Marvel's new Disney Plus series, VisionQuest, continues to explore the complex aftermath of WandaVision and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, focusing on White Vision's grappling with his identity. The first two episodes, released Tuesday night, reveal that Vision is attempting to live a quiet life in Edinburgh, interacting with AI constructs in a self-created mindscape. During these sessions, characters like Ultron suggest that Vision is avoiding confronting difficult truths.
It is revealed that Vision's son, Tommy, is alive and well in the present day, despite his apparent disappearance after the destruction of the Westview Hex. This survival is directly explained by events in Agatha All Along, a series that predates VisionQuest. Without understanding Agatha All Along, Tommy's presence in VisionQuest would be inexplicable.
Billy Maximoff's Survival
Agatha All Along takes place three years after WandaVision. The series follows Agatha Harkness and a mysterious teenager known only as "Teen," who helps Agatha break free from Wanda's spell. This "Teen" is eventually revealed to be Billy Maximoff, one of Wanda and Vision's twin sons. Years prior, Lilia Calderu, a divination witch, placed a magical sigil on a young boy named William Kaplan at his bar mitzvah. This sigil concealed Billy's identity.
When Wanda collapsed the Westview Hex, the resulting car crash killed William Kaplan. At that exact moment, Billy Maximoff's consciousness, which had been adrift since the Hex's destruction, transferred into William's body. Billy awoke with no memory of William's life, only fragmented recollections of his parents and the Westview anomaly. He learned to fake memories while investigating his own condition, eventually realizing he was Wanda and Vision's son inhabiting William's "empty vessel."
Agatha explained that Billy instinctively seized an opportunity to survive, thereby breaking natural laws and earning the attention of Rio Vidal, the embodiment of Death.
Billy Gives Tommy Another Life
Billy spent much of Agatha All Along searching for his twin brother, Tommy. Though his memories were incomplete, he sensed Tommy had also survived. Near the end of the Witches' Road trials, Agatha assisted Billy in locating Tommy's disembodied consciousness. They found a dying boy in a swimming pool, the victim of a prank.
Billy hesitated, sensing the boy had no family and concerned about the ethical implications of taking his life to save Tommy. However, Agatha reassured him, stating, "Sometimes boys die." Billy then transferred Tommy's soul into the drowning boy's body, granting his brother "another life." Series creator Jac Schaeffer confirmed this transfer, though the series itself did not explicitly show Tommy's awakening.
Thomas Shatford is Tommy Maximoff's New Identity
VisionQuest picks up this narrative thread, introducing the character of Thomas Shatford, now a young London grifter. When bounty hunter Paladin investigates Vision, he uncovers S.W.O.R.D. files that lead him to Thomas. In a recorded psychological evaluation, Thomas recounts his experience of having a "family that wasn’t my family, parents that weren’t my parents," referencing Wanda and Vision.
Like Billy, Tommy's consciousness was likely in limbo for years before Billy's intervention. This may explain Thomas's disorientation. The series portrays Thomas as someone who adopts different identities daily, a coping mechanism that Lisa, his associate, critiques as a form of invisibility. However, when Thomas sees news footage of White Vision, he experiences fragmented memories of his past life, including Vision and the Westview Hex. This triggers a panic attack, highlighting his identity crisis.
Thomas's new existence mirrors his father's own struggle with fragmented memories and a fractured sense of self. The note that Thomas is "weirdly fast" suggests he retains Tommy's speedster abilities, similar to how Billy retained his powers. VisionQuest establishes Thomas Shatford as Tommy Maximoff's new identity, complicating the Marvel Cinematic Universe's most intricate family tree. White Vision may possess the memories of his past selves, but he lacks their virtue, making Westview's conjured reality a potent, enduring force.