Is Vision Actually Ultron? Theory Explained

Back in the events of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ one of the things that we saw was the birth of none other than Ultron, who ended up becoming a thorn in the side of the Avengers all movie long because of his extremist nature as an artificial intelligence. However, we also saw the birth of Vision, who was created using the body that Ultron created for himself. So, does that mean that Vision was actually Ultron the entire time?

Are Vision and Ultron the same?

During the events of the MCU’s ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron,’ one of the things that we saw was how adamant Tony Stark was about creating a worldwide defense system that functioned on one artificial intelligence. Basically, the project involved multiple robotic suits that were controlled by an AI that he developed so that they could defend the planet without necessarily relying too much on the Avengers.

Called the Ultron Project, this AI was supposed to protect the planet from any threat. However, Stark’s newest AI ended up becoming too self-aware. Upon Ultron’s birth, he ended up realizing that the greatest threat to the planet was humanity, and that means that the only way for him to protect the planet was to wipe humanity from the face of the planet.

Ultron started hopping from one robotic suit to another, using whatever resources were available to him to create a powerful body designed to be able to fight the Avengers on par. However, his ultimate dream was to create a body so perfect that it could house the Mind Stone and allow him to become the ultimate being. Ultron used stolen Vibranium and forced Helen Cho to help him create this body.

The Avengers, however, foiled Ultron’s plan of inhabiting this body as they were able to take it back to the Avengers Tower before Ultron could transfer his consciousness into it. Stark, however, had other plans with the body after realizing that JARVIS, who was previously destroyed by Ultron, still had some leftover data that he could use on this ultimate Vibranium body.

Despite Captain America’s objections, Tony Stark was able to give birth to Vision, who was created using the remnants of JARVIS’s data. Vision, however, told the Avengers that he was neither JARVIS nor Ultron but was an entirely different being. In ‘Avengers: Infinity War,’ it was mentioned that Vision’s entire identity was a combination of different things, including the Mind Stone, Jarvis, and even Stark.

This means that Vision was an entity entirely distinct and separate from Ultron, which was an entirely different entity as well. While Vision was supposed to be Ultron’s final form, JARVIS’s data allowed Stark to imprint a new personality and identity onto the synthesized Vibranium body that was meant for Ultron, thereby foiling the villainous robot’s plans. The fact that Ultron was never able to transfer a single piece of his data and consciousness into Vision’s body means that Vision is distinct from him.

Does Vision turn into Ultron?

One of the things that we know about Vision is that he became a unique character on his own. As Tony Stark remarked, Vision was learning like a true sentient being. Eventually, however, Vision died as a result of Thanos’ quest to obtain all of the Infinity Stones, including the Mind Stone embedded on Vision’s forehead. While Vision did indeed return temporarily during the events of ‘WandaVision,’ he was simply a product of Wanda’s newfound ability to tamper with reality.

In that regard, Vision never became Ultron. However, in episode 8 of season 1 of ‘What If…?,’ an alternate version of Ultron actually succeeded in taking over Vision’s body and obtaining the Mind Stone, thus becoming far more powerful than he ever was. This version of Ultron launched a global holocaust that ended up killing most of humanity.

Of course, this version of Ultron didn’t stop there. He killed Thanos to acquire all of the other Infinity Stones, allowing him to become a god in his universe and even the greater multiverse itself. 

So, in short, this version of Ultron was what Ultron could have been had he succeeded in taking over Vision’s body during the events of ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron.’ The entire multiverse was plunged into chaos because of his actions, and not even Uatu, a multiverse-level existence, was strong enough to defeat Ultron.

It’s a good thing that the Avengers were able to stop Ultron from taking over Vision’s body in the main universe of the MCU. Otherwise, the entire universe would have been plunged into chaos due to Ultron’s genocidal nature.

That ‘What If…?’ episode also highlighted the differences between Ultron and Vision. While Ultron launched a global holocaust and eventually used the power of the Infinity Stones against entire universes, Vision used his body and powers the right way and decided to become a true hero before his untimely destruction.

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