From ‘Iron Man’ to ‘WandaVision,’ Here’s Exactly How ‘VisionQuest’ Fits Into the MCU
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.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe has been around for almost two decades now, and it’s safe to say it changed the film industry forever. From Iron Man, the movie that started it all in 2008, to culturally historic films like Captain Marvel and Black Panther, record-breaking team-ups like Avengers: Endgame, and the phenomenon that is Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the MCU has continued to reinvent and improve upon itself. Not every project has been successful, of course, but Marvel is inarguably one of the most impactful and dominant franchises of all time.
And this isn’t just true for film. Marvel has also been making a splash in the television space, with Emmy-nominated series like Loki, Moon Knight, and Wonder Man. No show, however, has managed to match the acclaim and influence of its first foray on Disney+: WandaVision, which centered on Elizabeth Olsen’s fan-favorite character as her chaos magic created a sitcom-themed hex in a New Jersey town to deal with her grief. Garnering a whopping 23 award nominations and three wins, the show took the world by storm and sparked a trilogy that’s set to conclude with the upcoming VisionQuest.
While many were disappointed to hear that Jac Schaeffer — the brilliant mind behind both WandaVision and its follow-up, the delightfully witchy Agatha All Along — wouldn’t be returning to helm the final installment, the announcement of Terry Matalas should put some minds at ease. The co-creator and showrunner of the underrated sci-fi gem 12 Monkeys, you’d be hard-pressed to find someone more suited for the challenge. Hand-picked by Kevin Feige due to his work on Star Trek: Picard, Matalas not only has valuable experience working in the genre but also has intimate knowledge of how to balance paying tribute to beloved IP while crafting a fresh, original story that’s full of surprises. That, and he’s a massive Marvel fan with knowledge of and enthusiasm for the source material.
Last May, Collider got the chance to visit the VisionQuest set at Pinewood Studios just outside of London to speak to Matalas, as well as several craftspeople and actors from the upcoming series. From getting an intimate tour of impressive key sets to sneak peeks of Easter egg-filled costumes, we learned a ton of exciting information. Here’s everything you need to know.
‘VisionQuest’ Will Be a True Trilogy With ‘WandaVision’ and ‘Agatha All Along'
Those worried that VisionQuest will divert too much from what made the first two shows in the trilogy great shouldn’t fear — Matalas assures us that VisionQuest will act as a true follow-up to the story. “We’re spending the brilliant currency that was printed in WandaVision,” he says of its predecessor’s character work and worldbuilding, also teasing that many key events unfold as a “direct result of Billy,” who was introduced in Agatha All Along.
While Schaeffer is not returning in a showrunner capacity, she’s credited as an EP on the project, as is Mary Livanos, who played a large role in developing all the projects in the trilogy. Director Ganja Monteiro, who helmed three episodes of Agatha All Along, is set to direct Episodes 3 and 4 of VisionQuest as well, furthering the synergy and creative continuity between the three shows.
Perhaps nobody is more excited about this fact than newcomer Ruaridh Mollica, who takes on the role of Vision’s son Tommy. He cites Iron Man as his favorite MCU film and WandaVision and Agatha All Along as his favorite series. “It’s nice to be adjacent to and echo that,” he says of being part of the trilogy.
The “AI Avengers” Will Help Vision on a Journey of Self-Discovery
VisionQuest will follow Vision on a journey of self-discovery, with actor Paul Bettany revealing that he will grapple with two major questions: Who am I? And what is my purpose? “I once heard somebody say you can do two things with robots in stories,” Bettany says. “You can either do the Pinocchio ‘I'm a real boy,’ which we have done, and you can do Frankenstein, ‘Why was I made?’” Bettany likens Vision’s experience at the end of WandaVision to “being in a coma for years and years.” While he has now regained his memories, he’s not emotionally connected to them, leading him to struggle with themes of identity and legacy. This show will see him attempt to tap into those lost feelings… with a little help from his friends, of course.
After losing everything — and with multiple people hunting him due to his status as the ultimate weapon — Vision decided to run away. When we catch up with him, we’ll learn that, by day, he’s been disguising himself as a human and working at a pub for the past few years. At night, however, he goes back into his natural robot form, getting in a walk-in freezer to cool down his systems. It’s there that he goes into the fantastical Mindspace in his head — a theatrical version of how a quantum computer works — and converses with other rescued AIs from the Stark Compound, including J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D’Arcy), F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady), E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire), Dum-E (Henry Lewis), U (Jonathan Sayer), and Ultron (James Spader), who it’s revealed that Vision showed mercy to at the last minute in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Collider Exclusive · Marvel Personality Quiz Which MCU Hero Are You? Spider-Man · Daredevil · Iron Man · Punisher · Thor · Cap
Six heroes. One destiny. Answer 10 questions to discover which Marvel Cinematic Universe hero shares your personality, values, and fighting spirit. Will you swing, fly, or thunder your way to glory?
🕷️Spider-Man
😈Daredevil
🤖Iron Man
💀Punisher
⚡Thor
🛡️Cap
01
What drives you to do what's right? Choose the answer that feels most like you.
02
It's 2 AM. Where are you? Your answer says more about you than you'd think.
03
How do you handle a villain who keeps escaping justice? Every hero has a method. What's yours?
04
How do you feel about keeping a secret identity? The mask — or the lack of one — says everything.
05
You've lost someone important because of your heroism. How do you carry that? Every hero pays a price. The question is how they pay it.
06
What's your role when working with a team? Who you are under pressure is who you actually are.
07
Where do you draw the line between justice and revenge? The answer defines what kind of hero you really are.
08
When you're not saving the world, what does life look like? The person behind the mask is always the more interesting story.
09
What keeps you up at night? Fear is useful data — if you're honest about what you're actually afraid of.
10
The battle is lost. You're outnumbered, outgunned, and exhausted. What do you do? This is your tiebreaker — choose carefully.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your MCU Hero Is…
Based on your answers, the Marvel hero who matches your spirit, values, and instincts has been revealed.
🕷️ Spider-Man
You carry the weight of the world on shoulders that are younger than they should have to be — funny, loyal, and endlessly self-sacrificing.
- You do the right thing not because it's easy, but because no one else will.
- You understand that responsibility isn't a burden you choose — it's one that finds you.
- Whether it's a neighbourhood mugging or a multiverse crisis, you show up.
- Peter Parker's lesson — that great power demands great responsibility — isn't a slogan to you. It's the code you live by, even when it costs you everything.
😈 Daredevil
You fight in the shadows between law and chaos, guided by a fierce moral compass that refuses to let the guilty walk free.
- You use every tool available — your mind, your body, your faith — to protect those the system overlooks.
- You've looked into the darkness and chosen not to become it, though the line has never been easy.
- Matt Murdock's duality — champion in the courtroom, devil in the alley — mirrors your own.
- Relentless, conflicted, and unwilling to stop. That is exactly you.
🤖 Iron Man
Brilliant, driven, and occasionally insufferable — but always the person who solves the unsolvable problem.
- You lead with your mind and back it up with resources, innovation, and a stubbornness that borders on heroic.
- You started out looking out for yourself, but somewhere along the way the world became your responsibility.
- Tony Stark's arc — from ego to sacrifice — is your arc too.
- You build, you plan, and when the moment comes, you're willing to give everything. Because in the end, you're Iron Man.
💀 The Punisher
You've been through fire that would break most people — and it did change you, completely. What's left is unyielding, relentless, and operating by a code forged in grief.
- You don't ask for forgiveness, and you don't expect gratitude.
- You see a corrupt, broken world and you've decided to do something about it, consequences be damned.
- Frank Castle's war is born from love twisted by loss — and so is yours.
- Uncompromising and unflinching — the world may not agree with your methods, but your conviction is absolute.
⚡ Thor
Powerful, proud, and on a lifelong journey to become worthy of the legend you carry.
- You lead with strength but have learned — sometimes painfully — that true greatness comes from humility and growth.
- You're larger than life, yet more vulnerable than you let on.
- Thor's story is one of transformation: from arrogant prince to worthy king, from isolated warrior to beloved protector.
- You bring the storm when it's needed — and the warmth when it matters just as much.
🛡️ Captain America
You believe in something bigger than yourself — and you fight for it even when the world has moved on and nobody else will.
- You don't bully the small guy, and you never stop when it gets hard.
- Steve Rogers didn't become a hero when he got the serum — he was always one. So were you.
- Your strength isn't in your fists; it's in your refusal to compromise what's right, no matter the cost.
- In a world full of people taking the easy road, you're the one who picks up the shield and stands up — every single time.
With the assistance of this makeshift AI family, Vision will try to understand humanity. Matalas reveals that each AI represents different aspects of what it means to be human. E.D.I.T.H., for example, has a focus on fun and enjoyment. After working with her on 12 Monkeys, Matalas wrote the part with Hampshire in mind, and after getting to see her film a scene, it’s easy to see why. Her bubbly enthusiasm is contagious. It helps that Hampshire has been a fan of the character since hearing Dawn Michelle King voice her in Tom Holland’s Spider-Man movies. “I was very excited about coming out of the glasses,” she shares.
Vision’s relationship with an older version of J.A.R.V.I.S. will be both brotherly and complicated, considering Vision’s origins, while Dum-E and U — Stark’s robot arms — function as twins. “We’re super in sync,” says Sayer. “We're trying to kind of show the rest of the household and the rest of the guys that we're equal and able to mix in with them.” Matalas hired the duo, who have been collaborators and best friends for nearly two decades now, after seeing them onstage. Dum-E and U will work as a “double act” of sorts, serving as comedic relief for much of the show — something that Lewis and Sayer have plenty of experience doing throughout their extensive theater career.
‘VisionQuest’ Explores What It Means To Be a Father
While WandaVision and Agatha All Along largely focused on motherhood, VisionQuest will hone in on what it means to be a father through various relationships, the first being Ultron and Vision’s dynamic. Though Vision is still wary of Ultron and his intentions, keeping him locked away in the loft where all of the AI live, he seems to be coming around to humanity in ways, devouring culture and art. In fact, he might even have a better perspective on humanity than Vision does, leading to unexpected points of connection and contention alike. “I'm just a massive James Spader fan,” Matalas says of Ultron’s highly anticipated return, “so it's a bucket list item to have Bettany and Spader on the same team together.”
Since all of the AIs were built by Tony Stark, he’s also looked at like a father figure in a way. Matalas recently shared with SFX Magazine that his death would be revisited since F.R.I.D.A.Y. was there when it happened. “What's that like for an AI to not be able to protect the one they're programmed to protect?” he says. “That's a question that the pilot will very quickly answer."
Fatherhood will be explored through Vision’s relationship with his son Tommy as well. Fans will remember that Episode 8 of Agatha All Along saw Billy putting his twin’s soul into the body of a drowning teenager. We will learn that the teenager is an orphan boy named Tommy Shepherd, who’s been pickpocketing on the streets of London to survive. “He likes to read and play people. There’s a bit of artful dodgery,” Mollica says, revealing that he took inspiration from Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting in his approach.
Much like his twin struggled to figure out how to reconcile William Kaplan with Billy Maximoff, Mollica teases that finding the line between Tommy Shepherd and Tommy Maximoff proves a long, difficult process. “It’s a complete identity crisis,” the Scottish actor says, which echoes Vision’s struggles. “I think that's what the show really feels like it's about for everyone. Everyone is coming to terms with their identity, and their purpose, and meaning, and their soul, and what's actually within them. Tommy goes through that denial.”
As far as how much Tommy knows about Vision to begin with, Mollica admits that it’s complicated. “Tommy has grown up in a world that knows about Vision and knows about these events and things that have happened,” he says, though he’s by no means an expert. As far as his personal ties and Maximoff roots go, that’s even hazier. “He's got these certain ‘delusions,’ he sees them as, that are maybe more linked to memories of these kinds of things, but it's quite ambiguous as to what they are in his mind.” The road to a father-son bond is bound to be rocky. “He’s not had a father figure in so long,” Mollica says, “so he’s guarded. But there’s also a deep yearning for one in there.”
Luckily, the relationship between him and Bettany came a lot faster. Mollica says the two had an instant connection, bonding over their shared passion for music and photography. It remains to be seen whether we’ll see Tommy and Billy interact in this project, but Mollica reveals that he’s hung out with his fictional brother, Joe Locke, as well, asking him for advice on navigating the MCU. Locke’s words of wisdom were simple: “Enjoy it. It’s the best job in the world.”
Besides his dynamic with Vision, Tommy will also have a partner-in-crime in the series in the form of a girl named Lisa Molinari (Lauren Morais). Both loners and survivors who have been dealt a rough hand, the two lean on one another for support after meeting on a prison bus — and develop some undeniable romantic chemistry. For Morais, the opportunity to join the project was a dream come true and a full-circle moment. The Welsh actress was working at a movie theater when she got the audition and recalls selling tickets for Captain America: Brave New World at the same time that she was offered the part. The next thing she knew, she was taking pickpocket lessons. “It was so mad,” she confesses with a laugh.
‘VisionQuest’ Features Grungy Action
It wouldn’t be a Marvel show without some compelling action, and VisionQuest promises plenty of that. While the Mindspace may be a colorful, fantastical place, the real world will have a drastically different feel, leaning into grit and grunge. Matalas teases that, while we will see Vision’s unique abilities on display, we will also “see what it’s like for him to be less capable.” If that weren’t ominous enough, he flat-out confirms that “he’s got a rough road ahead.”
That rough road is more than likely due to a bounty hunter named Paladin, played by Todd Stashwick, who also previously collaborated with Matalas on 12 Monkeys. “He has a long history in Marvel canon in the comic books,” Matalas says, “and Marvel had been often trying to figure out where he might fit in in the universe.” They finally found their answer in VisionQuest.
Matalas says that Paladin operates in a moral grey zone where there are no easy, straightforward answers. As far as inspiration goes, he shares that he looked to Tommy Lee Jones’ performance in The Fugitive to shape his personality. In addition to hunting Vision, Paladin will serve as a bridge to the Tommy storyline, playing a pivotal role in integrating him into Vision’s journey.
‘VisionQuest’s Set Design and Costumes Include Lots of Easter Eggs
If you were delighted by the commercials in WandaVision, you’ll be thrilled to know that there are plenty of similar Easter eggs in store in VisionQuest. Production designer Will Hughes-Jones gave us a taste of what’s to come during our tour of the Mindspace, showing us everything from a Scrub Vision (a play on the Scrub Daddy, of course) to Visinmite (instead of Vegemite) to Ram (rather than Spam, naturally). And it doesn’t stop with the products. The space outside the house pays tribute to the famous hilly Windows XP screensaver, and there is an array of mindstones hidden around the entire Mindspace house if you know where to look.
The attention to detail is evident in the wardrobe as well. Costume designer Sarah Young gave us a peek at her style guide for Vision, which intentionally features lots of reds, blues, and greens to symbolize Wanda, Billy, and Tommy. Some items of clothing even feature lines of code and parts that are intentionally sewn a bit off to represent the wonky, uncanny valley effect of AI-generated things. Rest assured, however, that AI wasn’t actually used anywhere in the creative process. Matalas confirms that, while the show will explore and comment on AI, it wasn’t utilized in the making of this show.
From its incredible legacy with WandaVision and Agatha All Along to the care and passion that each of the creatives brings to the show, VisionQuest has all the makings of being one of the most exciting and successful MCU series ever. Will Vision find his purpose? Can Ultron truly be trusted? Will Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) and Billy appear to make good on their promise to find Tommy? There are so many questions the show is bound to explore, and it’s certain to raise brand-new inquiries as well. I, for one, can’t wait to see Matalas’ vision finally executed.
VisionQuest premieres on Disney+ on October 14th.
- Release Date
- October 14, 2026
- Network
- Disney+
- Showrunner
- Terry Matalas
-
The Vision
-
Henry Lewis
D.U.M.-E
-
J.A.R.V.I.S.
-
Orla Brady
F.R.I.D.A.Y.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.