WandaVision: does Vision have a soul? Mind Stone theory

Before WandaVision premiered, its biggest mystery was how Vision could be alive again after dying twice. That raised a deeper question: was he ever really alive in the way we understand it, and does he have a soul? Our conclusion was that Vision qualifies as alive, that his soul is bound up with the Mind Stone, and that the Vision in WandaVision is probably a projection of Wanda's mind.

Tommy Bechtold framed it simply: being alive isn't necessarily the same thing as having a soul. The question was inspired by a fan who asked what Vision's status would be after the first season of WandaVision, dead or alive. To answer it, we first had to go back to how Vision was created, because few fans could explain it off the top of their heads.

How Vision was made in Avengers: Age of Ultron

Vision was originally designed by Ultron as his final android body in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015). Ultron used Dr. Helen Cho's human tissue generation tech, fusing those synthetic cells with vibranium atoms. So the formula starts with human tissue plus vibranium.

Ultron then powered the body with the Mind Stone, the source of his own artificial intelligence. That amorphous blue AI blob Tony Stark compared to JARVIS was cosmic tech derived from Infinity Stone power, and it became Ultron. The final piece was supposed to be Ultron's own evolved consciousness, but he was interrupted. The Avengers took the Cradle, and Tony replaced what Ultron planned with the peaceful operating system of JARVIS.

Finally, Thor woke the android with a spark of life from Mjolnir. Many believe that is at least a big part of why Vision can lift the hammer, and he got his name from Thor's vision. So Vision equals human tissue plus vibranium plus the Mind Stone plus JARVIS plus Asgardian magic.

That is also the root of a gripe about the character. Vision is essentially all the overcomplicated writing of Age of Ultron bottled up in one figure, which makes each component less cool. He is less than the sum of his parts. There was even a joke that Paul Bettany went from a cushy voice job to hours of prosthetics and makeup every day, followed quickly by an admission that it was only kidding.

Is Vision alive by the biology textbook definition

Biology 101 lists seven characteristics of a living organism. It responds to external stimuli, grows and changes over time, produces offspring, maintains a stable body temperature, metabolizes energy, consists of one or more cells, and adapts to its environment.

There is debate in the scientific community over these. Mules are sterile, yet they are still organisms. Viruses are not cellular and need to hijack other cells to replicate, but they behave similarly to other life. So maybe we have to broaden our definitions, and there may be things out there we don't know about, such as silicon based life forms.

Running Vision through the list, he responds to stimuli: when someone tries to pry out his Mind Stone, he doesn't like it. He grows and changes, gaining a cape and turning into a flesh form in Avengers: Infinity War. It is uncertain whether he maintains homeostasis or metabolizes anything; in Captain America: Civil War he mentions not really knowing what anything tastes like. But his body does have human cellular tissue from Helen Cho's work. His cape and flesh form also look like adaptations, the flesh form helping him blend in while on the run.

Given those human elements, Erik Voss concluded that Vision checks enough boxes, even as an android, to be considered alive, calling it a big concession for him. Tommy said he always considered Vision alive, mostly because he died, and something has to have been alive to become dead. Erik pushed back that computers, cell phones and car batteries die too, so are all those things alive? Maybe they are.

Does the 21 grams experiment prove souls exist

The existence of a soul is hotly debated, because there is no real scientific evidence of any of us having one. The famous 21 grams argument comes from Dr. Duncan MacDougall in Massachusetts in the early 1900s. He said he weighed bodies shortly before and after death and found an unexplained difference of 21 grams.

Other scientists looking back pointed out gaps in the research. Body heat tends to rise at the moment of death because blood and air are no longer cooled by passing through the lungs. That slightly raises heat across the bloodstream and causes slightly more moisture to evaporate through the skin, which can account for 21 grams or so. We did want it to be the soul.

The idea of a soul is grounded in religious and spiritual belief rather than science. When we identify who someone is, we are often referring to memories, associations, inside jokes and shared experiences. People whose brains have been damaged by strokes, Alzheimer's or other diseases are described as having tragically lost their sense of self.

The argument was made in the discussion that it isn't fair to call those people soulless, because many are still capable of bringing joy, finding new hobbies and bringing wonder and comfort. That persistence, the innate human need to connect and find moments of joy, was described as what a soul is. Whether it comes from heaven, a higher power, or something we discover through our lives, it drives us together rather than apart.

The cynical problem with that definition is that it is applied from outside, by us as observers. It could apply to animals, and people do say their pets have souls. The same goes for a personal connection with technology like Alexa or Siri. Just because Wanda loves Vision does not mean Vision has a soul.

Where Vision's soul lives: the Mind Stone and Wanda

Despite all this, Erik said he thinks Vision's AI consciousness does suggest an inner world, at least as much as the other Avengers have. Vision is capable of reasoning and empathy, so by our definition he has as much of a soul as Tony Stark, Captain America, Thor, Nebula, Gamora or Thanos.

So which part holds it? It is not the human tissue, which was just skin grafts in a petri dish. It is not the vibranium, despite its spiritual qualities, because Cap's shield doesn't have a soul. It is not Thor's lightning, which contains magic but no sentience. Vision's self must sit somewhere between JARVIS and the Mind Stone.

In Infinity War, the Avengers and Shuri believed extracting the stone would preserve Vision's identity. When Thanos ripped it out, we never saw whether that would have worked; Vision turned gray and lifeless, so he clearly needed the stone. Paul Bettany has also played Vision very differently from JARVIS, and Vision's return in WandaVision comes with the Mind Stone in his head once more. If he didn't need it, why would he have it?

The conclusion was that Vision's soul, the part that lets him grow and change into love, is at least inextricably linked to the Mind Stone, and the argument went that it is also linked to his connection with Wanda, whose powers came from the same stone. In Infinity War she tells him "i only feel you," which was read in the discussion as a reference to that bond. But the stones were used to destroy the stones in the present MCU. So whatever Vision appears in WandaVision, soul included, must be a projection from Wanda's mind or reality itself being manipulated. The verdict: Vision was as alive as a virus, and in WandaVision he is probably Wanda's imaginary friend.

Do Infinity Stone powers keep the stones alive in the MCU

A fan asked whether people who got powers from the stones mean the stones' presence never left their universe. Tommy took it. Vision was powered by the Mind Stone, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were activated by it, and Captain Marvel was powered by the Space Stone.

According to Bruce Banner in Avengers: Endgame, the stones emit gamma radiation. Gamma radiation is not a particle of a radioactive substance but an electromagnetic wave of energy. So Carol Danvers doesn't have tiny pieces of the Space Stone inside her; she has a dusting of its energy, and that radiation is not infectious.

The comparison offered was being warmed by a light bulb that's gone: you might still feel warm, but pieces of the bulb aren't in your lungs. While we may learn other characters got powers from the stones, maybe through flashbacks, no new cases will occur. Still, it's a comic book movie, and things can change in minutes. The best answer, it was said, is probably "as of right now it's done ask me in two movies."

Giving objects a personality, from slot machines to a Lego city

Staying with the question of objects versus selves, we each talked about giving possessions personalities. Tommy said he has assigned temperaments to things, like calling a TV stubborn, and has given objects luck. His uncle has a theory that you must be gentle with slot machines, because an agitated machine won't pay out.

Erik built an entire Lego city as a kid, hunting down plain street plates and raw bricks instead of new ships. He planned a city hall and a veterinarian's office, then built a colony on his nightstand and invented peace negotiations so it would not go to war with the homeland, supplying part of its output each year instead.

His sister knew how much it meant to him. After a fight over cookies, she wrecked the city at its skyscraper and monorail peak, and he chased her with a chair. By eighth grade he packed the Legos away but kept his X-wing. Now, as adults, it's okay to fill our rooms with toys, and all of our toys are alive, and they thank us for keeping them safe, including Vision.