VisionQuest review: A brilliant idea that loses its way in the middle

🤖 The end of the WandaVision trilogy

🦸 This review is part of the MCU Watch Order – watch every Marvel movie and series in timeline order.

I have just finished the last episode of VisionQuest, and my feelings are mixed in a very specific way. The start of the series is very strong. Then it becomes, for want of a better word, abstruse. The finale is better again, and the best thing of all comes after the credits. Overall that is a 4 out of 5, but it is a 4 with a long, confusing stretch in the middle.

VisionQuest is the final part of the story that began in 2021 with WandaVision and continued with our Agatha All Along season 1 review. Paul Bettany is back as Vision, and James Spader returns as Ultron for the first time since Avengers: Age of Ultron. The series uses the same trick WandaVision did: classic sitcom framing as a way to tell a much bigger story. If you have not seen WandaVision, stop here and start there. This series makes little sense without it.

A very strong start

The first episodes are the best stretch of the season for me. I found the start of the series very strong.

That idea is the heart of the show: the artificial intelligences of the MCU are no longer voices in a suit or a lab, they are characters with faces and personalities of their own. F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H. and J.A.R.V.I.S. are played by actors, and Ultron, the AI that gave the Avengers their worst day in Age of Ultron, is back with James Spader’s voice and presence. I think that idea is genuinely brilliant. For years these AIs only ran in the background of other people’s stories; here they finally get to be characters themselves.

And the larger concept around Ultron is well thought through. Whatever else goes wrong in the middle, the plan behind his part of the story holds together better than I expected.

The sitcom scenes still work

The sitcom scenes were the big trick of WandaVision, and I was curious whether the format still had anything left after one full series built on it. It does. I liked the sitcom scenes, and I liked the idea behind them. They also tie the series back to where this whole trilogy started.

Where it loses me: The middle

After that strong start, the series gets more and more abstruse. The personified AIs that make the idea so good are also where it starts to wobble for me. I know this is a superhero series, and it cannot show artificial intelligence the way it would really behave. But at times the way these AIs think and act simply did not feel right to me, and the story leaned on that more and more.

The bigger problem is that it all became too confusing and, in places, illogical. Somehow it felt a little too constructed, and it did not always feel like it belonged in the MCU I know. That is the main reason this is a 4 and not more.

The finale gets it back

The last episode, Forever, is better again. It does not undo the confusing middle, but it is a clear step up from it. It is also the longest episode of the season, at about an hour and twelve minutes.

The highlight: Two post-credits scenes

Do not turn the finale off when the credits start. The two scenes after the credits are the best part of the entire series for me. Light spoilers follow in this section, so skip to the next heading if you have not finished the show.

The first scene stays with the story of VisionQuest itself. Ultron holds a chip with the name Jocasta on it, which leaves a door open for a story that will probably not pay off any time soon.

The second scene is the one everyone will be talking about. It goes back to the end of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, where Wanda brought the temple at Mount Wundagore down on herself to destroy the Darkhold. Doctor Doom, played by Robert Downey Jr., arrives at the ruins and brings the Scarlet Witch back, with the words that her powers will be his. That is a direct lead-in to Avengers: Doomsday, which opens in US theaters on December 18, 2026, and for me this short look ahead was the highlight of the whole series. If you are preparing for the film, our what to watch before Avengers: Doomsday guide has the rest of the list.

Who VisionQuest is for

In my eyes, VisionQuest only makes sense for MCU fans. You have to have seen WandaVision, and you will get more out of it if you also know Age of Ultron and Multiverse of Madness, because the series leans on all three. For anyone who dropped out of the MCU a few years ago, this is not the place to come back in. Our MCU post-credit scenes guide is a quicker way to catch up on how the pieces connect.

Where VisionQuest sits in the trilogy

The three series were built to be watched in order, and each picks up a different thread of the same family. WandaVision ran on Disney+ from January 15 to March 5, 2021, in nine episodes, and ended with Wanda letting go of the world she had built around Vision and their twin sons, Billy and Tommy. Agatha All Along followed in September 2024 and told Billy’s side of the story through Agatha Harkness. VisionQuest takes the third thread: Vision himself, with Tommy, played by Ruaridh Mollica, at his side.

That is also why the order matters more here than in most Marvel series. VisionQuest assumes you know who Vision was in WandaVision, why the twins exist at all and what happened to Wanda afterwards. Agatha All Along is the one you can skip at a push, because it fills in Billy’s half rather than Vision’s, but the series pays off the most if you have seen all three. The Ultron side of the story goes back further still, to Age of Ultron in 2015, which is where Vision was created in the first place.

Watching it as a dad

The series is rated TV-14 in the US. I would not watch it with kids, and not mainly because of what is on screen: the story is confusing even for adults, and younger viewers simply will not understand what is going on. This is one for the evenings after bedtime.

All eight episodes are out now, so you can watch them at your own pace. If the middle loses you too, it is worth sticking with it: the finale and the two scenes after it are the best part.

If you need WandaVision first, it is on 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray. For more on your watchlist, Prime Video’s 30-day free trial is an easy way to try a big catalog at home.

❓ FAQ

Is VisionQuest worth watching?

Yes, if you are an MCU fan. The start is very strong, the sitcom scenes work and the finale is better again, but the middle of the season gets confusing and at times illogical. We rate it 4 out of 5.

Do I need to watch WandaVision before VisionQuest?

Yes. VisionQuest is the third part of a trilogy that began with WandaVision, and without it the series makes little sense. Agatha All Along, the second part, helps too.

Does VisionQuest have post-credits scenes?

Yes, two, after the finale. One continues a storyline of VisionQuest itself, the other leads directly into Avengers: Doomsday, which opens in US theaters on December 18, 2026. Stay until the very end.

How many episodes does VisionQuest have?

Eight. The first two premiered on Disney+ on October 13, 2026, two more followed on each of the next two Tuesdays, then single episodes, and the finale, Forever, arrived on November 10. Episodes run from about 48 minutes to 72 minutes for the finale.

Is VisionQuest suitable for kids?

It is rated TV-14. We would not watch it with kids: the story is confusing even for adults, and younger viewers simply will not follow it.

Who is in the cast of VisionQuest?

Paul Bettany plays Vision and James Spader plays Ultron. Ruaridh Mollica is Tommy, Todd Stashwick is Paladin, Orla Brady is F.R.I.D.A.Y., Emily Hampshire is E.D.I.T.H. and James D’Arcy is J.A.R.V.I.S. T’Nia Miller is also in the main cast. Terry Matalas created the series.

Where can I watch VisionQuest?

VisionQuest streams exclusively on Disney+.