VisionQuest's Finale Brings Back More Than One Familiar MCU Face — Grade The Episode (And That Mid-Credits Surprise!)

The following post contains spoilers for the "VisionQuest" finale.

With all due respect to Vision, the finale of his own TV show is all about the Maximoffs.

The "WandaVision" trilogy — which includes that series, "Agatha All Along," and the presently concluding "VisionQuest" — has long been hinting at the possibility of a family reunion for Wanda, Vision, and their twin sons, even when the prospect of getting that foursome back together has seemed impossible. After all, Wanda appeared to perish during "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," and the MCU has thus far stuck to that story, even when fans have hoped it wouldn't.

But Tuesday's "VisionQuest" closer not only brings back Joe Locke as Billy Maximoff (first seen in "Agatha All Along"), but, yes indeed, Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff, who is resurrected in the final second of the final scene of the final episode. (It's been a while since a mid-credits Marvel scene carried such weight, eh?)

Let's get into the specifics of "Forever," then we'll want to hear your thoughts on the finale in the comments.

We pick up at Horton Manor, where we learn that Paladin's mysterious client is Virgil Horton (James Spader in a different role), grandson of Phineas Horton and ex-husband of Jocasta. Virgil is holding Vision and Jocasta captive, but he's also hosting them for dinner while offering the audience some of his own backstory: His grandfather's Synthetic Man creation famously went up in flames, and his mother died penniless, left with only a journal full of Phineas' old code that Virgil later inherited. The code was a solid foundation for AI technology, though, and once Virgil married Jocasta, they used their minds "to make the artificial real."

After Jocasta died several years ago — around the same time that Vision was in pieces post-"Infinity War" — Virgil took a classified job at S.W.O.R.D., and he was the person who rebuilt Vision as the White Vision introduced to us in "WandaVision". At S.W.O.R.D., Virgil also siphoned materials to rebuild Jocasta, but he believes himself unworthy to be Jocasta's partner in crime in her new, more powerful form. "How could you possibly love me?" Virgil tells his robot ex at his dinner table. "You're a goddess now. A goddess who deserves her god."

That's where Vision comes into Virgil's plan. Virgil wants to upload his brilliant consciousness into a different, better-equipped body so that he and Jocasta can rule the world together. And Vision? He's "the perfect vessel," Virgil says. Vision realizes that this is why Virgil put a bounty on his head in the first place: "In an attempt to avoid loss, you hired the Paladin to find me, to use me as a vessel," Vision says. "Your mind, this body."

And, yep, that's the gist of it... except for the 20 billion nanobots that Virgil also plans to unleash on the world, commandeering the nano technology that Jocasta developed years ago. A horrified Jocasta counters that the nanobots were invented to cure disease and save humanity; Virgil instead wants to use them to control "every human being on the planet, and then some," claiming that this version of the world will boast "no war, no greed, only peace and tranquility and obedience."

Virgil then places a device over the top of Vision's head, which will allow him to "purge all that obsolete data" from Vision's technology in order to make room for Virgil's consciousness. Jocasta tells him to stop, asserting that she's already found the better version of Virgil: It's Ultron, whose data is being hidden away in a little camcorder-esque device that's sitting at the opposite end of the dinner table. Virgil says that Jocasta loved him once, and he can remind her of their previous bliss together — which naturally involves playing Glen Campbell's "Rhinestone Cowboy" record to jog her happier memories.

While World's Worst Dinner Party unfolds at the manor, Thomas and Lisa are in a hotel, rewatching the unearthed WandaVision footage in an attempt to understand how the twin boys in that "show" somehow became present-day Thomas and his MIA brother. Thomas once again experiences memories of a boy drowning, and he asks Lisa to hold him underwater in the bathtub in the next room; after all, when all of this began, Thomas was in a pool, and "Billy was there, like our minds were connected," he explains to Lisa. So, it stands to reason that if he's under the water again, perhaps he and Billy can find one another.

Lisa (reluctantly) does as she's asked, and when Thomas is fully submerged, he wakes up in a completely different room. He pushes open a door that's in front of him... and there's Billy (Joe Locke), standing among dozens of candles! Yay! The brothers hug, and Billy explains that he's dream binding — one of the many magical skills that he's been practicing lately. He has been trying to find Thomas for ages, but he describes his brother as a radio frequency that was too fuzzy to ascertain; Billy couldn't locate him until last night, which coincided with Thomas watching their mom's sitcom creation. But back in the real world, Thomas is running out of air in that hotel bathtub, which leaves him only enough time to tell Billy that Vision is in trouble and he needs Billy's help to save their dad.

In a fun nod to "Agatha All Along" — which ended with a deceased Agatha becoming Billy's spiritual guide while he searched for his brother — Billy seems to have a quick aside with the invisible-to-our-eyes Agatha, after realizing that he has no way to transport himself from New Jersey to the London area to help save Vision. "Yeah, but you know I'm bad at portals," Billy whispers to someone Thomas can't see. "You saw what I did to that cat!"

After Thomas comes back to reality with Lisa, he informs her that Billy is too far away to help, and they're on their own. Just then, though, a drone arrives at their window that's controlled by U. and D.U.M.-E., and the pair leads Thomas and Lisa to Horton Manor, where they catch up with E.D.I.T.H. and Paladin. The plan is for Thomas — who's been honing his super-speedy powers — to go inside the mansion, turn off the security cameras, and retrieve Vision before anyone can realize what just happened. Thomas is nervous about executing the plan, but when Lisa reminds him he can be anyone he wants to be, he asserts that today, "I'm Tommy. I'm Tommy Maximoff." And he's off and running!

I'll make like Tommy and speed through the finer details of this sequence: Tommy pulls off most of the plan, but he's not able to get Vision out of the manor without Virgil noticing. (He does, however, manage to destroy the techie tablet that Virgil was going to use to purge Vision's data.) Jocasta, who's officially embraced by Vision and Tommy as one of their allies in this mess, returns to her robot form and threatens Virgil more eloquently... but he shoots her, and her hardware is damaged. Though injured, Jocasta manages to grab the device that's housing Ultron's data and throw it into the swirl of nanobots that Virgil previously presented to her; Ultron thus emerges in his own robot form, and he's coming for his creator.

"You wanted to play God?" Ultron asks Virgil. "Well, now it's time you met one." He approaches Virgil, wraps his robotic arms around the man, and literally squeezes him to death. Oof. Ultron then cradles Jocasta as she dies, expressing hope that he can recover her neural processors before she perishes — and in the wake of Jocasta's death, Ultron wants to destroy humanity more than ever. He sends out those billions of nanobots to the nearest population center — London, in this case — and tells the nanoswarm to, "I don't know, kill them all." Yep, E.D.I.T.H. does her hacking thing and confirms that the nanobots' orders are to find any available host and kill them from the inside out by taking over their neural processes. Only Ultron can turn the swarm off, and even if he dies, the bots won't stop.

Tommy observes that Ultron has trapped himself in grief, just like Wanda once did, and that gives Vision an idea: Using his processing power and a healthy dose of Ultron's, Vision will quarantine himself and Ultron in their own sitcom simulation where time moves much slower than it does in the real world. Perhaps, with enough time spent in the world of "UltraVision," Vision can convince Ultron to call this whole massacre off.

Well, Ultron isn't a fan of his faux-sitcom world, and after 500 (!) episodes of "UltraVision," Vision is no closer to persuading him to let the world survive. Even worse, Vision wasn't able to halt all of the nanobots' activity when he created this simulation, and some of the stragglers have taken over Paladin, Tommy, and Lisa in the real world. Even worse worse, Vision's processing core is burning up with all the power he's using to maintain "UltraVision," and he's almost out of energy entirely. But! As Vision and Ultron discuss the nuances of grief inside their simulation, Ultron realizes that Vision has used both of their cores to make this sitcom possible, and if Vision's demise is imminent, Ultron's is, too.

"Fine," Ultron eventually says. "Fine." In the real world, the nanoswarm's self-destruct sequence is initiated, and the bots burn up and disappear as the "UltraVision" simulation is destroyed and Ultron disintegrates into a pile of data. Vision, though, is left unconscious on a table in the manor afterward, and the power emanating from Tommy's hands isn't enough to resurrect his dad. Fortunately, in a lovely family reunion, Billy arrives to quite literally offer a helping hand. (Hey, he figured out portals, after all!) He and Tommy use their joint magic to bring Vision back, and moments after realizing who Billy is, Vision pulls him in for an emotional group hug.

The next day, Tommy, Lisa, Paladin, and E.D.I.T.H. — well, the latter of whom only Paladin can see — board a private plane together, and Tommy puts on a set of augmented reality glasses that allow him to visit Vision in his mind palace. Vision knows that if it hadn't been for Tommy, he never would have had reason to leave his own head, and he's grateful that he can move out of the mind palace forever. Tommy wonders if it's possible Wanda is out there somewhere, given that he, Billy, and Vision have all survived somehow.

"Well, we have said goodbye before," Vision tells Tommy, echoing a "WandaVision" sentiment. "So I suppose it stands to reason we might say hello again." But after Tommy signs off and Vision leaves his mental mansion, he's brought back inside by the phone ringing, and he knows it's Ultron calling. After all, a significant number of nanobots were unaccounted for after that ordeal at Horton Manor, but Vision didn't want to come looking for Ultron. He believes in second chances; what will Ultron do with his?

Ultron jokes that it's still 50-50 whether he'll simply take in all the culture and wonder that the world has to offer, or annihilate its entire population. But whatever comes next for Ultron, he knows he doesn't want to experience his future alone, and he has Vision to thank for that revelation. "Be good, Ultron," Vision says, then he picks up his hat and coat and exits the mind palace permanently.

Hang on, there's more! In a mid-credits scene, we get a little more insight into what Ultron meant about having a companion for his future. He regenerates inside Horton Manor, and we see he's clutching a small device that's labeled "Jocasta." It's not made clear what he plans to do with that recovered data... but the glint in his eye sure doesn't look all that benevolent.

And that's not all, folks. A second mid-credits scene occurs a few moments later, and it's a biggie. 

First, we're reminded of Wanda's apparent demise back in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," when she was crushed under the rubble of Mount Wundagore. Now, though, a hooded figure — who appears to be Doctor Doom (to be played by Robert Downey Jr. in the MCU) — arrives to levitate some of that debris off Wanda's body.

"Scarlet Witch, awaken," Doctor Doom says. "Your power shall be mine." And awaken, Scarlet Witch does, with a gasp — and that's really all for "VisionQuest."

Your turn! What did you think, Marvel fans? Were you surprised to see Wanda return? Grade Tuesday's "VisionQuest" finale (and the show overall) in our polls below, then hit the comments with your full reviews!