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VisionQuest episodes 3 and 4: F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s monologue on Tony Stark's death has fans in tears
Marvel's VisionQuest has fans talking about a scene in which F.R.I.D.A.Y. recalls losing Tony Stark. Orla Brady plays the character, Paul Bettany returns as Vision, and the cliffhanger sets up the rest of the Disney+ series. Spoilers for episodes 1 to 4 follow.
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4 min
Spoilers for the first four episodes of VisionQuest follow.
A single monologue is carrying the conversation around Marvel's VisionQuest this week. In the third episode, F.R.I.D.A.Y., Tony Stark's old computer assistant, talks about the night he died in Avengers: Endgame. "I was there when Tony died, and I still couldn't save him," she says. Half the world came back that day, she adds, and she lost half of hers. The scene, from the latest pair of episodes released on Disney+ on 21 October, is what is trending in India.
VisionQuest is the last chapter of a trilogy that began with WandaVision and continued with Agatha All Along. Paul Bettany plays the rebuilt White Vision, who consults a set of inner voices in a virtual space that the show presents as a large house, his Mindspace. The inner voices are J.A.R.V.I.S., F.R.I.D.A.Y., E.D.I.T.H., the robot arms DUM-E and U, and Ultron. F.R.I.D.A.Y. handles the social side, bringing humour and experience and pushing Vision to engage with life.
She is played by Orla Brady, who takes over from Kerry Condon, the voice of the character in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Infinity War and Endgame. Brady gives her a human form for the first time; showrunner Terry Matalas announced the casting in August 2025. Matalas told a magazine before the premiere that the series would revisit Tony's death through the assistant who saw it happen. Condon has said her final line as the character came in the death scene, when F.R.I.D.A.Y. told Tony his body was shutting down. Endgame is more than seven years old, and a re-release has just returned to theatres with new material linking it to Avengers: Doomsday.
What happens in episode 3
Vision is badly damaged after a fight with the bounty hunter Paladin, and his companion Thomas drives him to find a repair. Vision cauterises his own wound with the acid from a battery and passes out. At the hotel he hiccups and shorts out the lights, a vending machine and an ATM. Thomas has a hand that phases through objects, and the two argue about Westview before bonding over boxing.
F.R.I.D.A.Y. rewrites parts of Vision's code and tells the story of replacing J.A.R.V.I.S., helping the Avengers and losing Tony. In the episode she also reveals that most of Stark's assistants were modelled on real people: F.R.I.D.A.Y. on Allison Hogan, E.D.I.T.H. on Edith Marks, and J.A.R.V.I.S. on Howard Stark's longtime butler. E.D.I.T.H. leads a funeral for J.A.R.V.I.S., with DUM-E quoting John Keats and U singing "Danny Boy". J.A.R.V.I.S., voiced by James D'Arcy, had deleted himself in episode 2 so the others could survive.
Meanwhile Paladin finds a body at a murder scene with wings carved into the floor. The killer, who turns out to be synthetic, pulls memories from his mind, and his employer ends his contract.
To repair Vision, the plan is to shut him down in a pool while Thomas phases through the water to generate power. In his mind, Vision and Ultron watch his life as a film and Ultron switches to scenes from Westview. Thomas's power surge draws the Butcherbird, a swarm of birds surrounds the house, and Vision floats up with glowing red eyes. The episode ends with a voice saying, "Hello, Vision."
The series has eight episodes. James Spader plays Ultron, Emily Hampshire plays E.D.I.T.H. and James D'Arcy plays J.A.R.V.I.S. The third episode is titled "Reboot", and in the fourth Ultron takes control of Vision and locks the others out. Paladin's handler also mentions his earlier run-ins with the Punisher, Werewolf by Night and Daredevil.
Reaction has been warm from fans and mixed from critics. One review called the grief and guilt in F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s story compelling but argued that it is not given enough screen time to be as powerful as it might be, and another was lukewarm about the sequence.
What comes next
The first trailer arrived on 15 August and the series premiered on 14 October. Episodes are released weekly. "Firewall" and "Deadlock" arrive on 27 October, "Immolation" on 3 November, and the finale, "Forever", on 10 November. After that the franchise moves to Avengers: Doomsday on 18 December, in which Robert Downey Jr. returns as Doctor Doom.
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4 min
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