Like Winter in Game of Thrones, Thanos (Josh Brolin) is finally here. He has arrived in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), and we all have to hope that Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are strong enough to take him on. Judging by the Avengers: Infinity War trailers we have seen so far, the Avengers will have a tough time.
Luckily for all the heroes, they have a synthetic Humanoid on their side. With a body of Vibranium, the power of the Mind Stone, and the loveable British voice of J.A.R.V.I.S, The Vision (Paul Bettany) was introduced into the MCU near the conclusion of Avengers: Age of Ultron (AoU).
The Vision is widely considered one of the strongest MCU Avengers on the team, like this list from Screenrant, he was placed in the top 3 behind Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch). Scarlet Witch’s powers come from the Mind Stone, which gives her the edge over Vision because she can use them to manipulate his, as we saw in Captain America: Civil War. Dr. Strange is above both of them because of magic and his own Infinity Stone (The Time Stone). It is hard to beat a magic user who can rewind time at will.
What is also hard is to judge the Vision’s full power level based solely on his two appearances in the MCU. In AoU he lifts Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, which only the worthy can wield, after the movie made a point of showing us that Captain America (Chris Evans) is the only one who was even close. While I don’t think ‘worthy’ means physical strength necessarily, I do think it is a purposefully subjective word. Regardless, we also learn he can fly, phase through walls, and use the mind stone to focus a laser beam to fire from the top of his head.
Vision’s powers are essentially the same as in Captain America: Civil War, but he does show his weaknesses: focus and mercy. First, we see that Vision is responsible for War Machine's (Don Cheadle) injuries when he misses Falcon (Anthony Mackie), which happens only because of his attachment to Scarlet Witch. Second, if you think of the abilities that Vision has, it’s completely possible that he could take on all the Avengers (minus Scarlet Witch) and win if he wasn’t on their side.
This brings me to some comic references, which while I acknowledge this may not be applicable because the comic version of Vision is not the same as the MCU version, I believe they help to illustrate my point. The Visions comic (written by Tom King and art by Gabriel Hernandez Walta) shows us Vision vs. the Avengers. In his anger to avenge a death (I’m being vague to avoid spoilers, this is a really amazing book that you should read for yourself and enjoy), Vision goes through the Avengers to serve justice, and he does this with ease.
(Side note: Batman does something similar in Batman and Robin issue 34, where he disregards the Justice League’s concerns about him going to fight Darkseid on his own. As you would expect, Batman does what he wants. In The Visions, Vision does something Batman would do.)
While the comic, and this wiki which shows his power grid full, make it seem like Vision is unbeatable, he is not really a killer. We see in the MCU that he is “on the side of life.” He is not just a robot or A.I.; he has humanity, possibly given to him by the Mind Stone. When he loses the Mind Stone will that strip away his humanity? Would he lose that sense of mercy that keeps him from utterly decimating Captain American’s team in Captain America: Civil War?
If that’s the case, I see Vision as being a serious force to be reckoned with when Thanos comes knocking. What do you think, Junkies? Sound off in the comments below and tell me your favorite Avengers: Infinity War theory!