A Closer Look at Vision and the Mind Stone

Forgive the long hiatus, I’ve been reading comic books and watching Only Fools and Horses. Hardly a fitting excuse, or even a viable one, but hey, man’s gotta get away from it all sometimes. If that “all” is rambling about cosmic balances and magic rocks on the internet. Anyway, I figured I’d take a more comprehensive look at the Vision and the Mind Stone today, and I’ll also probably go a bit more in depth with each of the Infinity Stones over the coming weeks. I claimed that they were essentially God in my Infinity Imbalance Theory, so rationalising that is top on my list of priorities. We’ll be looking at the powers of the Mind Stone, its influence on the  MCU, and trying to suss out what Vision’s relationship with it is exactly: is it symbiotic? Vampiric? Maybe a mix of both? These questions and more will either be answered or disregarded entirely by the end of this post. So, with that, let’s dive right in.

The Mind Stone was fully revealed in Age of Ultron, but prior to that reveal, it featured heavily in The Avengers, unbeknownst to viewers. In that first movie, it was encased within a blue jewel at the tip of Loki’s Sceptre. We saw that it had the capability to control people’s minds, which is hardly surprising, as well as fire energy blasts. I’ve discussed before my idea that the Mind Stone had a link to the Space Stone inside the Tesseract as a result of it being contained within the Sceptre’s blue jewel. So, let’s talk about the Sceptre.

The Sceptre seemed to function as a key. Given that it was used to close the portal over Stark tower at the climax of The Avengers, it’s also likely that it was the instrument used in the opening of the portal at the start of the  film. If you look at some of the language used surrounding the Tesseract, there’s a chance that the link between the Mind Stone and Space Stone in the movie goes beyond a simple lock and key structure. Erik Selvig notes that the Tesseract is not simply active but that it’s “behaving”. He later states that the Tesseract has shown him “more than knowledge”, going as far as to say that it has shown him “truth”. This is after he has been mind controlled by Loki, so he’s under the influence of the Sceptre here. Given that the Sceptre allows for the Mind Stone to be connected to the Space Stone, the Mind Stone can be seen almost like a middle man. Relaying information from one place to another. Loki’s “dream sequence” with The Other is also a possible hint to the Mind Stone having capabilities beyond simple mind control. While connected to the  Space Stone, it seemed capable of projecting an image of Loki out to wherever The Other and Thanos were during The Avengers. Given the nature of their discussion, how it relates to the urgency of the situation and the restlessness of the Chitauri attack force, the “dream sequence” does seem as though it’s happening in real time and not in flashback. This is not an ability of the Mind Stone, however. This is an ability of a Mind Stone that is linked to the Space Stone. The Infinity Stones seem to be capable of forming connections with one another that affect their abilities, which explains why the Infinity Gauntlet would be so powerful. All the Stones on one vessel, their energies being channeled into one another, for usage by the Gauntlet’s wearer. So, we can draw from The Avengers that the Mind Stone is capable of controlling minds, and while connected to the Space Stone, can project minds across vast cosmological distances. As regards the “behaviour” of the Tesseract, this may well be a side effect of contact with the Mind Stone. It doesn’t begin to “behave” until Loki tries opening a portal. So, might the Mind Stone be capable of granting consciousness? Well, the answer to that one’s obvious.

Of course it is. Were it not for the  Mind Stone, neither Ultron nor the Vision would even exist. Ultron was a pre-existing AI, but the introduction of the Mind Stone drove him to override his programming and come to the conclusion that humanity was the biggest threat to itself. Ultron’s primary objective as an AI was to assess threat and retaliate accordingly. The Mind Stone took that prerogative and corrupted it, taking it to the extreme lengths we saw unravel in Age of Ultron. But also consider this: the Mind Stone was still connected to the Space Stone when Ultron was created. Remember what we’ve established about relaying information from one point to another? With Ultron, an AI with no prior experience of the world, the influx of information from two Infinity Stones would seem enough to drive him to the conclusions he comes to. Not only that, but he had a very cosmic perspective of his role. “Every time the Earth starts to settle, God throws a rock at it. And believe me, he’s winding up.” Ultron, at birth, was given access to information that not even most space gods are privy to. Is it any wonder he went on a quest for destruction when faced with knowledge of the scope of the universe and the insignificance of the human race? Not at all. However, Ultron did take a shine to two individuals: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. Where did they get their powers from? The Sceptre, and it was still linked to the Space Stone at the time. You can actually see that connection in their power sets. Both power sets are a merger of mind and matter. While Quicksilver’s is inward, his mind allowing him to move at incredible speeds without repercussion; his sister’s is outward, allowing her to manipulate the physical world and the minds of others. No doubt their connection to the Mind and Space Stones is what drew them to Ultron, as we’re never really given an explanation as to how they came to find him in Sokovia in the first place. We now move to the last of those affected by the Mind Stone: the Vision.

Vision, as we all know, has the Mind Stone embedded into his forehead. It is what gave him life. Ultron created his synthetic body in the cradle, and began uploading his consciousness into the Vision’s body. At this point, Ultron placed the Mind Stone onto the newly forming body and left it to do its work. It’s worth noting that the Mind Stone at this point had been in contact with Ultron’s AI, and was also processing Ultron’s AI when the cradle was stolen by The Avengers and brought back to Stark Tower. There is a bit of Ultron in Vision, as well as a bit of JARVIS. However, this is what we hear Vision say not long after his birth: “I am not JARVIS. I am not Ultron. I am… I am.” This is a reference to God speaking to Abraham in the Old Testament. The many biblical references and imagery in Age of Ultron don’t make that much of a leap to make. Vision is essentially saying that he is a God. He essentially proves it by lifting Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir. This is something only one who is “worthy” is capable of, and the only other person we’ve seen lift it is Odin, with Captain America having caused it to move just a tad in his efforts to lift it.

Vision had a bit of Ultron in him, then a bit of JARVIS. The two programs he has known to be a part of his consciousness could not be more different. One, an AI hell-bent on the annihilation of the human race. The other, a mild-mannered servant AI who made sure Tony Stark’s day-to-day home life and Iron Man tech was up to scratch. Yet he is neither of these beings. He is the Mind Stone without interference from exterior forces like the Space Stone. Thus, the Mind Stone dominated the two AIs and emerged the victorious consciousness. Vision is merely a vessel given life by the Mind Stone. For all intents and purposes – he is the Mind Stone.

Let’s establish Vision’s abilities. He has complete control over his physical form. He can phase through walls or totally solidify himself like a rock. He can control his mass to the point where he can float on air, and essentially fly. The Mind Stone itself can be used to fire a beam of energy at will. The Mind Stone’s ability to grant its user these abilities fuel the idea of Quicksilver’s abilities being drawn from the idea that the Mind Stone allows the mind to do things the body usually could not. In Vision’s case, being synthetic, this means not being weighed down by the laws of physics. Given Quicksilver’s organic body and the influence of the Space Stone, he can simply move at great speed. We’ve also seen Scarlet Witch exerts a great deal of control over the Mind Stone, even using it against Vision, forcing him to increase his density and then pushing him down into the Earth’s crust in Captain America: Civil War. All these things serve to enhance the idea of the Mind Stone being connected to all of these people. Now, at one point in Civil  War, Vision speaks to Scarlet Witch about the Mind Stone, saying: “You know, I don’t know what this is? I know it came from Loki’s staff, gave you your powers, but it’s true nature is still a mystery.” He then goes onto say that he’s afraid it will control him, and that he wishes in time to control it. Later on, he blasts War Machine out of the sky, resulting in his paralysis. This is the Mind Stone controlling Vision. When Stark asks him what happened he simply responds, “I missed” to which Stark retorts, “I thought that wasn’t possible.” Vision resigns to saying, “So did I.” Vision has developed a love for Scarlet Witch, and further friendships with the Avengers. He is becoming more human. He is losing his godhood. The Mind Stone does not want this to happen. So it sabotaged the Vision’s attempt at maintaining the relationships between his friends. The Mind Stone, unsurprisingly, has a mind of its own.

Thanks to this Summer’s San Diego Comic Con, we now know that the Mind Stone will be the center piece of the Infinity Gauntlet. This may be because of its apparent sentience, or perhaps its ability to channel the energies of each of the Infinity Stones into the other Infinity Stones. One big question remains: will Vision survive having the Mind Stone removed from his body? And if he does, will it hinder him significantly, or allow his humanity to shine through? We’ll just have to wait and see. I’ll leave you with this: a bit of idle speculation, if you’ll indulge me. I recently finished reading a book by Joseph Campbell called The Hero with a Thousand Faces. It’s by no means a deeply technical book, and it’s a pretty accessible read if you’re after a wider perspective on the human condition and all that jazz. One thing that was a focus of the book was the importance of the Self and the idea of consciousness not as individual minds inhabiting individual bodies, but the idea of one grand consciousness that permeates all there is and exists in every living thing simultaneously. It’s an out there idea, but this is the realm of comic book movies I’m applying it to. Perhaps the Mind Stone’s reputation as a “destructive force” as Thor puts it, is not in its actual physical qualities or abilities, but in the idea that it is the focal point of all consciousness. As in, consciousness exists because the Mind Stone exists. In the comics, the Infinity Gems are the hard drives upon which the coding of reality is kept, as Gerry Duggan so perfectly had the Collector explain in the recent All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #10. Just something to think about. I’ll see you next time when we discuss the Time Stone and Doctor Strange.