The Weirdest Part of the MCU Spider-Man Is Back for Vision Quest
E.D.I.T.H. is back in Vision Quest, this time as more than a pair of ugly sunglasses.
that time when good ol’ Peter Parker called a drone strike on his classmates because another guy was flirting with MJ? Well, the artificial intelligence that made it happen is back, this time in snarky Canadian form!
Spider-Man: Far From Home. Through E.D.I.T.H., Peter had access to vast technological resources, resources that Mysterio wanted to use for himself.
At the end of Far From Home, Peter reclaimed the E.D.I.T.H. glasses and in Spider-Man: No Way Home, a screen readout assured us that they were inactive. Moreover, No Way Home ends with Peter having his secret identity wiped from everyone’s memory and a closing shot of him hand-stitching his own costume in a dingy New York apartment, suggeting that the MCU experiment of making working-class Peter Parker into the scion of a tech bro was done.
That may still be true, in which case Vision Quest is a much better place for E.D.I.T.H. to exist. Created by Terry Matalas, showrunner of the Twelve Monkeys TV series and the third season of Avengers: Infinity War and resurrected as an initially evil clone in WandaVision.
The title Vision Quest comes from a 1989-1990 arc of West Coast Avengers, written and penciled by John Byrne, in which the U.S. government dismantles Vision and recreates him into a mindless and easily controllable form, signified by his new bleach white look. Fans of the MCU will recognize that storyline from the last episodes of WandaVision, in which S.A.B.E.R. did the same thing to Bettany’s character.
However, the Vision Quest comics continued to tell the story of Vision attempting to recover the humanity and personality he’d previously gained over the years, which will presumably be the plot of Vision Quest. However, E.D.I.T.H.’s casting is just the latest in a host of synthetic characters who will appear in the show. Todd Stashwick as a mystery man hunting Vision.
That’s a packed cast, but as anyone who recalls the Picard season 3 episode in which androids Data and Lore merged, Matalas knows how to tell an interesting story about artificial intelligence. That episode also showed that Matalas knows how to add levity to heavy conversations about existence, making Hampshire’s casting as E.D.I.T.H. a wise choice. Just don’t let her anywhere near another school bus full of teenagers.
Vision Quest is slated to appear on Disney+ in 2026.
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Joe George’s writing has appeared at Slate, Polygon, Tor.com, and elsewhere!