'VisionQuest': Could Vision Play A Role In The MCU's Young Avengers?

A recent New York Comic-Con panel brought news of VisionQuest, the final series in a trilogy that began in WandaVision. Set a year after the events of WandaVision, the series will follow the reassembled White Vision's efforts to rediscover who he is. In exciting news for fans, it has also been confirmed that Ruaridh Mollica will play Tommy Shepherd/Tommy Maximoff, the son of Wanda and Vision and twin brother of Billy Kaplan/Wiccan, destined to become the superhero known as Speed.

Tommy's presence adds another member to a potential MCU Young Avengers line-up. Now, some fans have questioned whether Vision may also have a role in the team. While the idea may seem out of left field, and require just a little of the remixing the MCU does so well, a Vision in the Young Avengers is not entirely without precedent in the comics.

Young Avengers comic Origins

In Marvel Comics, the origins of the Young Avengers occur following 'Avengers Disassembled' story arc. Nathaniel Richards, a genius but troubled teenage boy from the future, is visited by time-travelling supervillain Kang the Conqueror, who informs him that he is destined to become Kang, and takes him on a tour of his many victories in the hope of inspiring him. Instead, young Nate is horrified, fleeing into the past. He hopes to recruit the Avengers to thwart Kang's latest plot and prevent his own dark destiny, but finds the regular team temporarily defunct.

However, Nate, building an exo-suit and taking the codename Iron Lad, finds and downloads the opearting system of the then-destroyed Vision, discovering that Vision had gathered a list of young potential superhumans as a failsafe program in case the Avengers were taken out of action. From this list, and a few extra bonus encounters, Nate gathers Billy Kaplan (Wiccan), Teddy Altman (Hulkling), Eli Bradley (Patriot), Cassie Lang (Stature), and Kate Bishop, forming the very first Young Avengers line-up. Each member has a similarity or connection to an existing Avenger, but not every connection is immediately obvious.

'Teen' Vision

The new team successfully thwarts a plot from Kang, but are confronted in the aftermath by Iron Man and Captain America, who refuse to train them without permission from their parents. They are told to disband, and ordered by Cap to 'Never wear those uniforms again'. Kate, in a case of malicious compliance, makes everyone new uniforms and sets the team up with a home base in a building owned by her Father.

Unfortunately, Nate's continued presence in the past disrupts the timeline, causing Wiccan, Hulkling, and the unborn baby of Jessica Jones to disappear. Nate realises that his growth into Kang is a fixed point that cannot be prevented, and to restore his missing teammates, reluctantly returns to the future, asking his friends to forgive him for what he will become. However, he leaves behind his exosuit, which due to a combination of Nate's own lingering brainwaves and Vision's downloaded operating system, activates as a new 'Teenage' Vision. To differentiate himself from his then-deceased older counterpart, this 'Vision' eventually names himself Jonas. Jonas eventually develops feelings for Cassie, who had been romantically involved with Nate.

Seeking extra help after Hulkling is kidnapped by the Super-Skrull, Jonas revisits Vision's failsafe program, leading to the team meeting and breaking Tommy Shepherd, aka Speed, out of Juvenile Detention. This also marks the beginnings of Wiccan's theory that he and Speed are soul-twins, and the sons of the Scarlet Witch, which eventually leads to the team's search for her in Young Avengers: The Children's Crusade.

During the 'Children's Crusade' story, Nate Richards temporarily returns to the past to aid his friends.

Sadly, the story takes a tragic turn when Cassie is killed by Doctor Doom. Nate, mad with grief, insists on travelling back in time to save her, and when Jonas-Vision objects, citing the risks, Nate kills him. Despite his surviving teammates warning that this is likely the event that sets him on the path to becoming Kang the Conqueror, Nate disappears into the timestream.

What could this mean for the MCU?

Considering the forced pivot away from Kang the Conqueror, Nate Richards/Iron Lad is unlikely to be involved in the MCU's Young Avengers. Currently, instead of being assembled by Iron Lad, it seems as if the MCU's Young Avengers are being assembled by Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, using the information on a Data Pad obtained from Nick Fury. The team also looks to be shaping up as an amalgamation of the Young Avengers and the Champions, another youth hero team.

So, where would Vision come in? Well, we know that Vision is set to encounter Tommy during VisionQuest. We also know that in the final scene of Agatha All Along, Billy sets off with the Ghost of Agatha Harkness to search for Tommy.

Some fans have theorised that VisionQuest will end with Tommy and Billy's reunion. Vision may choose to remain with his sons, possibly deciding to search for Wanda. All three could then at some point be recruited by Ms. Marvel, potentially leading into an adaptation of 'Children's Crusade'.

This could fit with some leaked pieces of MCU concept art, supposedly for Avengers: Doomsday or Avengers: Secret Wars, depicting both White Vision, and a collection of characters likely to be the MCU's Young Avengers.

Let's wait and see which way the latest MCU remix falls.