review
Taylor Gates is an Indiana native who earned her BFA in Creative Writing from the University of Evansville. She fell in love with entertainment by watching shows about chaotic families like Full House, The Nanny, Gilmore Girls, and The Fosters.
After college, she moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career as a writer, editor, and filmmaker. Today, she’s a sucker for dramedies — especially coming-of-age stories centering around complex female and LGBTQ+ characters. She has been with Collider since May 2022.
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Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for VisionQuest Episode 4.
If you’ve been in line waiting for Jocasta (T’Nia Miller) to appear in VisionQuest, stay in line! Sure, Butcherbird was technically in Episode 3, too, but this episode finally explains who she is, and that’s a certified legend — not only that, but we also get a fancy gala, more information about the OG Edith (Emily Hampshire), and some hilarious cons that would make Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) proud.
Butcherbird’s Breach Gives ‘VisionQuest’ Episode 4 a Chaotic Start
Butcherbird furiously tells Vision (Paul Bettany) that, no matter what, “they always make another” synthezoid. Vision attempts to calm her, saying that she’s just angry and confused and that they can help each other, but it doesn’t do much to make her stand down. She tells him that if he leaves her alone, she’ll leave him alone, too. If he refuses, she’ll get to Tommy (Ruaridh Mollica).
Edith performs an exorcism to forcibly remove Butcherbird from the Mindspace, and Ultron (James Spader) tells them to follow the birds out the window to track where she’s going. She’s already fixated on her next target, and Edith recommends they get to hacking since what they’re looking for won’t be public knowledge. Vision cautions them not to raise their pitchforks, as he sensed pain — not anger — in Butcherbird. He believes that what she needs more than anything is some compassion.
The fact that it’s the anniversary of everything that happened in Sokovia puts a bit of a strange, melancholy mood in the air, though Tommy and Vision have no choice but to keep moving. Tommy is glad he has Vision and his powers on their side, but Vision informs him that his powers are regrettably offline for the time being as they track down Butcherbird. He once again consults the other AIs, leading to Tommy asking him who he talks to when he “goes somewhere else.” Vision surprisingly tells him the truth about everyone — except for Ultron, that is. Despite Ultron strongly discouraging it, Vision agrees to let Tommy stick by his side.
The Butcherbird Investigation Leads to Shocking Revelations in ‘VisionQuest’ Episode 4
Friday looks into Butcherbird’s victims, and it’s not long before she finds a link: they were all part of a biotech company that created the prototypes for the Stark AIs. Josephine Carrington, who worked alongside them, has also been reported dead. Meanwhile, Vision and Ultron decide to pretend they’re working on solving a case to hack into police files they need. Of course, getting past cybersecurity as an AI is tough work, and they have to put their minds together to hilariously “prove they’re not a robot.” Ultron warns Vision that Tommy will refuse to listen to him and do as he pleases, as all teens do. Vision asks him how, exactly, he knows that, and he replies it’s because he watches a lot of TV (though we get the sneaking suspicion it’s also because he feels parental to Vision).
They examine the victims’ bodies and see not only rage but purpose — Butcherbird took very specific body parts and pieces of DNA to unlock something that needs biokeys. They believe that the next victim will likely be the company’s CEO, Katerina Wells (Mary McDonnell), who is sponsoring a large gala that night. Edith is assigned to search Stark Industries for a clue on how to stop Butcherbird.
‘VisionQuest’ Episode 4 Features an Eventful Gala
Vision asks Tommy for help sneaking into the gala, and he turns around and enlists the best con artist he knows: Lisa (Lauren Morais). First, though, he has to catch her up on all of the wild developments in his life. Lisa, icon that she is, doesn’t bat an eye, immediately believing everything he says, no matter how crazy it sounds. She knows what a con looks like, and this isn’t it. Vision and Tommy create a hilarious distraction by fighting loudly in Italian outside the gala while Lisa swipes tickets for the three of them to get in.
Inside the gala, Vision tells Tommy to run if Butcherbird crashes the party — another fatherly moment of protection. Lisa notices this, telling Tommy to be careful that he doesn’t trust Vision too quickly and set himself up for disappointment. Tommy lashes out, accusing Lisa of trying to ruin this for him because she’s jealous that he has a family now and she doesn’t. He immediately feels bad and apologizes, but it’s too late. The damage is already done, and she storms away, hurt. Tommy asks Vision’s advice on how to make things right with Lisa. Vision tells him that Wanda taught him there’s a difference between saying sorry and being sorry, and the two aren’t equal. Tommy notes that this is the first time Vision has ever referred to Wanda telling him something — not the old him.
Edith discovers that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) used the technology that Katerina sold him as a base for his AIs, but that their avatars were inspired by real people. Edith finds out her human had a long, sad life despite her fun-loving personality, which causes her to have the first flickers of an identity crisis. Ultron is surprisingly the one to help her through it, telling her that Edith was brave and persevered through all the pain she endured. She gets to be the next version of Edith and isn’t defined by her human’s life. Edith inquires about who he’s based on, and Ultron tells her that he was simply dreamed up in a lab in Avengers Tower.
Katerina gives a speech about feeling guilty for the Battle of Sokovia, telling the crowd that Ultron is a reflection of both good and bad. She talks about the advancements in AI, mentioning that the first prototype, Jim, “felt to death,” burning himself up because he experienced too many complex emotions that he couldn’t process. Tommy tells Vision that Jim didn’t have a family of other AIs to help him process things, and Vision agrees that the five AIs in his head are helpful for this. Tommy recalls that he only said there were four back at the hotel, putting the pieces together to realize the fifth is Ultron. Katerina continues her speech by saying that, while she feels guilt about what happened with Ultron, she doesn’t have regrets — every new AI brings the threat of Ultron but also the promise of Vision. All she can do is hope to do better and forgive herself for past mistakes.
‘VisionQuest’ Episode 4 Ends With an Epic AI Battle
“Is that what we’re calling it?” Butcherbird bitterly asks as she bursts onto the scene, moving to attack Katerina. Katerina tells her that she’s trying to create the peaceful world they always wanted, but Butcherbird is unconvinced, vowing to take back everything Katerina took from her “starting with her face.” This gives Edith an idea: What if Butcherbird is based on someone, too? Katerina says something about how she’s been “hiding from the ghost” of Butcherbird, which makes the lightbulb go off for Edith — she must be Josephine, the woman from the biotech company who passed away.
Vision turns into White Vision to try to stop Butcherbird, saying that, regardless of what she’s feeling, it doesn’t justify this death. Despite Vision urging Tommy not to get involved, he uses his speed to protect Katerina, and Vision warns Butcherbird that if she touches Tommy, he’ll tear her apart.
Ultron urges Vision to remind Butcherbird who she really is, and he tells her to remember that she’s based on Josephine. Butcherbird says she’s not just based on Jo — she is Jo — though she continues her rampage. Ultron warns Vision that he’s too emotionally compromised to do what needs to be done since he’s afraid to lose Tommy, encouraging him to hand over the wheel. Vision is hesitant, especially considering he thinks Jo can be saved. After Ultron vows not to kill Jo, Vision reluctantly gives him the reins. Immediately upon taking over Vision’s body, Ultron vaporizes Katerina and locks all of the other AIs inside the loft so he’s in full control. The next thing he wants to do now that he’s in charge? Have a chat with Tommy.
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which MCU Character Is Your Best Friend? Steve Rogers · Tony Stark · Peter Parker · Shuri
Pick where you meet, what they text you at two in the morning, what they hand you on your birthday and what the two of you keep arguing about. Four very different people are waiting on the other side: the one who never leaves, the one who is exhausting and worth it, the one who replies in four seconds flat, and the one who will roast you and then fix your life.
🛡️Steve Rogers(Captain America)
🛠️Tony Stark(Iron Man)
🕸️Peter Parker(Spider-Man)
🐆Shuri(Black Panther)
01
Where do the two of you meet? Nobody in this universe makes a friend somewhere normal.
02
Your phone lights up at two in the morning. What does it say? You find out what kind of friend somebody is by what they send at that hour.
03
It is your birthday. What do they hand you? The present is never really about the present.
04
What does a good Saturday with them actually look like? Superheroes have days off, and this is how they spend them.
05
You have your worst day in years. What do they do about it? This is the part of a friendship nobody puts in the trailer.
06
Every real friendship has one fight it keeps having. What is yours? The thing you argue about is usually the thing you like most about them.
07
The alarm goes off and you are both in the field. What is your job? You get one role on the team, and it says a lot about who you want next to you.
08
Ten years on, what do you want this friendship to be? Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who picks up the phone.
The Line Is Ringing Your Best Friend Is…
Four people, four completely different ideas of what it means to have somebody in your corner. Here is who picked up, what they would ask of you, and what you would get back.
Steve Rogers
You want the friend who does not leave. Steve is the one who turns up at the door without being asked, who remembers what you said you were worried about, and who has never once made you audition for his attention.
- His entire character is built on a single sentence, which is that he will not abandon somebody just because it has become expensive to keep them.
- He is far funnier than people give him credit for, and the joke is almost always at his own expense rather than yours.
- The friendship comes with a cost, since being close to Steve means being dragged into fights that were never yours and being glad about it later.
- You would get a friend who tells you the hard thing to your face and then defends you to everybody else in the room.
Tony Stark
You want the friend who is genuinely exhausting and completely worth it. Tony will forget your birthday, then build you something at four in the morning that you did not know you needed, and hand it over as though it were nothing.
- He is bad at saying the warm thing out loud, so he says it in hardware instead, which is why everybody around him ends up with upgraded everything.
- Being his friend means putting up with the disappearing, the deflecting and the jokes that arrive about ninety seconds too early.
- What you get in return is somebody who will spend an unreasonable amount of money and effort on a problem the moment it becomes yours.
- He is the loudest person in the room and the one most likely to be quietly panicking about all of you.
Peter Parker
You want the friend who replies in four seconds and apologises for it. Peter is earnest in a way that is almost unfashionable, and he will take on far more than he can carry rather than admit that he is struggling.
- He is the only one on this list who needs looking after as much as he looks after you, and that balance is exactly what makes it a real friendship.
- Nobody in the MCU is better at the small stuff, from remembering the thing you were nervous about to showing up with food you did not ask for.
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrived in July 2026 and put him back where he works best, which is broke, local and carrying the weight on his own.
- You would get a friend who is sincerely, embarrassingly happy for you when something goes right, with no edge to it at all.
Shuri
You want the friend who insults your shoes, fixes your phone and then quietly rearranges your entire life for the better. Shuri does not do soft reassurance, and that is the reason you would believe her when she says you are fine.
- She is the smartest person in almost any room she walks into and treats that as a reason to tease you rather than a reason to lecture you.
- The teasing is the affection. When Shuri stops making fun of you, something has gone seriously wrong and you should probably ask her about it.
- Her story is the one on this list that goes somewhere genuinely dark, which is what turned her from a scene stealer into the emotional centre of the films.
- You would get a friend who never pities you, never softens the truth, and never once lets you take yourself too seriously.
‘VisionQuest’ Episode 4 Sets Up a New Exciting, Layered Antagonist
Fans have been excited about Jocasta since she was announced to be part of the series, and her role and motivations — while certainly still mysterious — are beginning to get a bit clearer with her connection to (and now vendetta against) Katerina and her AI company. The fight at the gala makes for a truly legendary set piece that Marvel has come to be known for, feeling vaguely reminiscent of Kate (Hailee Steinfeld) and Yelena’s (Florence Pugh) battle during the Christmas party in Hawkeye. The risky decision Vision makes to trust Ultron at the end of it is a hell of a cliffhanger, too. This episode has great moments of humor, with Vision and Ultron’s “prove you’re not a robot” sequence perhaps the strongest, most clever bit of comedy to date. Tommy and Lisa banding together to sneak everyone into the gala also offers some more fun, slick moments that are always a blast to see onscreen, but their emotional argument is equally effective.
It’s great to see Emily Hampshire get some more material to work with as she performs that incredible exorcism and pokes into Edith’s backstory. It’s also sweet and unexpected to see Ultron be the one to comfort and advise her. The point of this, however, seems to be getting slightly muddled in execution, with the direction of Edith’s emotional journey not altogether clear yet. The themes of identity, legacy, and purpose are there, but ultimately end up feeling a bit scrambled as it pertains to the Stark AIs other than Vision and Ultron.
New episodes of VisionQuest premiere Wednesdays on Disney+.
- Release Date
- 2026 - 2026-00-00
- Network
- Disney+
- Showrunner
- Terry Matalas
- Directors
- Vincenzo Natali, Christopher J. Byrne, Gandja Monteiro, Terry Matalas
- Writers
- Terry Matalas, Cindy Appel, Nicole Falsetti, Christopher Monfette, Matthew Okumura, Michael Taylor
-
The Vision
-
Ultron
- Franchise(s)
- Marvel Cinematic Universe
- Creator(s)
- Terry Matalas
Pros & Cons
- The comedy is spot-on, especially with the exorcism and ?prove you?re not a robot? scenes.
- The gala makes for a visually dazzling, high-stakes setting.
- Jocasta is a welcome, intriguing addition.
- Other than Vision and Ultron, the Stark AIs still don?t feel developed enough.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.