Two episodes in and VisionQuest has already made a very strong case for itself. It brought James Spader back as Ultron, which on its own would have been enough, but it also gave us James D'Arcy reprising Edwin Jarvis from Agent Carter (my personal all-time favorite Marvel spinoff) and getting Jarvis back in any form felt like the ultimate gift.
And then there is Ruaridh Mollica as Thomas Shepherd, who has been a complete revelation. The father-son dynamic he and Paul Bettany are building is so moving, emotional and real that it is hard to believe we are only two episodes into the series. I cannot wait to see where it goes.
The show has also been rolling out some hints about Tommy’s powers carefully and smartly across both episodes so far. VisionQuest introduces Tommy Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica) as a con artist and a delinquent with no real handle on who he is or why strange things keep happening around him. By the end of episode 2 it is clear the show has big plans for him, and a lot of that comes down to what his powers actually are, where they come from and why he cannot control them.
Thomas Shepherd is Tommy Maximoff
Thomas Shepherd is the reincarnation of Tommy Maximoff, one of the twin sons Wanda created within the Westview hex during WandaVision. In the show Wanda used her reality-warping powers to bring Billy and Tommy into existence, and while the exact mechanics are kept vague, the implication is that she gave them genuine souls rather than just conjuring them from nothing. When the hex came down at the end of WandaVision, those souls did not simply vanish.
Billy's soul found William Kaplan's body almost immediately. Tommy's did not. As revealed in Agatha All Along, Tommy's soul ended up trapped inside Billy for a period, and it was only during the final trial of the Witches' Road that Billy, with Agatha's help, was able to guide Tommy's soul into a new vessel. The body he found was a boy who had just drowned. From VisionQuest, it's now clear that it was Thomas Shepherd.
This is what Tommy is describing in VisionQuest episode 2 when he is shown in the footage telling police that it felt like someone else moved into his head alongside him. Because from Thomas Shepherd's side of it during his final moments, that is exactly what happened.
Thomas Shepherd's power is molecular acceleration
Tommy's powers mirror those of his uncle Pietro Maximoff, better known as Quicksilver. At their core they are speed-based, but the more interesting ability is molecular acceleration.
Tommy can vibrate the molecules in matter at an accelerated rate, which at full development allows him to do things like make objects explode on contact, phase through solid matter by vibrating between molecules, and redirect energy that comes into contact with him.
In the comics, Tommy's first use of his powers is escaping a detention facility. VisionQuest tracks that origin very closely.
We get glimpses of Tommy's powers in action in VisionQuest episode 2
The first time Tommy's powers emerge on screen is on the prison transport bus flashback. A guard tasers him to stop him from intervening when another inmate panics. The taser charge instead gets redirected back into the guard, knocking him out.
It is pretty clear in that scene that Tommy did not do this deliberately. His body's molecular vibration essentially bounced the electrical charge straight back out before he had any conscious awareness of what was happening. It reads in the moment like a lucky accident, but it is the first clear demonstration of what he is capable of.
The second instance is at Saint Mabyn's, when Vision arrives to rescue him and they realize too late that the room is an EMP cage designed to destabilize Vision's systems. With Vision unable to use his powers, Tommy tries to work the lock mechanism manually. His hands start moving faster than he can control them at a speed that is clearly not natural and he says he does not know why it happens or how to stop it.
It seems the molecular acceleration is kicking in involuntarily, triggered by adrenaline or urgency or both, and he has no idea yet how to be directing it.
Thomas Shepherd's powers mostly come from the inheritance of a soul that was created by one of the most powerful magical forces in the MCU and carries the bloodline of Quicksilver. So far, Tommy has been running on hardware he did not know he had, and he is only just starting to find out what it can do.
Visionquest is streaming now on Disney+.
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