VisionQuest has been pulling from a lot of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s history, especially as it gets into the origins of artificial intelligence in the movies and delves into Vision’s relationship with his family. But last night’s penultimate episode brought a character into the fold that some folks might not realize has some pretty significant history in the comic books as he was the first Human Torch, long before Johnny Storm took on the name in the Fantastic Four comics. It’s time for a quick Marvel history lesson.
In the show, Paul Bettany plays J.I.M., also known as the Synthetic Man, and believe it or not, this guy is technically the first Marvel superhero, dating back to the first comic released under the brand in 1939. The character made his first appearance in the MCU in a brief cameo in Captain America: The First Avenger way back in 2011, but VisionQuest was the first time he had a proper speaking role. In the MCU, the Synthetic Man is the first of all synthetic life, and has become a cautionary tale for modern-day synthezoids like Vision because of the way he erupted into flame upon experiencing human-like emotion. He was created by Phineas Horton, who sought to rebuild his deceased son as an android, though his fixation on doing so lost him his family and fortune.
Their story has some more tragic consequences we won’t get into here, but the important bit here is that the Synthetic Man is the basis of all synthetic life in the MCU , and that’s why Vision has traces of him in his code, and why they share the same face.
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