The Vision was one of a cavalcade of new characters that were introduced in Avengers: Age Of Ultron. And with his flowing cape, bright red skin and kick-ass new powers, he has instantly become a fan favorite amongst Marvel fans. It turns out though that there is one man who originally had a slight problem with The Vision: a certain Stan Lee.
Stan Lee helped to create the character of The Vision alongside Roy Thomas and John Buscema ahead of his debut in issue 57 of The Avengers, which was released in October 1968. And Thomas has now explained to The Hollywood Reporter that when he originally brought his vision of The Vision to Stan Lee, the iconic comic-book writer immediately spotted a problem with it. Thomas said:
Stan hated the color of The Vision. ‘Why’d you make him red? Red’s not a good color!
But Thomas admitted that he didn’t really have any other option, because if he tried to make the character a different shade then he would have just been infringing on the plethora of other superheroes. That’s because The Hulk is green and the Atlanteans are blue, while Thomas explained that there wasn’t any point in making the character white because "the paper we printed on was so poor, that you would have been able to see the other side." That’s a first world problem if ever I’ve heard one.
Clearly, Stan Lee was eventually won over by Roy Thomas’ original design for The Vision though. But that wasn’t the only issue during the android’s creation, because Thomas is also adamant that the Marvel cameo-holic was never very fond of The Vision’s name. In fact, Thomas believes that Lee found it "wimpy." Either way, Lee was able to put aside these issues (or simply shrugged them off with indifference), and The Vision is now set to become a huge fan favorite thanks to his debut in Avengers: Age Of Ultron, where he is gallantly portrayed by Paul Bettany.
Roy Thomas’ creative imprint is all over Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Because not only did he create The Vision but he is also the mastermind behind the titular psychotic robot of the sequel, Ultron (who is devilishly voiced by James Spader). In fact, in recognition of Thomas’ esteemed work on these characters, Joss Whedon even made sure to include an Easter egg reference to him in Age Of Ultron. You can head to the cinema to try and spot it immediately, since Avengers: Age Of Ultron is now in cinemas across the country.
