Entertainment

VisionQuest Is Great, But Disney's Similar Sci-Fi Fantasy Series From 5 Years Ago Is Still Superior

Nairavoice · Nov 8, 2026 · 4 min read

As expected, VisionQuest is a creative, clever, and intriguing new entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, though it still can’t quite live up to its genre-bending predecessor. Starring returning MCU favorites Paul Bettany and James Spader as Vision and Ultron, respectively, VisionQuest concludes a superhero journey that began in the much-maligned yet no less impactful Avengers: Age of Ultron, examining what it means to feel, love, and be human. Bettany and Spader are both excellent, and the show is especially appealing to die-hard MCU fans, a substantial reward for a decade of franchise loyalty.

Visually, many of VisionQuest‘s scenes are stunning, especially when Ultron and fellow familiar MCU AIs like F.R.I.D.A.Y., J.A.R.V.I.S., DUM-E, U, and Spider-Man: Far From Home‘s E.D.I.T.H. spend their time rooting around in Vision’s Sherlockian, 1960s-inspired Mind Palace, digging deep into his hard drive to help this new and not-quite-improved version of Vision understand and accept his identity. He has the original Vision’s memories, but only because Wanda Maximoff recreated him in her hex. What does that make White Vision? And how does that impact his relationship with Tommy Maximoff, Wanda and Westview-Vision’s conjured son? It’s a lot to wrap one’s mind around.

While there’s so much to like, and the show has set up an exciting finale, VisionQuest also suffers, at times, from a lack of focus. It ping-pongs between Vision’s increasingly chaotic mind, his father-son bonding time with Tommy, Paladin’s contract, Ultron’s shady desires, and a new synthezoid’s homicidal killing spree. It forgets what made Marvel’s first Disney+ show so effective. Despite all the magical sitcom hijinks and SWORD’s desperation to break into Westview, WandaVision‘s story always revolved around one specific, relatable, emotional theme.

VisionQuest Can’t Quite Live Up To Marvel’s WandaVision

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Even now, five years and well over a dozen shows later, WandaVision remains one of the MCU’s most impressive TV achievements, a surprising but highly effective blend of psychological, character-driven storytelling and a fantastical, mysterious superhero plot. Though WandaVision also had multiple storylines, including flashbacks to Wanda’s life after Avengers: Endgame and SWORD’s operation to break the Westview Hex, everything referenced or directly impacted Wanda’s overwhelming grief and her hopeless desire to uphold her newly imagined life.

Vision, Tommy, Billy, Agatha Harkness, and even Monica Rambeau were all supporting players in her story. It never lost its focus. The same isn’t true for VisionQuest. Ultron’s, Tommy’s, and Jocasta’s needs and wants are all just as important as Vision’s in the story’s overall narrative arc. Add characters like Phineas Horton and JIM (both played brilliantly by Bettany), Tommy’s friend Lisa, and multiple personified AIs, and it feels more like an ensemble drama than a character study.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with that, of course — WandaVision‘s first “unofficial” sequel, Agatha All Along, was also an ensemble show, though that choice felt more purposeful. Agatha needed those characters to achieve her goals, and since their story was always bound together, the series never lost sight of its base narrative. Does Vision’s journey to accept his existence and his innate ability to feel need all those moving parts? It’s hard to say.

Both WandaVision and Agatha All Along also had a more cohesive creative “vision,” as it were. Wanda’s fascination with sitcoms served an undeniable purpose, as did the genre-mixing Witches’ Road trials in Agatha All Along. They provided a structural framework. Between Vision’s mental mansion, Jocasta’s white void, London, and Madripoor, VisionQuest sometimes feels like watching multiple shows simultaneously, playing into well-worn superhero tropes. VisionQuest’s version of the Hex and the Witches’ Road is the digital mansion, but the story too often pivots in a new direction.

Is The Scarlet Witch Trilogy The MCU’s Best Three-Part Series Yet?

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That said, VisionQuest is still a genuinely compelling story, a worthy end to the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s unofficial Scarlet Witch trilogy. It’s certainly leagues better than some of the MCU’s other rushed shows, including Secret Invasion and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Like WandaVision and Agatha All Along, it explores universal themes like love, grief, identity, and parenthood with emotional finesse, all while experimenting with new kinds of storytelling. If this is where Vision’s story ends — Bettany has not (yet) been confirmed for Avengers: Doomsday — then it’s an undeniably effective and honorable sendoff.

All three series showcase how inventive superhero stories can be. Marvel doesn’t need to be boxed in. It can explore different genres and structures, telling smaller, character-driven stories while still pushing the wider franchise forward. Like one of the MCU’s other best trilogies, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy, this is the story of the Maximoff family: a family made real and held together by love and heartache. There’s nothing more human than that. The best superhero stories make these otherworldly, overpowered beings feel relatable and flawed. That’s exactly what VisionQuest and the rest of Marvel’s Scarlet Witch trilogy do too.

VisionQuest‘s finale releases Tuesday, November 10 on Disney+.