Upcoming MCU show VisionQuest looks like a suitably trippy affair, with the grieving synthezoid retreating into his own head following the events of WandaVision and somehow coming into contact with his teenage son, Tommy Shepherd. But where exactly the show slots onto the Marvel timeline has been something of a mystery until now.
“Years have passed since WandaVision,” VisionQuest showrunner Terry Matalas confirmed to Polygon. “I would say we’re about current with Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” If we can take Matalas’ word as gospel, that means VisionQuest is set in 2028, as this is when Brand New Day takes place, some four years after the events of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
Alongside Brand New Day, that puts VisionQuest furthest along the MCU timeline ahead of the release of Avengers: Doomsday in December. Though it doesn’t seem like VisionQuest will directly lead into Doomsday, Matalas did recently confirm that the show will offer a heartbreaking new perspective on Iron Man’s death.
Despite being billed as the conclusion of the WandaVision trilogy following the 2021 show and the 2024 series Agatha All Along, Matalas told SFX that’s it’s actually more of a sequel, and they have ideas for subsequent seasons. Paul Bettany also recently revealed why WandaVision/Agatha showrunner Jac Schaeffer stepped away from VisionQuest, leaving the door open for Star Trek: Picard’s Matalas.
After dying (twice) and losing the love of his life, Wanda Maximoff, off-screen in Doctor Strange 2, VisionQuest sees the superpowered android back in Scotland, where he once lived with Wanda (aww). By day, he works in a pub, but by night he goes soul-searching in his own mind palace, learning what it means to be human through the oddball AI constructs in his head. Among them, Vision’s creator and former threat to the planet Ultron, who’s been trapped in Vision’s head since their final conversation at the climax of Avengers: Age of Ultron.
One person who won’t be appearing in VisionQuest, however, is Wanda. At least, that’s what Matalas wants us to believe. “There’s a moment late in the season that we were running towards, but we didn’t know exactly how we would get there,” Matalas told SFX. “Paul had an amazing idea for the kind of scene it should be. Who he is within that particular scene is kind of amazing, and that we were able to pull that off. I want to make sure that people don’t think I’m teasing Wanda, because I’m not teasing Wanda.”
As far as we know, neither Paul Bettany’s Vision (white or otherwise), nor Elizabeth Olsen’s Scarlet Witch are part of the massive ensemble cast of Avengers: Doomsday, as they weren’t part of the cast reveal livestream. But there’s still plenty of time to squeeze them into Avengers: Secret Wars…
VisionQuest releases on Disney Plus on October 14. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming Marvel movies and TV shows for everything else the MCU has in store.