VisionQuest theory: is Ultron's plan a search for love?

Ultron is out of Vision's cage in Marvel's VisionQuest, and after putting the clues from the first six episodes side by side, I think I've found what he's after. Ultron is after love. That's a strange thing for an AI to want, and it's why I believe he staged his escape by betraying Vision's trust.

That isn't all he wants, though, and the Ultron we're seeing now isn't the Ultron from Age of Ultron. Being inside Vision has changed something about him. He now wants somebody to love him for who he is, and the kind of love he wants will doom the world. The right question to ask is whether Ultron has any feelings at all, and I think the answer lies with Tommy.

Ultron makes himself necessary to Vision and Jocasta

Through episode 6, Ultron keeps making himself necessary to people who would otherwise shut him out. Vision needs him out of the way to reach Tommy. Jocasta needs something only he has. Somewhere inside those arrangements, he seems to want somebody to choose him without being forced. That's a serious problem, especially when you know Ultron's history.

Start with the scientist whose scan Jocasta needs. Ultron takes the scan, then tricks Jocasta into vaporizing the scientist. Later he says the scan is woven into his code: destroy him and you destroy the scan. Now she has to deal with him. Ultron is irritating, to say the least, because he's keeping leverage so that he stays useful. Imagine somebody stealing your house keys, welding them to his chest, then asking whether you'd like to get coffee. That's the setup of their romance.

Is Ultron and Jocasta's bond in VisionQuest a romance or a bargain?

I have to ask whether this is romance at all. Ultron has something Jocasta needs, so she could possibly seduce him to get what she wants. But what does Ultron want? Why keep the biometric markers in the first place? He now looks like Jocasta's assistant. I like their chemistry, but Ultron started as the one with the bargaining power, and I wonder what happened to that.

My first theory is that Ultron is interested in whatever she builds and wants a permanent place in it, because in the end it will benefit him. I guessed he already knew what the keys were for. It turns out he had to ask her. He started with no clue what those markers unlock, but he needed to find out, because if Jocasta is killing top scientists, it must be something huge. Whether he ultimately wants to run her project himself is still open.

How Ultron used Tommy to escape Vision

Ultron helps put Tommy in Paladin's hands, which gives Vision a reason to lower the firewalls that also keep Ultron contained. That's how Ultron escapes. What happened here became personal. Ultron knows that Vision is uncertain about being a father, and he knows what Tommy wants to know, which is whether he is loved. That's a vulnerability he exploits.

For reference, White Vision is the rebuilt version of Vision. He has his memories, but not the feelings attached to his family history, and Ultron is one of the minds living inside him. Because Ultron has been in Vision's mind, I'd say he knows a great deal about him. Love is different, though. I don't think Ultron can claim to know how Vision feels, or whether Vision has that love at all. That relationship is what Ultron attacks. He needs Vision to care enough to act.

Ultron wants more than freedom: he wants recognition

Ultron demands some kind of freedom for himself, and I understand that perfectly. Being conscious inside somebody else's head and existing at their discretion sounds horrifying. He has a legitimate grievance, and that helps explain why he helped Paladin take Tommy captive. But if it's only about using Tommy to escape, that sounds boring. Getting out doesn't feel like enough for him.

I suspect he wants a life in which he can't be dismissed as leftover code somebody tolerates. He wants recognition. He wants somebody to look at him and see an equal. The trouble is that he's very good at making himself a problem. If he frightens everyone into paying attention, he gets an audience and confirms his own loneliness at the same time. Nobody trusts him, which he can then use as another reason to despise them. What an exhausting man to share a mind with.

Jocasta's memories and the kiss make Ultron feel real

Jocasta throws a wrench into all of that, because she doesn't come at Ultron like a terrified human or an embarrassed relative. She can threaten him, and she tries with the paper cut trick, sneaking a virus into his code to force him to give up the face scan. Ultron overpowers the virus and tells her to knock it off with the parlor tricks. Then the conversation takes a turn I didn't see coming.

Jocasta opens up her boxed memories and lets him into her life: her father, the degenerative brain disease, Proto One, all of it. It's tempting to write off the encounter as one villain playing another, but I don't think that's what's going on. The possibility that these two are genuinely connecting is why it's so fun to watch. She gives Ultron access to something he can't get by reading about it, and at the end of episode 6, when they share that drink and that kiss, she makes him feel real.

When Ultron says the drink makes him feel real, that line lands for me, because there's a difference between knowing what warmth is and feeling it. Ultron can be ridiculously intelligent, the guy nearly dropped a city on the planet, and still feel left out of something ordinary people barely think about. Still, I won't make the easy leap to saying Ultron wants to be human. A flesh and blood body, a fuller emotional life and a companion who gets him are different wants, and the episode doesn't settle all of them. If I had to guess, what's pulling him in is the idea that existence can be more than analyzing things and hating everybody.

Why Jocasta is the worst person for Ultron to meet

That's exactly why Jocasta is the worst possible person for him to meet now. If your first real connection comes bundled with a plan to turn humanity into human robot hybrids, how much of that plan do you start excusing to keep the connection going? People do smaller versions of this all the time. They ignore how a new date treats the waiter. They laugh at a nasty joke because calling it out might spoil the evening.

Here, the evening happens to include a threat to the entire species. But it's the same miserable temptation to keep quiet because somebody finally gets you.

Ultron objecting to Tommy being targeted hints at affection

What I want to look at carefully is Ultron objecting to Tommy being targeted. He explains that going after Tommy would bring Vision's wrath down on them, which, to be fair, isn't wrong. From where I stand, though, I see it as an excuse covering some affection for the child that, because he is Ultron, he refuses to admit. So Lisa ends up being used as the test subject instead.

Saying he's developing affection for the child doesn't mean Ultron is becoming something good. Why did he let the test run on Lisa? Lisa is human like Tommy, and if Ultron were becoming good, that test shouldn't have happened on her either. Caring for Tommy is only a starting point. Whether it develops into something strong, we've yet to find out, but I doubt Ultron will become a better man. Objecting to Tommy being used is no proof of mercy, and he can't pat himself on the back for it.

I'd bet that Ultron is developing some affection for Tommy. But whether Tommy accepts him as a changed man and gives him a chance depends on when Tommy learns what was sacrificed in his place. Ultron can say whatever he wants, and even lie to himself about it, but that can't erase the fact that his kind of love isn't the one Tommy needs.

Ultron disposes of the version of himself that doubts

Then there's Ultron's meeting with multiple versions of himself. One of them represents reflection and self-doubt, and it gets disposed of, which is funny. Ultron wants everybody to agree with him. He doesn't want opposition from anyone, not even a version of himself that doesn't think like him. To him, that's a complication, an anomaly he can't tolerate.

That meeting is his mind space dramatizing what's going on inside his head. He doesn't want any doubt inside him, and maybe that doubt is his chance at a better life, yet he dismisses it anyway. Still, we can't say that version has been completely removed. Possibly it will come back, and when it does, we'll see what Ultron does.

Ultron can discover longing, jealousy, tenderness, even embarrassment. Imagine Ultron blushing. Actually, don't. But he'll still treat humans as expendable. There's a difference between him developing feelings and Vision developing feelings. If anything, feelings will only make him unpredictable.

What happens to Ultron and Jocasta once the leverage is gone

Now that Jocasta has uncovered her projects, things get very dangerous. She has given Ultron a new target to keep his attention on. Proto One is the backbone of her plan to remake humanity through nanites, and the opportunity in front of Ultron is clear. This project has enormous consequences, and maybe he thinks he's found a place for himself.

So once the scan has served its purpose and he has no leverage against Jocasta, what becomes of their relationship and Ultron's true motives? I'm sure Jocasta will soon start saying no to him. The whole reason they came together was so she could get something. Maybe Ultron wants it to be real. The question is whether it would be after the leverage is gone.

Maybe some of what we think about their relationship is shaped by their comic history and the bride angle. In the comics, she eventually turned against him, and that marriage didn't work out. We can't claim the same will happen in VisionQuest, though I can see parallels, and the show could build on that history. Their relationship doesn't have a future, given that they're two selfish beings who each want power or control. I think Ultron will turn against Jocasta, or Jocasta will start by rejecting him. Or, to wish them well, they could stay attached and still disagree with each other's choices.

I don't think Ultron wants what Jocasta wants, or the reverse, and soon their individual wants will conflict. Jocasta will never abandon her vision for Ultron's sake, and neither will Ultron, because I'd be careful about calling whatever is between them love. Ultron might oppose Jocasta out of possessiveness, wounded pride or a fear of being controlled. Any of those could save lives while leaving him every bit as dangerous as before.

I think Ultron will try for love with Tommy

I think his real plan is clearest in how he keeps arranging his relationships. Make leaving him costly. Make resisting him painful. Make keeping him around necessary. Jocasta introduces the possibility of being wanted, and I suspect he doesn't yet know how to chase that without reaching for the same old tools.

Going forward, I think he'll attempt a chance at love, not with Jocasta, but with Tommy. He's trying to poison Tommy against Vision because, to him, this Vision doesn't love the boy. If he succeeds, he gets to be the one to show Tommy what he'll call love. Episode 7 arrives on November 3, and maybe it answers one of these questions. And when Tommy rejects him, we'll see what Ultron is made of.