VisionQuest Changes The Marvel Comics Origin Of A Key Villain
by Devin Meenan · /FilmAdd SlashFilm on Google:
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Spoilers ahead for "VisionQuest" Episode 4, "Malware."
The first two "VisionQuest" episodes introduced the "Butcherbird Killer," and Episodes 3-4 pull back her hood. In Episode 3, "Reboot," the killer encounters the hired gun Paladin (Todd Stashwick), and we see she's an android. In the following episode "Malware," Vision and his head full of AIs piece the mystery together and confront the Butcherbird.
The robotic killer is Jocasta (T'Nia Miller), an android who holds the consciousness of Dr. Josephine Carrington. Josephine was part of a five-person research team working at the company Markridge Biotech who developed the first AI. Josephine "died" in 2008, but her memories and consciousness were preserved as an AI, and now, she's seeking revenge on her former team members. Indeed, "Malware" ends with a clash between Jocasta and Vision at the home of Josephine's old friend, Katerina Wells (Mary McDonnell).
We've known Miller would be playing Jocasta in "VisionQuest," so her appearance wasn't a surprise to Marvel fans. But her new origin was. In the comics, Jocasta is a creation of Ultron, copied in part from the mind of his "mother," Janet Van Dyne/The Wasp. (Comic Ultron was created by Hank Pym/Ant-Man, not Tony Stark and Bruce Banner.)
Since James Spader's Ultron has a different lineage, and he's been trapped inside Vision's head for over a decade, it was clear "VisionQuest" would have to change some parts of the comic Jocasta's backstory. Now that we know how the show did so, this revision strips out the parts of Jocasta that make her one of the freakiest characters in the "Avengers" franchise.
Created by former Marvel Comics Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter and artist George Pérez during their run on "Avengers," Jocasta debuted in the title's 162nd issue in 1977. The title of "Avengers" #162? "The Bride of Ultron."
Jocasta's new origin completely rewrites the character
In "Bride of Ultron," the villain brainwashes Hank to help him transfer Janet's mind into Jocasta's inert android body. Ultron is driven off when Iron Man, holding Jocasta's head in a headlock, threatens to destroy her with his repulsor. Ultron came to reclaim his bride a few issues later, in "Avengers" #170-171, but when Jocasta awakened, she turned against him. Since then, she's mostly been a heroic character and even an Avenger herself.
"The Bride of Ultron" largely takes after "Frankenstein," specifically the passages where the Creature demanded his creator build him a female companion. (Ultron's bride turning on him similarly echoes James Whale's 1935 film "Bride of Frankenstein.") But Jocasta's name carries a different literary influence: "Oedipus", the Greek tragedy of the prince who killed his father, Laius, and married his mother, Jocasta.
Ultron making Jocasta reflects his own "Oedipus Complex," and it's a viciously self-aware one. He doesn't just try to use his "mother" to make himself a wife, he names her after the Oedipus myth. (It also fits extremely cleanly with later retcons that Hank Pym based Ultron's personality on his own brainwaves, i.e. the creation inherited his creator's love for the same woman.)
"VisionQuest" takes away all that messy sexual subtext. Jocasta's name instead appeared to be derived from her human name, Josephine Carrington. But why choose that name's mythical associations? "VisionQuest" states that Markridge's early AI work is what led to Tony Stark and Bruce Banner eventually developing Ultron, so you could argue Jocasta still counts as Ultron's "mother." But that's a much more tangential connection and a retcon, too. Plus, if Ultron didn't design Jocasta in "VisionQuest," why does she look like a feminine Ultron? "VisionQuest" doesn't have an answer yet.
"VisionQuest" is streaming on Disney+.