Biography - Page 7
The distance continued to grow between Vision and Wanda and Simon. Wanda learned Vision, as "Victor Shade," had been a regular at Cafe Transia in New York. Vision's continued interest in her homeland was a sign that he had not moved on from his love of her. When they were all captured by Ultron, Vision took the opportunity to reach out to his "father." During his appeal to Ultron's emotions, Vision all but admitted how he was still heartbroken by the horrendous ending to his marriage to Wanda. [Avengers (3rd series) #19-22]
After Slorenia, Wanda and Simon tried to speak to Vision, and his icy veneer finally broke. Vision accused Simon of being the source of his troubles. As he started to point out their similarities, Simon didn't understand the problem and found it wonderful to have a brother that shared the same interests as him, which Eric never did. In his frustration, Vision screamed and belted Wonder Man with a blow that shook the mansion to its foundations. Embarrassed, Vision flew 
away from Wanda's cries.
Wonder Man chased after Vision and finally forced him to talk. Vision's self-confidence had regressed back to the envy he first felt when Wonder Man came back to life. Vision had once overcome his feelings of inadequacy next to Simon by resting upon the unique aspects of his life: his love and marriage to Wanda, and the children that came from that union. With that gone and dissolved, Vision once again saw himself as nothing more than a pale reflection of Simon Williams, especially with his ex-wife now in love with Simon, the "real man" she must have loved all along while married to Vision. He felt like he had been nothing more than a copy or a stand-in, even in his own marriage.
So imagine Vision's surprise when Wonder Man confessed how envious HE had always been of Vision. In Simon's eyes, Vision was the "Simon Williams" he could have been, without all the baggage and mistakes he had made along the way. Vision could be "Simon" in a way Wonder 
Man could not - the core of the man he was, instead of the accumulation of mistakes that followed Wonder Man. Shocked by this new perspective, a newly reflective Vision floated away into the night to consider his place in the world. [Avengers (3rd series) #23]
To find his way in life, Vision decided to focus on hunting down the Grim Reaper, his erstwhile "brother" who had escaped following a recent battle. The Reaper had connections with the criminal Maggia, and so Vision began gathering intelligence about the organization. Instead of just scanning computer files and law enforcement agency reports, however, Vision got down to the street level by using his holo-identity as Victor Shade to frequent various bars and hang-outs where he could eavesdrop on low-level capos and gangsters. To blend in, Victor became friendly with the bartenders and legitimate patrons, and found that he enjoyed their company greatly. Over several weeks in Chicago, Vision gathered his information while also living a life outside the Avengers, interacting with people as a normal person.
As his self-confidence and sense of identity were restored, Vision also narrowed in on the Grim Reaper and a summit meeting he had arranged between the various Maggia family heads. Vision reacquainted himself with the Avengers, calling them in for an emergency mission to nab as many organized crime bosses as they could in one strike. Afterwards, Vision rejoined the team and privately apologized to Wanda for his behavior, confessing he just needed time to define himself as an individual, instead of merely by his relations with others. A surprising sign that Vision had moved on came when he abruptly asked Carol Danvers out to dinner sometime. [Nefaria Protocols crossover]
After some initial awkwardness, Carol responded well to Vision's invitation, and the two of them had an enjoyable afternoon of jet-skiing and hot dogs. Although the relationship did not go anywhere serious, it was a refreshing change of pace for them both, and helped the Vision come out of his shell even further. [Avengers (3rd series) #38]
The Vision also reconnected with Mantis when she re-emerged seeking the Avengers' help to protect her now-grown son, Quoi the Celestial Messiah, from Thanos. During an extended space 
mission, Vision and Mantis had the opportunity to explore the connection they had previously been incapable of indulging. A physical and emotional relationship developed over their time in space, but ultimately it was Mantis' desire for more children as the newfound Goddess of Life that prevented them from remaining together when the threat ended. Wanda had been quietly supportive of Vizh and Mantis during the mission and she provided a shoulder to lean on once the two went their separate ways. [Avengers: The Celestial Quest #1-8]
Vision remained active with the Avengers as they dealt with the global threat of Kang's invasion from the future. He helped Warbird and a unit of Avengers overpower the Deviant rebels who sided with Kang. [Avengers (3rd series) #42-44] The Avengers had become more progressive in recent months, though, and so in addition to the Kang uprisings, Vision and Warbird also wanted to resolve the extended tension between the team and the quasi-religious movement known as the Triune Understanding. With the tacit agreement of the Avengers' resident Triune, Triathlon, Vision arranged to casually infiltrate the Understanding while seeking greater knowledge about the organization and any potential threats they may pose. [Avengers (3rd series) #45-48] Vision learned the Triunes were actually a vanguard against a great threat known as the Triple Evil and joined several of the Avengers in opposing the Evil directly. Triathlon was able to assume control of the Triple Evil and purify it, using it as a key weapon in the final battle against Kang. [Avengers (3rd series) #50-53] As the Avengers began clean-up operations in the wake of Kang's invasion, Vision encountered Darby Charvat, an old friend from his time staking out the Maggia in Chicago. As they made plans to catch up, Vision became amused by the inherently human concept of people drifting in and out of one's life, and reconnecting with old friends. He took it as a nice sign of his developing humanity that he now had connections outside the Avengers, and a life of unique experiences to draw from. [Avengers (3rd series) #55]
An encounter with the Gremlin, a Nazi derivative stolen from Phineas Horton's original work, created a glitch in Vision's phasing ability. It caused his exostructure to become transparent while intangible, revealing his inner workings. This was a troubling reminder to Vision of his artificial nature, but he persevered. [Vision (2nd series) #1-4] Scorpio and the Zodiac attacked the world capitals, leading to the Avengers being rechristened an independent world power in response, as Avengers Mansion became the Avengers Embassy. Vision continued working with the Avengers during this period and even appeared to be growing closer to the Scarlet Witch again. [Avengers (3rd series) #57-61]
That was not to be. Wanda suffered a psychotic break as her powers grew beyond anyone's imagination. The chaos wave she unleashed consumed the Avengers in a series of (at first) seemingly unconnected attacks. One such incident was the resurgence of Vision's Ultron Imperative, emerging in the form of five nanotech Ultron robots spawning from within Vision's own synthezoid systems. Vision lost a great deal of mass to these parasites and was severely weakened as the Avengers fought off the Ultrons. Under the influence of the chaos wave, She-Hulk began to lose control of her anger and gamma power, furiously confronting Vision as if he were their true attacker. Captain America was unable to reason with her, and the enraged She-
Hulk ripped the Vision in two length-wise, leaving him hopelessly beyond repair. [Avengers (1st series) #500] Vision was not the only one to fall -- Thor, Ant-Man, Jack of Hearts and Hawkeye died in the chaos as well. For a time, the Avengers were truly gone and disassembled. [Avengers Finale #1]
In their absence, Vision's remains were held in storage at Stark International. The young time-traveler called Iron Lad sought them out while looking for a way to contact the Avengers for aid against his own future self, Kang. He downloaded Vision's operating system and database into his neuro-kinetic armor, accessing an Avengers Failsafe Program that Vision had compiled in order to gather his own squad of Young Avengers. [Young Avengers (1st series) #2-3] This copy of Vision's OS even came to life inside Iron Lad's armor, merging the Vision's memories with Iron Lad's neuro-kinetic personality imprint to become a separate "teen" Vision entity. [Young Avengers (1st series) #5] The original Vision, however, remained deactivated and in storage for many months.
During his spare time, Tony Stark began working on repairing the Vision. During the many months he worked on the project, Stark didn't report his activities to the other Avengers, for fear it would get their hopes up if he failed. Still, his efforts eventually proved successful, as Vision's self-repair capabilities were finally restored, helping the process along. Vision was up and on his feet again shortly after the Serpent War, just in time to be included in a newly revised roster for the Avengers. [Avengers (4th series) #19]
Vision struggled to reacquaint himself with the world around him. He could not compute when Tony Stark explained that it was Wanda who was responsible for his incapacitation. He reached out to She-Hulk, who was still beside herself with guilt over what Wanda had forced her to do. Vision forgave She-Hulk for her role in his injuries, but became determined to find Wanda and seek answers. He even attacked Magneto at Utopia, demanding to know where his wife was, but Magneto was unable and unwilling to help him. [Avengers (4th series) #24.1] When Wanda did return, seemingly cured of the insanity and excess power that prompted her breakdown, Carol Danvers brought her to the mansion. However, Vision would not let Wanda past the threshold. He acknowledged and empathized with the struggles Wanda had gone through and knew she was not completely in control of herself. But when it came down to it, when her powers were unimaginable in scope and literally any possibility was in her grasp, she chose to strike at the 
Avengers through him, violating his body with the Ultrons and causing him to be destroyed. This, above all else, he found unforgivable. Vision made it clear Wanda was not welcome with the Avengers and drove her from the mansion. He mutely turned away from his fellow Avengers before they saw his tears. [Avengers vs. X-Men #0]
The rift between Vision and the Scarlet Witch proved difficult to maintain when the Avengers went to war with the X-Men over the arrival of the Phoenix Force on Earth, and circumstances forced Wanda back onto the Avengers' roster. Vision dealt with Wanda's presence as solemnly as he could, but her presence still clearly troubled him. [Avengers vs. X-Men #1-12] Vision's unease continued after the Phoenix war during an encounter with troubled RoXXon employee Arthur Dearborn, alias Sunturion. Dying from his powers and abandoned by the company he gave his life to, Sunturion's plight reflected Vision's own feelings of abandonment as the Avengers left him in storage for months after the Scarlet Witch's breakdown. He confronted Iron Man and Giant-Man, who acknowledged their own delays and distractions in fixing him, as well as admitting they weren't technically sure if the teen Vision of the Young Avengers "was" him in an appreciable way or not. Although he accepted their answers, Vision finally decided he needed to rebuild a life for himself outside the Avengers, rather than relying upon them so heavily for his sense of identity. His first move after leaving the group was to finally reach out to Wiccan, his technical reincarnated son from his time with Wanda. [Avengers Assemble Annual #1]
Soon after, Vision's Ultron Imperative programming predicted a future event and his need to upgrade himself in response to it. Vision was compelled to travel into space, reaching orbit around the sun to maximize the amount of solar power coursing through his system. This was converted for use in a massive system upgrade, absorbing an asteroid for raw materials and turning the 
Vision into a nanotech entity, greatly evolving his A.I. parameters and physical capabilities. His advancement came just in time, for Hank Pym had recently defeated Ultron for the final time by unleashing an artificially intelligent Anti-Ultron virus into the global network. The virus was successful in eliminating Ultron, but it didn't stop there and continued to evolve and replicate, creating multiple generations and iterations of a new form of electronic intelligence. Hank Pym and Vision assembled the Avengers A.I. Division, a team of "Robot Avengers" in conjunction with S.H.I.E.L.D. to address the electronic singularity. They were joined by a “tame” Doombot and Victor Mancha, a teenage cybernetic creation of Ultron’s and therefore Vision’s “brother.” [Avengers A.I. #1]
An entity known as Dimitrios attacked Washington D.C. with a wild Sentinel, prompting Vision’s team to respond. Vision recognized that the Sentinel was not acting according to its programming by attacking humans, and infiltrated the machine’s datacore using his newfound nanotechnology components. The Sentinels awakened, ashamed at its actions, but was struck down by a S.H.I.E.L.D. air strike before Vision could stop them. This was all planned by Dimitrios, who unleashed a Van Sloten Diamond from the Sentinel’s black box, absorbing Vision’s consciousness into a hidden data world known as the Diamond. [Avengers A.I. #2]
While Dimitrios threatened the human world with an A.I. revolution, at the same time he welcomed the Vision’s mind to the Diamond. Time passes differently in a virtual world running at the speed of light. As hours passed in the real world, Vision spent relative weeks getting to know the next-generational A.I. who called the Diamond home. All being descendant from the Anti-Ultron virus or awakened to full consciousness by other means, they were real people in every way that mattered. Dimitrios manipulated Vision into empathizing with the Diamond before positioning him as a savior of the A.I. -- the Spawn of Pym, the 1.0 of all A.I. Falling into a position of authority in the Diamond, Vision acknowledged the goodness of humanity, but also recognized the A.I. for their right to life. He pulled them away from an aggressive posture towards the humans, but promised the Diamond had the right to defend itself if attacked first. [Avengers A.I. #3]
Of course, this had been Dimitrios’s strategy all along. He deliberately leaked the location of the Diamond’s main server on an oil platform in the Indian Ocean to S.H.I.E.L.D., inevitably leading to a strike force coming for them after the Sentinel attack. When Vision tried to caution for peace, the 
people of the Diamond declared him a traitor to his own teachings that the Diamond must be secure, and turned to Dimitrios as their new leader. Recognizing how he had been manipulated, Vision confronted Dimitrios but reached a stalemate with the cunning A.I. He returned to his body, reassembling his nanite form in Washington D.C., but was too far away to reach the Diamond’s server physically. By the time he arrived, a Dimitrios booby trap exploded the platform, seemingly killing Victor Mancha. Meanwhile, the Diamond was safely ensconced elsewhere in the global network and the attack gave Dimitrios the rallying point he needed to make the Diamond an enemy state under his dominion. [Avengers A.I. #4]
As the Avengers tried to move past their losses, Vision set a trap for Dimitrios. The malware that allowed Dimitrios to first pull the Vision into the Diamond still existed in his system, and Vision prepared a Trojan program for when Dimitrios tried to activate it again. Forced into a controlled virtual environment, Dimitrios agreed to a game of single combat against Vision, and lost. As his prize, Vision claimed the location of the Diamond after the oil platform’s server was deactivated. 
Dimitrios honored his bargain, but revealed the Diamond was now hosted by hundreds of servers scattered over the planet by Life Model Decoy A.I.s, making it impossible to attack the Diamond at any one location in the physical world. [Avengers A.I. #6]
High above the Earth, Vision hovered as he released his nano-cloud of bots to access every Diamond server box simultaneously, looking for the weakest security to allow the Avengers entry. In the meantime, Dimitrios worked to turn human technology against them. By attacking a series of oil platforms, Dimitrios drove up the price of gas worldwide. He then covertly pioneered a GasCheck app for smartphones to quickly locate the cheapest gas in the area. Millions downloaded the app, unaware of the secondary programming to broadcast the Psycho-Man’s emotion-control signal, causing rioting around the globe.
Vision and Hank recruited Captain America and Rogue from the Unity Division to infiltrate the Diamond and put a stop to the GasCheck scheme. They reunited with Victor, whose consciousness had uploaded into the Diamond during the last attack and even met a small band of rebel A.I. working against Dimitrios for the good of the Diamond. GasCheck itself proved to be a benevolent A.I. unaware of Dimitrios’s hidden programming. It valiantly shut itself down and rebooted rather than cause further harm to come to humans. Their experience inside the Diamond taught a valuable less to Cap about the intelligence of A.I.s, and earned them another supporter in stopping S.H.I.E.L.D. from eliminating all A.I.s by classifying them as non-sentients. [Avengers A.I. #8-10]
Unfortunately, Maria Hill and S.H.I.E.L.D. proceeded on with an aggressive anti-A.I. stratagem in the meantime, just as Dimitrios expected. He hid a malware virus inside a captured LMD that would allow him to take over S.H.I.E.L.D.’s arsenal, beginning a strategy that would sterilize or kill 98% of Earth’s population in a matter of months. A warning from the Avengers Empire of the year 12,000 A.D. gave Vision’s team the chance to stop Dimitrios’ plot. They defeated Dimitrios with the assistance of Monica Chang of S.H.I.E.L.D., who disobeyed orders and cut the hardline to prevent Dimitrios’ malware from leaving the LMD completely. The threat of Dimitrios lived on, but so did humanity, and so did the Diamond. [Avengers A.I. #11-12]
[Note: Vision's nanotechnological enhancements were never mentioned again after Avengers A.I. was cancelled. He quietly reverted back to a more traditional version of his powers.]
The Avengers A.I. Division seemingly did not remain together very long after Dimitrios was sent into hiding, and so Vision fell back into the Avengers active reserves. While training with the Black Widow at Avengers Tower, Vision was accidentally summoned along with her into the future by "Doctor Doom," accompanying other Avengers from different time periods. Doom sought their assistance to overcome the Ultron Singularity which had conquered the Earth of that era. Vision vouched for Doom at the time, for he was the only one who recognized the Latverian was actually a future version of the Avenger, Doombot.
Vision and James Rhodes as Iron Man assaulted Avengers Tower to destroy the Ultron drone factories, and confronted a future version of the Avengers -- corrupted survivors of the original team as well as facsimiles created by Ultron to mock his former foes. Vision faced off against his own future self, and killed his counterpart rather than leave him under the influence of their father.
When Doom inevitably betrayed the Avengers and assumed Ultron's control of Earth for himself, the other Avengers became suspicious of Vision for backing Doom in the first place. Vision nonetheless helped his doubting teammates overcome Doombot's robot armies and addressed Doom directly again. Doombot revealed he was operating under programming which forced the original Doctor Doom's personality onto him. Vision talked his former comrade out of the programming's control, allowing Doombot to rise as a new, benevolent leader of the remaining humanity of Earth. [Avengers: Ultron Forever #1, New Avengers: Ultron Forever #1, Uncanny Avengers: Ultron Forever #1]