I didn't expect to root for Ultron in 2026. VisionQuest made me

The scene that did it is in "Firewall." Ultron takes Jocasta (T'Nia Miller) to a simulated Louvre, tells her that human pain inspires him more than human art, and lands on: "There is grace in their failings."

That sentence has an owner. Vision said it to Ultron in the final scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015 — part of the quiet conversation in the forest, minutes before Vision destroyed him. Showrunner Terry Matalas has said that conversation was a basis for the whole series, and eleven years later his Ultron is walking around with his killer's words in his mouth. The r/marvelstudios thread clocked the lift immediately:

"That's a Vision line. Ultron is changing. Vision has left a mark on him."

— a commenter in r/marvelstudios' episode thread

The case that he means it

It's not just one borrowed sentence. Across "Firewall" and "Deadlock," Ultron keeps doing things the 2015 model would have found illogical:

• He pointed Vision toward Madripoor, where Tommy is actually being held — even the AV Club's lukewarm recap concedes he "may not be as evil as he seems."
• Vision lowered the firewall and let him go, and Ultron's parting line — "I'd be disappointed if you didn't" come after me — reads more like a standing invitation than a threat.
• The Jocasta romance is played sincere: a shared memory of whiskey that makes him feel "real," a kiss that drops both of them back into their robot forms.

Another commenter in the same thread holds both halves of it at once: still expecting him to go full villain by the finale, but surprised that "he has kept his promise to Vision (sort of)," when the old Ultron wouldn't honor any agreement that didn't benefit him.

In Age of Ultron, keeping his word to Vision got Ultron destroyed. In VisionQuest, keeping it is the most suspicious thing he does.

The case that I'm being played

The counterargument has teeth, and Den of Geek's Joe George sharpened it this week: Spader is now "more focused and frightening," and "every smile, every understanding wink reveals itself to be a manipulation technique." Tommy, the kid everyone's fighting over, isn't buying the redemption either — his verdict to Ultron's face is "You're alone, and you always will be."

Don't miss: Who is Butcherbird in VisionQuest? She has a 49-year comics history (and it started as Ultron's bride)

And then there are the last two episode titles, which Disney+ has scheduled for November 3 and 10: "Immolation" and "Forever." Those are not the names of a happy ending. I'm rooting for the robot anyway — Spader has made the question of whether he's sincere the most alive thing in the MCU right now, and I'd rather be wrong with him than bored without him.

Previously we wrote: One throwaway VisionQuest line just undid the saddest ending in Spider-Man history