VisionQuest is continuing the themes found in WandaVision and Agatha All Along, with a major twist. Marvel Studios will conclude its first true Disney+ trilogy later this year when VisionQuest, starring Paul Bettany's Vision and James Spader's Ultron, premieres on Disney+. This trilogy began in WandaVision and continued in Agatha All Along, which propelled Kathryn Hahn's Agatha Harkness, the villain of the first chapter, into a magical mystery with Joe Locke's Billy Maximoff.
Marvel Television boss Brad Winderbaum confirmed during an interview with The Official Marvel Podcast that VisionQuest will invert Agatha All Along's parental theme, switching out motherhood for fatherhood. Meanwhile, he revealed that "parenthood as a concept" is truly the heart of the WandaVision trilogy:
"Agatha, in many ways, plays with motherhood in the way that VisionQuest plays with themes of fatherhood, and the entire trilogy is focused, in many ways, on parenthood as a concept."
While Agatha All Along explored the ancient witch's trauma from losing her own son, Nicholas Scratch, one could argue that she also became a distant, arguably at times abusive mother figure to Locke's Billy. The series also noted Agatha's struggles with her own mother, Evanora, whom she dubbed an "abomination."
Winderbaum added how VisionQuest ponders a key question with its fatherhood focus that will seemingly involve Ultron, Vision, and Tommy Maximoff: "Can a man who had an abusive father be a good father himself?"
"In VisonQuest, what [creator Terry Matalas] did, which has so much gravity, especially with this amazing cast... It is really about fathers and sons, and specifically about three generations of grandfather, father, and son. Can a man who had an abusive father be a good father himself?"
Parenthood May Be the MCU's Biggest Phase 6 Theme
Brad Winderbaum's latest comments on VisionQuest are rather telling for Ultron's role in the series, confirming he will be an "abusive father" figure to Paul Bettany's synthezoid, whose body he created in Avengers: Age of Ultron. This will be accompanied by a major design change for Ultron in the Disney+ show.
As VisionQuest explores the father-son dynamic between Ultron and Vision, the former Avenger will also be stepping up as a parent himself to Ruaridh Mollica's Tommy Maximoff. By the time the credits roll, this trilogy could offer a clever exploration of the differences between fatherhood and motherhood in the MCU.
Parenthood looks to be a common theme across Phase 6, having been felt strongly in The Fantastic Four: First Steps and soon again with Avengers: Doomsday, which will feature several superhero parents in action.
The marketing for Wonder Man even hinted that this could carry into his Disney+ series through Yaya Abdul-Mateen II's surprise early MCU debut in an in-character interview. The superhero actor noted that the original Wonder Man was "the first movie that [he] saw in the theaters with [his] father."
