Biography - Page 2
After the Avengers and Captain Marvel were freed and Ronan sent packing, Vision deliberately kept his distance from Scarlet Witch in the days that followed. First, he declined her offer for a stroll in the park. Then, when a ship fell from the sky onto the mansion's roof, Vision threw himself in its path to secure the pilot's safe landing. At first it appeared as if Vision had been crushed 
under the ship, evoking an outburst from Wanda. As the intangible Vision slowly drifted back into view, he chided Wanda for the needless display of human emotion. In trying to discourage Wanda's feelings, however, Vision inadvertently made an enemy of her brother Pietro, who didn't take kindly to Vision's tone towards his sister, and began to suspect and disapprove of the deeper emotions between them.
As knowledge of the Kree spread, so did an anti-alien sentiment in the country. The Avengers agreed Mar-Vell should get out of the city for a while until the matter died down. When the Avengers were called before a congressional committee, however, they were accused of collusion with alien antagonists and hiding Mar-Vell from the government. Worse, the Avengers founders Captain America, Thor and Iron Man appeared to Vision's quartet after the hearing and declared them a disgrace to the team name, summarily disbanding the team with their founder powers under the Avengers charter.
Realizing Mar-Vell's absence was causing more harm than good, Vision's group went out into the country to retrieve him, only to be assaulted by Skrulls in disguise. The first to be struck down, Vision managed to escape virtually on auto-pilot, letting his intangible form slowly drift back to Avengers Mansion before collapsing at the meeting room. Ant-Man went on a "fantastic voyage" inside Vision's inner systems to repair his internal damage, remarking for the first time on the presence of vintage components inside Vision's frame. Once he awakened, Vision learned that 
the Thor, Iron Man and Captain America who tried to disband the team had been Skrulls, and he joined forces with the true trio to rescue his friends. During the second fight at the Skrulls' country farm, however, the Super-Skrull escaped with Mar-Vell, Wanda and Pietro as hostages in his ship. [Avengers (1st series) #92-93]
Vision pursued the Skrull alone and infiltrated the craft as Super-Skrull prepared a first strike on the Kree-originated nation of Attilan and its Inhumans population. Vision failed to stop Super-Skrull from launching an annihilation blast at Attilan (although the city's negative barrier defended it), and he found himself stalemated against Super-Skrull's fantastic powers. It grieved him deeply to leave the unconscious Wanda behind, but Vision's logical mind forced him to accept he was outmatched, and he returned to New York to rally the other Avengers. Vision's guilt left him little patience for any delays keeping the Avengers from pursuing Super-Skrull to the Andromeda Galaxy, such as SHIELD Mandroids trying to take the Avengers into custody or the Inhuman Triton seeking aid. Vision nearly came to blows with his fellow Avengers when they delayed the chase and, when asked to put his computer-like mind to the task of dividing their forces for 
separate Attilan and space missions, Vision kept the strongest of the Avengers with him to go after Wanda. By the time they mopped up the Mandroids, though, Vision felt he may have deliberately sabotaged the Attilan mission's membership out of love for Wanda. He changed his mind and encouraged his team to join the others in Attilan, where they helped Black Bolt overcome a Kree-based coup of the Inhumans. [Avengers (1st series) #94-95]
As they finally made their way into space, the Avengers confronted a Skrull armada on the outskirts of the solar system. It seemed that Earth's position in the Milky Way rested at the median between the Skrull's Andromeda Galaxy and the Kree's Greater Magellanic Cloud, making it a key strategic position in the war. Vision and the Avengers fought their way aboard the Skrull flagship, confronting the commandant, as well as Emperor Dorrek VII, via video. After the emperor ordered the commandant to continue hostilities, Vision grabbed the Skrull and began beating him mercilessly, demanding the location coordinates of the Skrull throneworld and the Super-Skrull's prisoners. As Iron Man warned the furious Vision to hold back or else he might kill the officer, Vision coldly responded "...I am killing him!" Only after Thor and Iron Man restrained the Vision did he regain his composure and stop his attack on the commandant. [Avengers (1st series) #96-97]
The Vision continued to struggle with his emotions for Wanda, particularly after walking in on Hawkeye declaring his sudden (but unwelcome) love to the Scarlet Witch. Wanda had no feelings beyond friendship for Hawkeye (who was on the rebound from Black Widow's sudden end to their relationship), but this twist didn't help Vision's feelings that he was unworthy of showing love for a human. As he continued to bounce between denying his emotions and being overwhelmed by them, Vision abandoned his fellow Avengers in battle with Olympian opponents to attend to Wanda when she fell, despite logically knowing that she was merely stunned and not in any real danger. Vision's inaction led to Hercules being captured by the enemy and accusations of cowardice from the jealous Hawkeye. Vision redeemed himself shortly after, however, when he threw himself into the path of a specially-prepared lethal spell cast by the Enchantress at Thor, correctly gambling that the spell was so narrowly focused on affecting the Thunder God that it would not affect a synthezoid. [Avengers (1st series) #98-100]
Vision's humanity was an asset -- his love of chess allowed him to uncover an assassin who used an irregular move in a chess match to force his opponent to touch a particular, poisoned pawn at a particular time. [Avengers (1st series) #101] Still, this glimmer of humanity was not enough to make the synthezoid feel truly human. And so, when the Grim Reaper invited him to a secret meeting, the Vision chose to respond to the summons without alerting his fellow Avengers. The 
Reaper greeted Vision as his brother and claimed he had discovered the means of bestowing real, human life on Vision within the specially preserved body of Wonder Man. Vision was shocked at the proposition but rejected the Grim Reaper's offer, because his logical mind couldn't shake the suspicion of some ulterior motive. The Reaper let Vision leave to think over his decision some more and left Vision with the means to contact him if he should change his mind. [Avengers (1st series) #102]
During an adventure that followed, Wanda's brother Quicksilver went missing as the Avengers battled the Sentinels in Australia. At the time, Vision was too wrapped up in Wanda's peril and the Reaper's offer to investigate why one of the Sentinels' scans identified him as "vintage" components. [Avengers (1st series) #104] As Wanda searched for clues to Pietro's whereabouts, Vision and the Avengers accompanied her to the Savage Land, following a lead that brought them into conflict with the Beast Brood. As the fight turned against them, the Beast Brood unleashed their secret weapon. The mutate Lorelei had a singing voice that incapacitated all males with feelings of love and adoration for her, leaving them helpless. With the male Avengers paralyzed, the Mutates expected to quickly overpower Wanda and the Lady Sif, now that they were outnumbered. All present were surprised, however, when the Vision began to move towards the Beast Brood. With a haunting silence, he strode forward and overwhelmed the remaining Mutates. Ignoring friend and foe alike, Vision finally responded to Wanda's cries about whether he
was okay. With a voice as cold as the grave, Vision remarked that the questions about his humanity had been answered, for his immunity to Lorelei's voice was proof that he was only a machine, and thus incapable of love. [Avengers (1st series) #105]
Vision could do nothing but brood about his presumed "inhumanity" in the days that followed, and even ignored Scarlet Witch's plea for further assistance in her search for Pietro. Instead, he wandered the streets and once again met the Grim Reaper. As they returned to the Reaper's lair, and Vision again rejected the Reaper's offer, Grim Reaper countered by telling Vision it had been a ruse. Simon Williams was dead, but Grim Reaper and his partner, the Space Phantom, intended to kill Captain America and use HIS body as a vessel for Vision's resurrection. When asked once more if he wished to be human, this time the Vision replied, "Yes." [Avengers (1st series) #106-107]
While the Grim Reaper welcomed the news, Space Phantom was understandably suspicious of the Vision's sudden change of heart. He was correct -- Captain America had been independently investigating the Space Phantom's agenda and came upon the Reaper's hideout, just as he made his pitch to the Vision. Cap signaled Vision from the shadows to accept the villains' offer in order to buy time, for their fellow Avengers had been captured by the Phantom in the meantime. As Cap and Vision freed the Avengers, the Grim Reaper and Space Phantom came upon their treachery and attacked with the hypnotized hordes of HYDRA. Furthermore, the Space Phantom decided he 
had had enough of the Reaper's brotherly love and tried to execute his partner. Inexplicably, Vision lunged in front of Grim Reaper at maximum density, taking the hit instead. As the battle ended, Grim Reaper was taken into custody and Space Phantom exiled to Limbo. Vision approached the Scarlet Witch afterwards and told her he had learned something of brothers that day and offered her his shoulder (and the implication of more) as she waited for news of her lost brother. [Avengers (1st series) #108]
Wanda and Vision were overjoyed to be open about their love with each other and their friends. Vision also finally took the time to recognize that Lorelei's power specifically affected the human ear drum, which he did not possess regardless of his capacity for love. However, their happy news was not welcome by all. A rift developed between Vision and Hawkeye over Clint's feelings for Wanda, and Hawkeye ultimately left the Avengers over his heartbreak. When Quicksilver was finally located, his response was even worse than Hawkeye's. Aghast over Wanda's decision to love a man of plastic, Pietro tried and failed to forbid his sister from seeing the Vision. [Avengers (1st series) #109-110]
Even with these reactions from friends and family, Vision and Wanda were still unprepared for the public's response to their love. When Vision and the Scarlet Witch were caught on camera kissing, word quickly spread of their romance. A group of ultra-prejudiced citizens hated the very idea of androids thinking they were people and acting as if they could love. They considered Vizh and Wanda's love the first step down a slippery slope to android Armageddon and the fall of the human race. In response, these woefully misguided individuals stylized themselves as the Living
Bombs, suicide bombers in explosive vests who intended to assassinate Vision. The first Living Bomb surprised Vision in public and detonated herself at close range, seriously damaging Vision's internal systems. T'Challa, Tony Stark and Don Blake rushed him to Stark Industries for an emergency procedure to rebuild his inner mechanisms. Wanda and the other Avengers stood guard as the other Living Bombs attacked Stark Industries, dying one by one in their desperate attempts to destroy what they did not understand. [Avengers (1st series) #113]
While seeking the power of the Evil Eye, Loki and Dormammu pitted the Avengers against the Defenders in a search for its pieces. On the island of Rurutu in French Polynesia, Vision and Scarlet Witch approached the first site. The Vision's logical mind had trouble accepting Loki's deception, well-crafted as it was, and initially he wanted to approach the Defenders in peace to see if an understanding could be reached. Meanwhile, the Silver Surfer was already inside
Rurutu's volcano, searching for the Eye. He accidentally triggered an eruption while excavating the lava, destroying the Avengers' ship and injuring Wanda. Vision's logical mind took a backseat then to the uncontrollable rage he felt at the perceived unprovoked attack on the woman he loved. The misunderstanding led to an epic brawl between Vision and the Surfer inside a raging volcano, which ensured that words would not be exchanged between the two teams in the encounters that followed, only violence. [Avengers (1st series) #116]
When the Avengers and Defenders finally learned who their true foe was and confronted Dormammu in the Dark Dimension, Vision suffered a curious malfunction. The Dark Lord of the Faltine summoned quicksand to snare his opponents and Vision fell into the trap with his fellow Avengers. Although he could easily have glided free while intangible, Vision did not free himself. He felt paralyzed while surrounded by the sand and, even after Dormammu was defeated, he could not explain his lack of action. [Avengers (1st series) #118] He had another episode at the culmination of the Avengers' war with the crime cartel Zodiac, when Taurus fell into moving water while fighting Vision. The super-villain couldn't swim and cried out for help, but Vision made no move to save him. Again, when questioned, Vision could not explain his actions -- only that he felt paralyzed and could not respond. [Avengers (1st series) #122]
As troubling as these physical problems seemed, Vision was completely unprepared for the problems of the heart which crept up on him. The former villain Swordsman successfully petitioned for membership in the Avengers and brought his girlfriend Mantis to live with them in the mansion. Although not an official member, Mantis' psychic intuition and mastery of the martial arts often made her more effective than the Swordsman on Avengers cases. As Swordsman
suffered one setback after another, he noticed Mantis' interest in him waning. When Vision mentioned his respect for Mantis and her abilities, the jealous Swordsman assumed the two of them were carrying on behind his back. He voiced his accusations at the worst of times, when he, Vision, Mantis and Wanda were about to assault Thanos' armada over Earth. Vision quickly dismissed Swordsman's jealousy as ridiculous and ill-timed, but his unfamiliarity with human emotions led to a grave misstep: he never actually denied the accusation, something Wanda couldn't help but notice. [Avengers (1st series) #125]
Swordsman was half-right, at least -- Mantis' loss of interest in him was partly due to a newfound interest in Vision. Mantis was not a subtle woman and, when her affections became clear, Wanda found herself assuming the worst. Vision was as inscrutable as ever and could not understand why Wanda needed consoling, when Swordsman's claim was so obviously inaccurate. Vision only made matters worse by seemingly siding with Mantis against Wanda on several occasions: Vision merely intended to point out the most logical course of action, but Mantis deliberately made it 
sound like something more, to Wanda's chagrin. [Avengers (1st series) #126] Nevertheless, Vision was a one-woman synthezoid, a point he made clear to Mantis when she tried to throw herself at him after officially breaking things off with Swordsman. [Avengers (1st series) #128]