Spoilers follow for VisionQuest Episode 7, “Immolation.”
In the latest (and penultimate) episode of Marvel’s VisionQuest, Paul Bettany’s Vision embarks on a journey deep into his own mind, and along the way he unlocks a previously unknown aspect to the history of the MCU that sets up a very interesting “what if” scenario. But not just that, for this new info also might – just might! – answer a question some fans have had since the first Chris Evans Captain America movie came out.
Namely, did the Invaders ever exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?
Essentially the original superhero team of Marvel Comics, the Invaders were in operation during World War II and consisted of Cap, Namor, and the original Human Torch (among others). In the MCU, however, it has never really seemed feasible for that version of the team to have existed. Except now, it suddenly doesn’t seem all that out of the question. And it all starts with the origins of the Vision…
With Ultron (James Spader) off with Jocasta/Dr. Jo Carrington (T'Nia Miller), Vision, Tommy Maximoff (Ruaridh Mollica), and Paladin (Todd Stashwick) hatch a plan to get Vision to dig deep into his own subconscious with the goal of finding the source code that all A.I.s are based on. Luckily, Paladin has what’s left of Corvus Glaive’s weapon from Avengers: Infinity War (remember him?), which they use as a power source so Vision can avoid burning himself out during his excursion.
Once he’s “inside” his own mind, Viz encounters his old “red” version from before he was killed by Thanos. He also meets Dr. Phineas Horton, who we learned back in Episode 4 was the “grandfather of robotics,” having created the first synthezoid. This was the so-called Synthetic Man, or J.I.M., and here we learn more about both Horton and J.I.M.
For starters, they’re all played by Paul Bettany. Horton used himself, or perhaps his late son, James, as the template for J.I.M. (aka Joule Individual Machine) when he constructed him sometime around 1939 (as we see in the opening flashback this episode). Obsessed with creating a robot version of his son, Horton loses his wife and daughter as they leave him for America due to his negligence. He even sells off his stately manor in England. “Are you really going to sell your family’s entire legacy to… what?” his wife asks. “Build some cold imitation of the past? A machine? To replace a son no machine ever could.” Horton doesn’t speak, but his answer is clear.
We know that he did go on to build J.I.M., and we also know that the sythenzoid/robot was on display at the Stark Expo in 1943, as seen in Captain America: The First Avenger, although he appeared to be inactive/dormant at that time.
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.ign.com/articles/visionquest-invaders-human-torch-just-teased-an-iconic-marvel-superhero-team
