Spoilers for VisionQuest Episode 5, “Firewall,” below.

The decision to trust Ultron comes at a cost in “Firewall.” After temporarily handing control of his body to his old enemy to fight Jocasta, Vision becomes a prisoner inside his own mind. The reversal is particularly cruel because Ultron now makes the rules, while the protagonist and the other artificial intelligences experience the confinement once reserved for him.

The episode follows this struggle through conversations, records, and digital reconstructions. Vision needs to discover what is happening outside to understand the extent of the trap. Ultron, meanwhile, conducts separate negotiations with Thomas, Paladin, and Jocasta. Each receives only the portion of the truth he chooses to reveal.

Thomas Confronts Ultron

The conversation with Thomas exposes the limits of the eccentric grandfather persona Ultron had been cultivating. The teenager knows what happened in Sokovia and refuses to treat attempted extermination as a personality quirk. For him, the victims have a tangible significance, including through his connection with Sokovian children at the orphanage where he grew up.

But his most personal concern is something else: does Vision really love him? Ultron responds by drawing a distinction between human experience and a machine’s processing abilities. His intention is to make Thomas doubt that any feeling exists behind the protection his father offers. The teenager resists that interpretation. In his eyes, Ultron’s loneliness reveals more about the villain than about Vision’s potential.

This is an important struggle because Thomas is still looking for an explanation for the bond he feels with this man. Ultron sees an opportunity to interfere precisely through that insecurity. Convincing the teenager that he is not loved would be a way of breaking the relationship before it can take root.

The Investigation Inside Vision’s Mind

Meanwhile, the artificial intelligences try to track Ultron’s movements through the televisions and files available in the attic. Their access is incomplete, turning the investigation into an exercise in reconstruction: they must interpret traces rather than simply observe the present.

The records reveal communication between Ultron and Paladin. Thomas’s capture is part of the strategy that will give the villain leverage over Vision. A hidden conversation with Jocasta also emerges, and her interest in her former colleagues’ biometric identifiers begins to become clearer. Before Katerina Wells died, Ultron copied her face, retaining information Jocasta needs.

The discovery changes the meaning of the betrayal. Ultron did more than seize an opportunity during the previous confrontation: he is creating the conditions to leave his prison and establish an alliance of his own. Vision’s body gives him mobility, but it still does not represent the autonomy he wants.

His Interest in Jocasta

Ultron and Jocasta’s growing connection combines recognition and calculation. She has a project for humanity; he possesses one of the keys necessary to carry it out. Their attraction develops within this negotiation, making it impossible to separate the desire for intimacy from the desire to gain an advantage.

Their virtual encounters also allow both to present their interpretations of human beings. Through references to art and behavior, an affinity emerges from their dissatisfaction with the species that produced them. Still, Jocasta withholds information about her research’s ultimate objective. Ultron wants to know her, but he also wants to know exactly what she intends to unlock with the keys she has collected.

The episode maintains that ambiguity. Finding someone capable of understanding him may represent a change for Ultron, but the possibility of forming a bond does not erase his methods. His growing connection with Jocasta unfolds while he uses Thomas as an instrument of blackmail.

The Ultimatum and the Ending of “Firewall”

Ultron presents Vision with a choice that makes the discussion of feelings very concrete. To regain control of his body and pursue Thomas, the hero must disable the barriers preventing his enemy from escaping into the digital world. Keeping Ultron imprisoned means remaining incapacitated while the teenager is still with Paladin.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. objects to the risk, but Vision decides to bring down the firewall. Before allowing Ultron to leave, he warns that he will come after him and Jocasta. Granting freedom does not amount to trust or forgiveness. F.R.I.D.A.Y. also leaves the mental house, opening an investigative front beyond the protagonist’s control.

When Vision wakes up, he is aboard an animal transport heading to Madripoor, accompanied by Lisa. The destination for the rescue has been established, but the situation is more serious than before: he has regained his autonomy at the cost of freeing Ultron.

This is precisely where Ultron’s attempt to discredit Vision’s love encounters its contradiction. The protagonist accepts a terrible consequence because he cannot abandon Thomas. The choice is debatable, especially given the danger it creates for everyone else, but it comes from a responsibility he already recognizes as his own. Vision still cannot fully explain what he feels. He is, however, already making decisions as a father.