Audiences who know the Vision from MCU’s Avengers movies know that he has a pretty complicated origin. Initially an artificial intelligence created by Tony Stark, the AI known as JARVIS originally helped Stark build and pilot his Iron Man suits. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, however, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner created the new artificial intelligence Ultron who decided to make multiple artificial bodies for itself.

Ultron’s most sophisticated body was a Vibranium-infused form that he bonded with the Mind Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones. This body would have made Ultron nigh-unstoppable, but before he could download his consciousness into it, the Avengers stole the body and Stark and Banner decided to upload JARVIS’ AI into the body. What emerged was an entirely different being, not JARVIS or Ultron but a powerful hero who took on the name “Vision.”

Related: Vision vs. Kitty Pryde: Who is Marvel’s Best Intangible Hero?

After earning the Avengers’ trust by showing he was worthy of lifting Thor’s hammer Mjolnir, the Vision went on to serve with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and even fell in love with Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. Tragically, his Mind Stone made him a target of Thanos during Avengers: Infinity War and he was killed… although it looks like he’ll be resurrected in some fashion in the upcoming Disney+ WandaVision TV series.

Vision in Marvel Comics and Avengers Age of Ultron

If fans thought MCU Vision’s backstory was bizarre, however, they haven’t heard about his original Marvel Comics origin. This story begins in the 1940s, back before the company was even called Marvel, and when the heroes it produced were World War II superheroes like Captain America, Namor the Sub-Mariner, and the Human Torch. Unlike the more popular Human Torch from the Fantastic Four, however, this Torch was an android (or “synthetic man”) who could think, act, and even feel like a normal man – albeit one who could light himself on fire and fly.

The original Human Torch was popular – but once the war ended, he faded into obscurity. A new generation of Marvel superheroes later emerged, including the Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, and the Avengers. The Avengers in particular helped introduce many new superheroes – including an apparently short-lived one known as Wonder Man. Originally a failed businessman named Simon Williams, Wonder Man blamed Tony Stark for his downfall and became a pawn of Baron Zemo and the Asgardian sorcerers the Enchantress.

Related: WandaVision: 10 of Vision’s Most Memorable Quotes In The MCU

The villains experimented on Williams and transformed him into an energy being with super strength and invulnerability. The new “Wonder Man” infiltrated the Avengers by posing as a hero and was ready to betray them to Zemo’s Masters of Evil – but he later had a change of heart and sacrificed himself to save them. Afterwards, the Avengers decided to record Wonder Man’s brain patterns, hoping he can somehow be saved. Meanwhile, Wonder Man’s invulnerable body goes into a state of suspended animation.

Wonder Man emitting his powers in Marvel Comics

Years later, the robotic supervillain Ultron (who was built by Doctor Henry Pym in the comics and not by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner) decides to create a robotic pawn of his own. Stealing the body of the android Human Torch and the brain patterns of Wonder Man, Ultron combined both to create a new artificial man – the Vision. By tinkering with the Torch’s body, Ultron was able to give his creation different abilities – including the power to control his own density. (Notably, this Vision didn’t have a Mind Stone in the center of his forehead, but was given a special solar gem that could fire bolts of powerful energy which he could wield with laser-like focus).

Much like Wonder Man, the Vision was instructed by Ultron to lure the Avengers into a trap. Again, however, history repeated itself and the Vision decided to turn against his master and join the Avengers. Although he was an artificial being, having the brain patterns of Simon Williams/Wonder Man allowed the Vision to experience a full range of human emotions. He even started to cry (thanks to artificial tear ducts) when he joined the Avengers. Thus, the human Avenger Wonder Man unintentionally helped make a synthetic man like the Vision human.

Related: Why Captain America Wouldn’t Sacrifice Vision (But Would Let Iron Man Die)

Vision also met and fell in love with Wanda Maximoff in the comics. The two eventually married and Wanda was able to use her reality-altering hex powers to let her give birth to twin boys (although the status of their reality would be called into question over and over again). A version of this period in the Vision and Scarlet Witch’s life will most likely be explored in WandaVision (although its reality will undoubtedly be called into question too, based on the trailers).

Vision scarlet witch wandavision

Things began to get even more complicated when the Vision gets dismantled into a seemingly lifeless bundle of electrical components. The Avengers manage to salvage these remains and rebuild the Vision, but as an all-white artificial being. When it came time to rebuild the Vision’s emotions, however, the team ran into another snag. Seems Simon Williams/Wonder Man had come back to life between the time the Vision was first created and his dismantlement but refused to let the Avengers use his brain patterns on the android, feeling it would violate his own identity.

As a result, Vision came back as a completely emotionless artificial being who remembered being married to the Scarlet Witch but no longer had any feelings for her. This led to Wanda and Vision’s separation, which had a negative effect on Wanda’s mental state. To make matters worse, since Vision’s love for Wanda came from Simon Williams’ brain patterns, Simon found himself falling for Wanda!

Vision would eventually regain his emotions and personality (as well as his original appearance), only to lose them again in later storylines. His struggle to establish his own identity and status as a person has become a recurring theme in his stories – leading him to try and reconcile with the Scarlet Witch and even create a new synthezoid family of his own. For a being who originally became human thanks to the influence of another man’s brain patterns, the Vision has since become a unique being thanks to his own unusual life experiences. Much like his MCU counterpart, then, the Vision is no longer Simon Williams or the Human Torch, but someone completely of his own making.

Next: Marvel’s Original Human Torch Is Different Than Fantastic Four’s