Limited "Vision"
by Van Plexico

Something about the Vision has troubled me this past year, something beyond his difficulties with Wanda and his struggles with his emotions toward her and toward Simon and etc. Certainly the Vision has been, shall we say, far less than formidable in dealing with his personal, non-"professional" troubles. But beyond even that, what's he done on the battlefield?

Quite simply, what's troubled me has been this: Vizh has been a *pushover*!

Vizh's first recourse in combat is almost always to go for the old "phase a hand through the enemy's chest and stun them by solidifying it" maneuver. But-- can anyone remember the last time this was an effective move for him? When he tried it against Pagan in #14, didn't you just *know* it would fail? Because it *always* fails. Every time he's tried it, for as long as I can remember, the opponent has *always* seemed to have some sort of immunity or defense against it-- and yet, every time, Vizh acts like he's actually *surprised* by this.

The problem is best illustrated by comparing it with what writer/producer J. Michael Stryczinski said about the powerful and evil Psi-Cop, Bester, back in the early seasons of Bablyon 5. Bester had appeared as a guest-villain a couple of times, and the good guys had beaten him both times and sent him packing back to Earth. So when he turned up for his third appearance, JMS felt he *had* to have Bester "win" this time, or at least make a good show of it, and have something over his opponents at the end. His reasoning was that otherwise, if his strategems and attacks kept failing, kept coming to nothing, he'd become in viewers' minds nothing more than a "predictable loser," a "clown," and lose his sense of power and danger and formidability.

And I think that's exactly where the Vision is headed in a big hurry.

So here's what I think Vizh needs: A story where he comes in and just cleans house, kicks ass and takes names... or at least one where he rises up at the end and just deals out some major damage and puts the villain down for the count [nefaria]. (pardon the pun).

I say it outta love. I want Vizh to be a strong, respected, formidable character and opponent again. Maybe this has all been a setup-- demoralize him in combat as well as in his personal life, until the big story where he makes it all right. We'll see. But like I said before, keep that going too long, and he'll start to look like a joke rather than one of the greatest Avengers.

--Van