Avengers 4: Vision Is The Hardest Hero To Bring Back

Warning: MAJOR SPOILERS ahead for Avengers: Infinity War

Ever since Thanos' plan of collecting all six stones in Avengers: Infinity War became clear, Paul Bettany's Vision has been the MCU character most expected die, considering the Mind Stone is implanted on his forehead. The worst-case scenario came to fruition when the Mad Titan ruthlessly plucked the magical gem from the android's head leaving a crater in his skull and leaving him lifeless even before the snap that wiped out half of the universe took place. But considering his unique build and structure, can Vision return in Avengers 4?

Created by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Vision is a combination of a lot of things (as Infinity War reiterated). Technically, he's Stark's long-time AI, J.A.R.V.I.S. uploaded to a synthetic body upgrade supposedly for Ultron. However, it's unclear if the Mind Stone only serves as his power source, like how it's established in the comics, or it does more than that for him, considering that he was able to disguise himself in human form.

If the cinematic version of Vision goes by his comic book characterization, there's still a chance to bring him back to life. In fact, he's been disintegrated multiple times in print only to be revived one way or another down the line. After all, he's technically a robot, and with the combined minds of Stark, Banner, and Shuri (perhaps even Hank Pym, who helped rebuild him during the comics' Heroic Age), they could find a way to fix him up.

Several theories for Avengers 4 revolve around time travel,which would pave the way for the remaining heroes, with help of Ant-Man and the Wasp, as well as Captain Marvel, to retrieve all six Infinity Stones from Thanos and possibly separating them again just to make sure that nothing as catastrophic as this happens again. That opens up the potential for Vision to reacquire the Mind Gem in case Stark and company find a way to restore him. Over the course of the last few years, all doubts about the android's potential to turn evil similar to what happened to Ultron was wiped out. Thor himself said that since Vision is capable of lifting the Mjolnir, that makes him worthy to be the keeper of the Mind Stone.

However, if reintegrating the Mind Stone to Vision is no longer an option - whether that's because the Avengers can't recollect all the stones or it's too much of a risk to have one embedded on his forehead - there might still be other ways to revive him. Last year, Paul Bettany insinuated that his character could function without the Mind Stone. Shuri backed up the idea in Infinity War when she offered up a solution to detach the gem from his head, unfortunately just before she was done, Corvus Glaive came barging in that forced her to stop what she's doing.

As previously mentioned, if the Mind Gem's only purpose in the comics is to provide the android with power (like a battery pack). A miniature Iron Man arc reactor could replace the stone, and with Stark really the only person who has cracked the code with regard to that specific tech, it would be a great callback to their long-standing relationship from when Vision was still J.A.R.V.I.S.. It'll be curious to know, however, how that would affect his powers and abilities. Fans have seen him formidable in Age of Ultron , but the idea that he's supposed to be one of the strongest MCU heroes wasn't revisited in both Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Infinity War, bar the one time that Tony said in passing that he's "evolving."

However Vision's ultimate fate pans out, fans can expect Vision to be back in Avengers 4 as Bettany previously implied. But whether that's only in a flashback/time warp, or being revived is another question. Nonetheless, the latter would be great, especially since the MCU has barely scratched the surface when it comes to his and Wanda's arc, which could very well be a pivotal part of Phase 4.