How is Tommy alive in ‘VisionQuest’? The twist behind his new identity
Tommy Maximoff disappeared by the end of ‘WandaVision’ in 2021, and remained away for five years, so his reappearance in ‘VisionQuest’ raises one immediate question. Turns out, Tommy didn’t return in his own body, since his soul now resides inside a London teenager named Thomas Shepherd, and his twin brother Billy (Joe Locke) created that in ‘Agatha All Along.’
It begins in ‘WandaVision,’ where Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) was mourning the death of Vision (Paul Bettany), who had been killed by Thanos in ‘Avengers: Infinity War.’ Using her Chaos Magic, she assumed control over the town of Westview, New Jersey, creating a barrier that contained the entire community in a space known as the Hex. Within the Hex, she created an alternate reality in which she lived with a new version of Vision, and also with her twin sons, Billy and Tommy, also created by her magic. The twins were part of the Hex and hence could not survive its dissolution. When Wanda did so in the finale to free the townspeople that the Hex had imprisoned, it also saw the end of Vision, Billy, and Tommy. In the post-credits scene, Wanda was studying the Darkhold, a book of Dark Magic, when she heard her twin sons asking for help.
The finale also left behind a second Vision, which is key to ‘VisionQuest.’ The Westview Vision had been created by Wanda’s magic and disappeared with the Hex, while the other was White Vision, a body that S.W.O.R.D. had constructed to kill Wanda, and that contained none of the memories of the original one. During their confrontation, the Westview Vision shared his memories with him, who declared, “I am Vision,” before flying away. Then, ‘Agatha All Along’ debuted in 2024 and saw Billy return for the first time. It was revealed that Billy’s soul had taken up the body of William Kaplan, a New Jersey teenager who had died in a car crash as the Hex fell. Thus, William came back to life, but Billy did not know who he really was. For the first half of the series, he had been known only as Teen, until he joined Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn), the witch Wanda had trapped as the neighbor Agnes, on the Witches’ Road. Along the Witches’ Road, the teen Billy came to understand who he was and discovered his own magic.
‘Agatha All Along’ also unveiled what was driving Billy. It revealed that his own magic created the Witches’ Road, fed by his desire to find his lost brother. Rio Vidal (Aubrey Plaza), who is revealed to be Death, told Agatha that Tommy’s soul had never found a body and continued to drift about the world. In the finale, Billy and Agatha used his powers to find that soul, and discovered a boy who had been held underwater by other children. Billy transferred Tommy’s soul into that boy in the same manner that his soul had been transferred to William. Agatha sacrificed herself to save Billy and returned to him as a ghost, so that the two could find Tommy.
Fast forward to ‘VisionQuest,’ which debuted on Disney+ on October 13, and it was this boy who is, in fact, Thomas Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica). Episode 2, ‘Theseus,’ explains what happened to Thomas, who grew up in foster care in London, and who had been held underwater until he was drowned by bullies. When Tommy’s soul arrived, it felt to Thomas like he had been struck by lightning, and he soon found himself with the memories of two adults, including a sitcom life as a resident of Westview. Thomas told these memories to the police at a psychiatric evaluation, and he was sent to a psychiatric facility, where he met another young inmate, Lisa Molinari (Lauren Morais). The two later escaped and survived as pickpockets and scammers in the streets of London. Meanwhile, Vision had been living a quiet life in a pub, where Ultron (James Spader) continued to exist as an AI within his mind. A bounty was placed on Vision’s head, and the bounty hunter Paladin (Todd Stashwick) dug up Westview records, finding the police footage of Thomas’s evaluation. Paladin kidnapped Thomas, and Vision took the bait to rescue him, and thus began their journey.
This leads us to the revelation that Thomas is not just a vessel for Tommy, since he has his own story and memories. That means Thomas now holds two lives in his head. Also, Thomas has at times displayed bursts of superspeed, which is the power that makes Tommy the hero known as Speed in the comics. Showrunner Terry Matalas told ScreenRant that Tommy’s return follows from what Billy had done in ‘Agatha All Along.’ ‘VisionQuest’ has eight episodes in total, with Episodes 3 and 4 to follow on Disney+ on October 20, and the finale, ‘Forever,’ to follow on November 10.
