Vision being characterized as one of the most “human” MCU characters doesn’t sit right with me, and here’s why.
When the fandoms were still reeling from the impact of Avengers: Infinity War and people were visiting the video clips of the movie on YT to relive it again, and so was I.
And some of the comments about Vision under the clip of his touching demise scene just sort of stupefied me. People were saying he was “one of the most human characters” in the MCU, “more human than most other characters”, or even “more human than most Avengers” type shit.
Holy GLAZE. Excuse me guys, with all due respect, but – are you fucking shitting me with this one?
I love Vision, he’s one of my MCU faves. But why exactly is he more human than most other MCU characters?
Is it a semantics issue? Because I think it might be a semantics issue.
Yes, I know I'm digging up an old matter, but bear with me.
See, Vision is human. No doubt about it. BUT I wouldn’t consider him fully human. Or more human than most other MCU characters.
The adjacent adjectives that perfectly fit him would be “humanistic” and “humane”. Humanistic because Vision has a very positive attitude towards human beings and wants to live amongst us, to uplift and cherish us, despite knowing damn well of the multiple ways we might become the architects of our own annihilation.
Humane because Vision does not drift towards violence as a primary problem-solving option, abhors pain and destruction and tries his best to understand those who stand against him on a deep level.
But “human” might not be the best word for him. See, for him to be worthy of being called “one of the most human MCU characters”, Vision would have to be more… flawed.
Because… he’s not particularly flawed, is he? He is empathetic, understanding, does not succumb to his emotions but instead utilizes them for a superior understanding of the world around him, he prefers peace and wishes to see life flourish, and is almost utterly selfless, ready to sacrifice himself if need be. His only real blemish is his (at times) slavish devotion to the laws of logic and causality.
Which makes Vision a great person, a wonderful human being. But not the most human character in the MCU.
Vision never struggled with fear, addiction or pride the way Tony Stark did.
Vision never let his demons bring him down multiple times and never had to work hard to reattain or obtain the qualities that would improve him, like Thor or Stephen Strange did.
Vision never had to seek emotional clarity or heal emotional wounds, he never had to deal with the struggle to open up and embrace his feelings like Peter Quill or Rocket did.
Vision never found himself at the brink of personal ruin due to being blinded by his rage or pain, like Shuri or T’Challa did.
THAT’S BEING HUMAN. All the weaknesses, fucked-up tendencies, thoughts and actions, every vice and shortcoming of psychological or physical nature we have to deal with. The terror of us failing. And the hope and sometimes reality of us holding them at bay or outright overpowering them.
But who knows? Vision just underwent rebirth after the memory of his previous life managed to restore “his” memories Big Boss style, and now he’ll have to deal with a Phantom Pain of sorts in the upcoming Vision Quest series. And maybe, just maybe, the process of becoming a person again will shape a darker, more fallible and errant Vision – and the thesis will hold more water.
And some of the comments about Vision under the clip of his touching demise scene just sort of stupefied me. People were saying he was “one of the most human characters” in the MCU, “more human than most other characters”, or even “more human than most Avengers” type shit.
Holy GLAZE. Excuse me guys, with all due respect, but – are you fucking shitting me with this one?
I love Vision, he’s one of my MCU faves. But why exactly is he more human than most other MCU characters?
Is it a semantics issue? Because I think it might be a semantics issue.
Yes, I know I'm digging up an old matter, but bear with me.
See, Vision is human. No doubt about it. BUT I wouldn’t consider him fully human. Or more human than most other MCU characters.
The adjacent adjectives that perfectly fit him would be “humanistic” and “humane”. Humanistic because Vision has a very positive attitude towards human beings and wants to live amongst us, to uplift and cherish us, despite knowing damn well of the multiple ways we might become the architects of our own annihilation.
Humane because Vision does not drift towards violence as a primary problem-solving option, abhors pain and destruction and tries his best to understand those who stand against him on a deep level.
But “human” might not be the best word for him. See, for him to be worthy of being called “one of the most human MCU characters”, Vision would have to be more… flawed.
Because… he’s not particularly flawed, is he? He is empathetic, understanding, does not succumb to his emotions but instead utilizes them for a superior understanding of the world around him, he prefers peace and wishes to see life flourish, and is almost utterly selfless, ready to sacrifice himself if need be. His only real blemish is his (at times) slavish devotion to the laws of logic and causality.
Which makes Vision a great person, a wonderful human being. But not the most human character in the MCU.
Vision never struggled with fear, addiction or pride the way Tony Stark did.
Vision never let his demons bring him down multiple times and never had to work hard to reattain or obtain the qualities that would improve him, like Thor or Stephen Strange did.
Vision never had to seek emotional clarity or heal emotional wounds, he never had to deal with the struggle to open up and embrace his feelings like Peter Quill or Rocket did.
Vision never found himself at the brink of personal ruin due to being blinded by his rage or pain, like Shuri or T’Challa did.
THAT’S BEING HUMAN. All the weaknesses, fucked-up tendencies, thoughts and actions, every vice and shortcoming of psychological or physical nature we have to deal with. The terror of us failing. And the hope and sometimes reality of us holding them at bay or outright overpowering them.
But who knows? Vision just underwent rebirth after the memory of his previous life managed to restore “his” memories Big Boss style, and now he’ll have to deal with a Phantom Pain of sorts in the upcoming Vision Quest series. And maybe, just maybe, the process of becoming a person again will shape a darker, more fallible and errant Vision – and the thesis will hold more water.
Commentaires
Or sorry that it happened.
If we're going to pick robots for "most human characters in the MCU" I have to say the Eternals put up a much better argument.
While I disagree with this notion in theory, I think what OP is really trying to express is that "calling Vision the most *anything* is weird because he hasn't been developed super well" which I do kind of agree with.
But is he human enough? Yes. He feels empathy, sympathy and is flawed and tries to overcome those flaws. That's his arc and he's done decent by it so far.