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Why does Vision appear so weak in the Avengers - Infinity War movie? I mean, he doesn't even fight most of the time.

If I remember correctly in Age Of Ultron, Vision appeared to be a very strong super hero. He possesses 1 gem, he can lift Thor's hammer so I don't understand why in Infinity War all he does is gets his butt kicked. Is there a reason for this?

A J
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papakias
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    Just a note: it isn't strength that allows him to lift Thor's hammer. – mattdm May 17 '18 at 21:59
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    @mattdm yes sure but again that makes him have one advantage against others – papakias May 18 '18 at 07:13
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    “that makes him have one advantage against others” — only if Thor’s hammer is around. Otherwise, it’s pretty irrelevant. – Paul D. Waite May 18 '18 at 11:03
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    I've seen this question a few times now, and I honestly don't get it. He gets stabbed right at the start of the movie and says he couldn't phase, he has a huge hole in his chest that's quickly stitched by Wanda, later on he's stabbed some more and at the end he's at the operating table to see if they can detach the stone from him without killing him. Why wouldn't he be "weak"? Dude's barely alive. The only moment he could even try to fight is at the end with Thanos, but he's busy sacrificing himself there. Aside from that they say a few times it's too much of a risk to let Vision fight Thanos. – Kevin May 19 '18 at 12:18
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    Tangentially, the MCU is starting to suffer from power creep. Previous movies' deus ex machinas have established solutions that means that the next movie's plot can easily be resolved. Vision, much like Doctor Strange, is a plot killer in terms of universal power they wield. This is why their ability to singlehandedly resolve the plot is removed, because the new movie otherwise loses tension or a likeable plot resolution. – Flater Aug 24 '18 at 14:05

3 Answers3

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He was taken out by surprise and his system was disrupted by the staff of Corvus Glaive.

Actually, he wasn't weak. He was stabbed with a blade from behind that made him weaker. Corvus Glaive's staff disrupts his ability to function and his atoms were not be able to fully restore. That's why he was not able to fight back. That staff is able to slice through any known thing and person in the universe.

Vision: Wanda, I... The blade. It stopped me from phasing.

Source

For the rest of the movie, he was fighting with that disruption.

Another factor could be that he was being hunted by Black Order who want to take his Mind Gem out. He got tired from hiding and running away from them.

A J
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    But he had the Mind Infinity Stone. He can control people's free will. He doesn't need to you know kick the shit out of Black Order. He can just sit back, relax & mind control the Black Order soldiers – KharoBangdo May 17 '18 at 16:49
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    @KharoBangdo Have we seen him mind control anyone? It seems possible he doesn't know how. – Azor Ahai -him- May 17 '18 at 16:56
  • @AzorAhai he has only come across Ultron as a threat who was an AI so can't be mnd controlled. But he is the mind stone + a combination of Tony, Bruce, JARVIS, Ultron so I believe he knows to mind control – KharoBangdo May 17 '18 at 17:01
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    Would prefer a characterization of the glaive's powers from within the MCU or MCU-related material; comics descriptions don't necessarily apply to the movies. We just know it's a special blade that disrupted him. It's also possible that his love for a mortal has made him less able to focus; Red Witch's concern for him kept distracting her during that initial fight. – jeffronicus May 17 '18 at 17:40
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    @KharoBangdo Excepting everyone during Civil War and PM/CG in Infinity War. – Azor Ahai -him- May 17 '18 at 18:01
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    @KharoBangdo You're operating under the assumption that Vision is even able to wield the powers of the Mind Stone the same way a human or other natural, organic lifeform could. That may not—in fact, I would say probably not—be a correct assumption. – Patrick Wynne May 17 '18 at 19:34
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    @KharoBangdo Vision openly says in a previous movie that he doesn't know what the Mind Stone is, nor how to use it or even interface with it effectively. It's stated to be a long-term goal of his to do so. Just having a stone isn't enough, you need to know how to use it. – Knetic May 17 '18 at 23:38
  • You'd think he could at least go to Hell's Kitchen and borrow Kilgrave. – Harper - Reinstate Monica May 18 '18 at 03:47
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    @PatrickWynne Indeed, Vison clearly specifies multiple times during the film that he doesn't know how to wield the Mind Stone. – Korthalion May 18 '18 at 09:34
  • @Harper: at the risk of spoiling Jessica Jones season 1, he ded. – Paul D. Waite May 18 '18 at 11:05
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    They really named him Corvus Glaive? He wields a glaive, for goodness sake -_- – TylerH May 18 '18 at 21:13
  • @TylerH Not really weird. Lots of cultures only used a single name, and the "last name" got filled in from occupation or characteristic (originally to distinguish people with the same name, later for wider-scale bureaucratic reasons). His name is Corvus, and they call him Corvus (the) Glaive, just like you have John (the) Smith, Jerry (the) Little etc. It improves the identification aspect of a name, especially for foreigners. Given how prevalent "single names" seem to be outside of Earth, it's pretty reasonable. – Luaan May 21 '18 at 07:39
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Why is Vision so weak?

He didn't become weak, instead he got stronger opponents.

Previously he had to fight with some robots or with fellow Avengers, but now he was fighting with Thanos and the Black Order; they can beat other Avengers easily. Did you forget what happened to Hulk? He got beaten up easily, and Thor almost died. The Avengers and Guardians together couldn't beat him, then why it will be easy for Vision?

When Thanos beats him, he was stunned and beaten up by Corvus Glaive who took him out by surprise. Corvus had also used his glaive, which is a pretty powerful weapon as mentioned in the comics:

The glaive itself can slice through any known thing and person in the universe. wikipedia

Even in the film, Vision admitted the effects the weapon had on him by saying that he can't phase.

Napoleon Wilson
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Ankit Sharma
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Best reason: Because Vision is OP as hell and if he were not nerfed at the outset, how do you get the Mind Stone from him? So in short; because the writers said so. Vision's character suffers from Superman-writeritis where it's difficult to write around a hero that is damn near God-like.

However, Marvel has so many Superman characters that I'd argue that it would be rather easy to write something around Vision that shows his power, instead of having him incubate the Mind Stone until Thanos shows up to take it. I mean why not have an incredible fight with the Black Order until Glave lands a lucky strike on him? It makes more sense than a giant ship silently creeping up on them and then Glave sneak attacking an ever-aware God-droid.

But again, the issue is that Vision/God-Droid is a bit too OP for the Black Order without injury. In combination with Wanda, that fight would have been hella one-sided. Combine that with the fact that the Time Stone would also be impossible to get because the combination of Wanda, Vision and Strange is enough to prevent anyone from getting those two stones. Then bring in Thor once he gets God-level power and now the movie is pretty much over with Thanos only getting four stones.

Even Strange was nerfed at the outset, but I'd argue that he didn't even realize how OP he could be until he ran into a superior sorcerer in Ebony Maw. I think that is when he realized his full capabilities after seeing another being with like-powers be so adept. Its like when you play a sport and see someone with like-skill do something you could've always done, but you never did it only because you hadn't seen an example (i.e. crossover dribble into a fadeaway shot).

And of course Thor couldn't be OP at the outset or Thanos's quest would have ended during the opening credits. So again, Vision was nerfed because of writing and nothing more. All the talk of what the Glave can do according to the comics and stuff is all great information, but it means nothing in the context of the film, especially when you consider that he was blindsided in the most contrived manner possible. He was simply nerfed so the movie could work.

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