VisionQuest

The new Disney+ show VisionQuest is the latest Marvel television series, and it’s one of the good ones. It’s the conclusion of the trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued through Agatha All Along, reuniting actors Paul Bettany, who plays the synthezoid Avenger named Vision, and James Spader, who returns as Ultron. The show is a timely parable about artificial intelligence, and it’s yet another superhero story that grapples with daddy issues, big time. Looking to dive more into the world of the MCU? Check out these episodes: Marvel's 'Ironheart' suits up https://www.npr.org/2025/06/26/1254804028/marvels-ironheart-suits-up Marvel’s ‘Wonder Man’ is a low-key, low-stakes buddy comedy https://www.npr.org/2026/02/04/nx-s1-5698219/marvels-wonder-man-is-a-low-key-low-stakes-buddy-comedy ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ is a dark night of the spider-soul https://www.npr.org/2026/07/31/nx-s1-5913241/spider-man-brand-new-day-is-a-dark-night-of-the-spider-soul Connect with Pop Culture Happy Hour: Letterboxd https://letterboxd.com/nprpopculture/ / Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pchh Our weekly newsletter https://www.npr.org/newsletter/pop-culture Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org http://plus.npr.org/. See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:15Speaker 01

  Paul Bettany and James Spader anchoring an entire series around them makes this a show that is 100% watchable.

• 0:28Glen Weldon?

  Vision Quest is the latest Marvel television series, and I think it's one of the good ones. It's many things at once. It is the conclusion of the trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued through Agatha all along. It's a reunion of actors Paul Bettany, who plays the Synthesoid Avenger, and James Spader, who returns as Ultron, only now he's one of many voices in Vision's head. It's a parable about artificial intelligence, so timely, and it's yet another superhero story that grapples with daddy issues big time. I'm Glen Weldon, and joining me today on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is Ronald Young Jr. He's the host of the film and television review podcast Leaving the Theater. Hey, Ronald.

• 1:06Speaker 03

  Hello, Glenn.

• 1:07Glen Weldon?

  Welcome, welcome. In Vision Quest, Paul Bettany plays a kind of rebooted Vision who's gone into hiding. But he's not alone. He's built a mind space where many different AI personas reside, both new and old. Among the old, Ultron, played by James Spader. He's been locked up in Vision's virtual attic, and his time in prison certainly seems to have softened him. He's less a pure villain and a lot more inscrutable and unpredictable than you remember.

• 1:32Speaker 03

  Hey, I didn't ask to be backed up and copy pasted out of Sokovia and into this prison you've made for us both.

• 1:41Glen Weldon?

  When a mysterious entity puts a price on Vision's head, a mercenary called Paladin shows up. He's played by Todd Stachwick. Also in the mix, Tommy, one of the kids that Wanda created for herself back in WandaVision. His soul seems to have been transferred into the body of a young man, played by Rory Malika. And there's also Jacasta, yet another AI who's up to no good. She's played by Tania Miller. There's a lot going on, as you can tell in the show's eight episodes. We've seen them all, but we're going to keep our thoughts to the first six that have already aired. Ronald, what'd you make of this?

• 2:14Speaker 01

  Paul Bettany is a very, very good actor. I think Paul Bettany and James Spader anchoring an entire series around them makes this a show that is 100% watchable. Meaning that I'm enjoying it because I love these two people. And I think at its best, this is a show that probably could have been as good as, say, Wonder Man, which is another show that is anchored by two really good actors.

• 2:39Glen Weldon?

  Sure.

• 2:39Speaker 01

  This one, because it's hamstrung by everything that's going on in the MCU, by the lore that already exists around the MCU, there's things that I don't necessarily care about, little parts of it that I didn't necessarily follow as well. So I find this show just to be okay rather than great, but I really did enjoy watching Paul Bettany and James Spader. So I kind of fall down like right in the middle on this.

• 3:03Glen Weldon?

  I'm a little bit more pro, but it's for the same reason. It's for Bettany and Spader. I mean, this thing worked for me. And you know, Spader's getting a lot of love for this in particular, but I get it because, you know, frankly, when I heard that they were coming back with a Vision show, I was like, well, who is clamoring for this exactly?

• 3:19Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:19Glen Weldon?

  But then I heard that Spader's coming back, and it's like, well, okay, now that makes sense. Because if this thing is going to be Vision attempting to figure out how Tommy fits into his life or doesn't fit in, then it's not a stretch to have Ultron there, which is Vision's kind of father figure, to work as a kind of foil. And if you want somebody to play a foil, you go to James Spader.

• 3:39Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 3:40Glen Weldon?

  And I love that Spader isn't just cashing a check here. He's going all in on this character as a kind of snide, steampunk dandy. He's got the beard, he's got the top hat, he's giving Dr. Demento in a fun way.

• 3:54Speaker 03

  I think maybe I'm a hat guy now. They imply intention, movement, a journey about to begin.

• 4:03Glen Weldon?

  And the character is legit unpredictable in a way that I think feels earned. It's not unpredictable because he's underwritten. He's unpredictable because he's got like competing motivations. And back in WandaVision, Bettany got to lean into his comic chops. You know, he's playing Vision as this stiff sitcom husband, you know, the Darren Stevens, basically.

• 4:22Speaker 01

  Happless dad.

• 4:23Glen Weldon?

  Happless dad, exactly. And here, he gets back and forth, and he gets back and forth with a bunch of different characters. So he's getting to play comedy again, and that's good. But I mean, to your point, man, if this show was just Vision and Ultron verbally sparring in that attic, I'd be happy. It isn't, though. There are lots of other plotlines and other characters. There's Tommy, there's Paladin, there's Jacasta. It's a lot. So did any of those stand out to you, or did they all get kind of lost in the mix?

• 4:52Speaker 01

  Okay, you saying that is making me realize probably my biggest issue is that it's hampered by plot. We have to go in a direction, we're going to end in a place here. And by the time Tommy shows up, I had some feelings of saying, do I care about Tommy? Do I care about the relationship between Vision and his son? As the show went on, I did more. But I really cared about the relationship between Vision and Ultron. And then when you throw in the other characters that are there, I feel like, is this a show that is, is this Marvel's commenting on AI generally?

• 5:24Glen Weldon?

  Sure.

• 5:25Speaker 01

  Which I was also interested in that conversation, which they kind of, you know, brush up against a few times, but they don't necessarily directly engage. So there was a lot of it that did work. When they're in Vision's head, I was enjoying that type of back and forth and the banter that was going on between all of the characters that were there. That was interesting. So tell us, what does the great and mighty Ultron think we should do?

• 5:49Speaker 03

  Ooh, sarcasm. I think you should try to aim a little higher when it comes to a snappy remark. Try a little Dorothy Parker. Or Aristophanes would be good. No, maybe Oscar Wilde would be a little more up your alley.

• 6:03Speaker 01

  Ultron. Outside of Vision's head, I felt less interested in what was going on. And when it becomes something that's not like the thought experiment of who am I? If it's not about the ship of Theseus, then I'm less interested, because I love that existential stuff. And again, I compare it to Wonder Man. They did a good job of the existential question that we're asking here. Who am I? Which I always think makes for a good superhero show. So I mean, I think I'm talking to you and I'm realizing I liked it more than I thought I did. Again, hampered by plot, man.

• 6:36Glen Weldon?

  Yeah, that's a good point. We've got more thoughts about Vision Quest after the break.

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• 7:59Glen Weldon?

  Welcome back. The other thing is that this is a holdover from Age of Ultron, and this notion that Vision is an AI.

• 8:05Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:05Glen Weldon?

  Back then, remember when AI was like a quaint thing? Everybody was like, oh, AI.

• 8:09Speaker 01

  Yes, when it was a cute little side thing, who cares?

• 8:12Glen Weldon?

  Yeah, now it ain't. Now it's something we're all kind of slogging through.

• 8:15Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:15Glen Weldon?

  So what they do that I think is smart is they divide a bunch to all these different personalities, give them different actors who play them. That's fun, so they can kind of bounce off each other. But I think what's going on here, too, is that both WandaVision and Agatha were about women. Women in very specific roles, right? So Wanda as a mom, she defined herself in her role as a mom in that show because she was kind of playing out sitcom tropes.

• 8:37Speaker 01

  Sure.

• 8:38Glen Weldon?

  Agatha, I think, was a woman who was like leaning into her job, like she was ruthlessly dedicated to what she did.

• 8:44Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:45Glen Weldon?

  Being a witch.

• 8:45Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 8:46Glen Weldon?

  This show is male energy, you know? And so you've got guys not being able to make emotional connections, not being able to be vulnerable. Paladin shows up, who is- Easily the most familiar Marvel character in terms of vibe, like quippy character on the show. He's got his own daddy issues. Why did we need him to have his own daddy?

• 9:08Speaker 01

  I have no idea.

• 9:09Glen Weldon?

  And intentionally or not, what's happening is that the female characters, Jacasta slash Joe, Tommy's girlfriend, Lisa, played by Lauren Maraisch, they get underwritten, they get pushed into the background. And I have a sternly worded letter to write to the show. You don't hire Mary McDonald, you don't hire Diane Morgan and then just keep him on the back burner. You don't just tell him to wait in the car. You, you need to use him a little bit more than this show did.

• 9:32Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:32Glen Weldon?

  I think that's something that's going on throughout from beginning to end is this kind of pushing the women characters into the background.

• 9:37Speaker 01

  I mean, I wrote in my notes, killing Fiona is a wild choice. As it happened, I remember thinking, oh, that's, I don't want that. I thought this was a character that was going to play a larger role, but it ends up being kind of a character that's meant to incite action in the show. And you're right, the women are underwritten in a way that, that makes me wonder, did they just switch back to an old stance on women? You know what I mean? Like you, you think we're making progress and they're like, oh, we don't have to do that anymore. Let's just go back to relegate them to the background. That's, it felt very pronounced in that way.

• 10:11Glen Weldon?

  Yeah.

• 10:12Speaker 01

  And so it was, like you said, you hire these folks and you expect them to be in scenes, to be engaging in a way that like is going to mean something as the show moves on. I don't know. By the time you get to the, like the later episodes, I really just don't know how important they were to the plot anymore, except to be motivation for the men to do whatever tasks they were doing. So yeah, I would sign that strongly worded letter immediately.

• 10:35Glen Weldon?

  Yeah. I mean, the character Fiona you mentioned, she was the owner of the pub that Vision works at, and she is gone within minutes.

• 10:42Speaker 01

  Quickly.

• 10:43Glen Weldon?

  And she is fridged. You know, this is the old fashioned thing of like fridging your women's.

• 10:46Speaker 01

  Yes, fridging. I couldn't think of the phrase. Exactly that, yes.

• 10:49Glen Weldon?

  The show also starts out with a lot of lore dumps because it is tied to the Marvel Universe, lots of callbacks. So we get, not once but twice, what is grief but love persevering? We get the ship of Theseus.

• 10:59Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 11:00Glen Weldon?

  I understand why they're in there, right, Ronald? Because like, they are the two things that kind of define Vision in the public consciousness. If anything could be said to define, I don't think this guy has a huge cultural footprint. That's just my sense, but because of that, there is a repetitive quality to those early episodes. Vision comes to the same realization several times. Tommy takes a really long time learning how to use his characters.

• 11:20Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 11:21Glen Weldon?

  But I mean, there's good stuff here, too. There's good jokes. There's a captcha joke in one of the episodes that's really solid.

• 11:29Speaker 01

  Very good. Very good one, yes.

• 11:32Glen Weldon?

  And are you familiar with the play that goes wrong? Have you ever heard of that?

• 11:34Speaker 01

  I've seen it. I saw it in Portland. Yes.

• 11:37Glen Weldon?

  Okay. It's a farce that's been running in the West End forever. Two of the creators of that show, the stars of that show originally were Henry Lewis, who plays Dummy, and Jonathan Sayer, who plays you. And in those first few episodes, they didn't get a chance to talk. And I was like, you can't, what are you doing? You're, you're Mary McDonald. You can't. But they get more to do in later episodes. I do like, and we're not going to spoil this, but I will say the revelation of who's behind it all, right? Who put out the hit on Vision? That was a legit surprise. And to me, it was a good one. It was a satisfying one.

• 12:08Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 12:08Glen Weldon?

  That doesn't happen a lot on these shows, but I thought it did here.

• 12:10Speaker 01

  I wasn't that surprised. I, I actually was surprised that it wasn't. Okay. And this actually is a good segue to my bigger issue.

• 12:17Glen Weldon?

  Yeah.

• 12:18Speaker 01

  Whenever this happens in a show like this, in a Marvel show, when there's a reveal and it is a character that is in the universe that we are watching, in the self-contained universe we are watching, I'm always less surprised because they're like, it's this guy who's in the show that we're watching, right? Or the face of the person in the show that we're watching, which is, it's good for the story. And I could understand that being satisfying. So yes. What gets me is that the question that I have when I see a show like Vision Quest is why does this show exist? And so I'm expecting that whatever big reveal happens at the end of the show is meant to be something that ties us in to the larger universe. I think that's what got me here is to say, I'm not sure why this show exists. And if it only exists for the vibes of

• 13:03Speaker 01

  the moment that I'm watching the show while it happens, then yes, I'm with you. It is satisfying. And again, I love James Spader and I love Paul Bettany, so let's like, keep that party going, whatever. But there's a part of me that's also like, we made these shows to connect and continue the world building of the larger universe. There's a Doomsday movie coming out in a couple of months. So it just feels like the, what are we building to here? Or is this just the conclusion of the Vision arc that is Wanda, that is Agatha all along, and that is Vision Quest? So I kind of get to a place where I'm watching it and I'm just like, I guess that's fine. I could watch a Marvel show that's self contained. I watched, again, Wonder Man, I keep bringing it up. But there's a little part of me that just says, why? Then why this? Y'all spent a budget, you put this out,

• 13:48Speaker 01

  you promoted it, all of this. Why this? And I don't know if I answered that why. But the show, like you said, is ultimately satisfying enough.

• 13:56Glen Weldon?

  Yeah, satisfying enough. I mean, look, I don't think the Vision character or the, um, the version of the Vision character needed to survive Wanda Vision. I think Wanda Vision probably was originally planned to have that be like the end. Like she created this hex version of Vision and he goes away. But then they do this thing where they, you know, introduce, oh, there's the sword created this other version of the Vision, just to kind of keep the IP going.

• 14:26Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:26Glen Weldon?

  So this is an answer to that. This feels like it's answering the question of what does this version of Vision that we created at the end of Wanda Vision? What is, what happens to him? Which is not something that ties directly back into the Marvel Universe. It feels like the, the vision that matters is gone.

• 14:42Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 14:42Glen Weldon?

  And, you know, what is grief but love persevering, et cetera, et cetera. And so this now feels like he's there to be the father figure to the young Avengers of Billy and Tommy, who are going to be like taking up the baton. But that feels not an organic transition. It feels like it's a, uh, a commercial. It's something that was decided in, in the offices of Disney and not in the storyteller's heart. Does that make sense?

• 15:11Speaker 01

  Yes. And, and, but that's kind of like my greater issue. If you're going to do standalones, I'm with you. I'll watch it. And I, I want to be here for that.

• 15:19Glen Weldon?

  Yeah.

• 15:19Speaker 01

  But the promise of, of building out the universe is that it's interconnected and it's for reasons, like the comic books. But, uh, you know, there are plenty of one-shot comics and I'm, I'm perfectly fine with that. I feel like sometimes, as a critic, I can look at it as a show and say, here's the strong points and the weak points. As a Marvel fan, as a consumer, I opened a door into a room that I think connects to the other rooms. And it turns out that it may or may not, or we're not certain.

• 15:46Glen Weldon?

  Right.

• 15:46Speaker 01

  People are, are operating in a more siloed capacity than I thought they were. And I feel like that's kind of getting to my biggest issue with the MCU right now is that we're not necessarily, that's not clear to me anymore. You know, when Marvel Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. came out like years and years ago, we knew that that was building out the universe. And you could see things that directly impacted the show and the way the show directly impacted the movies. And it kind of flows back and forth. Whereas now we're getting to this place where they're telling these one-off stories. And again, I'm good with it, but I feel like I kind of just want to know going in, if I'm just going to see like a, a contained story. And if that's the case, I'm sat for it. I just want to know. Otherwise, I'm still going to be thinking Doomsday comes out in two months. Is Dr. Doom in this or not?

• 16:31Glen Weldon?

  Right. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's natural. That's inevitable that you would, you would wonder that. But again, like what's happening here is they're doing these individual shows and it's always going to be a case by case basis. Is there enough in here apart from its connections to other parts of the MCU to justify its existence on its own?

• 16:47Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 16:47Glen Weldon?

  And here, because of Bettany and Spader, it's a definite yes for me.

• 16:51Speaker 01

  Agreed.

• 16:52Glen Weldon?

  In something like Secret Invasion, even though you've got, you've got really good actors involved in that, it's like, it's not enough. There's nothing.

• 16:59Speaker 01

  It did not work.

• 17:00Glen Weldon?

  Yes. There's no there there. I mean, Wonder Man works, again, because of the chemistry between its two leads.

• 17:06Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 17:07Glen Weldon?

  That's an interesting space that the Marvel Universe finds itself in because I'm not sure when we go to see Doomsday in a month or two or whatever, that's going to be about the connections and not about the acting. It's not going to be about the chemistry because it's so much a part of the machine that there's no time for chemistry because you're going to have 68 main characters.

• 17:28Speaker 01

  I'm wondering largely around superheroes generally, whether it be DC, whether it be MCU, any of it, I'm wondering if they're really focused on storytelling at all anymore? Or is it only just thinking about the commercial product moving forward? Now, I know that's a like, duh, Ronald, but there's also a part of me that says, but you want the movie to be good. And what started the superhero renaissance that we're currently in or at the end of right now was that the movies were good. You went and you said, I went and saw Iron Man and oh, it was good. I went and saw Captain America, The Winter Soldier, and oh, it was good. And then the connection was almost like, it was a cool afterthought to say, now, when we see, spoiler alert, Cap pick up Thor's hammer in Endgame, we've done all

• 18:12Speaker 01

  of the work in these very good movies to see that moment happen. So you have to go all the way back to Age of Ultron to see that build up. And I just feel like that, because that's not happening anymore, it's hampering my enjoyment of what is otherwise a great television show. And I feel like if you want them to be great, you have to do exactly what you're doing now, which is get good actors, good directors and put together a good product. But if you still want us to be engaged in the universe as a whole, that connectivity has to be intentional. It's starting to feel more like an afterthought. And Glenn, this isn't an argument against you. It's more like just a pondering of where we are almost 20 years into the superhero renaissance, you know?

• 18:54Glen Weldon?

  No, sure. But in fairness, Ronald, it's always been a case by case basis, right? I mean, Iron Man was great. Iron Man 2 was not great. And that's the very first time you heard people saying, I think they're just trying to extend the IP and not really doing good storytelling because they weren't. Because they weren't trying to extend the IP and keep it viable because they had the sequel problem. And that was like the second film in a series. We're now dealing with a world of films and a world of television shows which can't do anything but dilute the brand. I mean, it can't. The idea is to reinforce each other and build out this world, but the secret invasions of the world keep coming along and just kind of like leeching the energy. In defense of this show, I, I think this

• 19:37Glen Weldon?

  show does what it sets out to do. It makes a case for itself. It justifies itself. And James Spader is so much fun.

• 19:45Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 19:45Glen Weldon?

  So.

• 19:45Speaker 01

  Agreed.

• 19:46Glen Weldon?

  Let's just focus on this.

• 19:47Speaker 01

  Yes, you're right.

• 19:48Glen Weldon?

  What's in front of us, what's on our plate before us?

• 19:50Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 19:51Glen Weldon?

  I think this is worth checking out. You think it's worth checking out?

• 19:54Speaker 01

  I agree. I agree with you. It's worth checking out, yes.

• 19:56Glen Weldon?

  And, uh, you know, we'll talk about Doomsday when Doomsday gets here.

• 19:59Speaker 01

  Absolutely.

• 19:59Glen Weldon?

  That brings us to the end of our show. Ronald Young Jr., thank you so much for being here.

• 20:03Speaker 01

  Thanks for having me, Glenn. This was great.

• 20:05Glen Weldon?

  Of course. This episode was produced by Hafsa Fatma and Liz Metzger, Kayden Mills and Mike Katsev, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. And Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Glen Weldon and we'll see you all next time.

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