Avengers: Endgame May Have Revealed That Vision Wasn't Actually Worthy

Some fans have long had a problem with Joss Whedon's depiction of The Vision as "worthy" to wield Mjolnir even though characters like Captain America and Iron Man could not make it happen. With Cap finally proving himself worthy during the climactic battle in Avengers: Endgame, discussion around what, exactly, defines "worthiness" has popped up again -- and one fan theory holds that Vision was never actually worthy to begin with. The theory, which has gained a little bit of traction on the r/FanTheories subreddit, suggests that the filmmakers viewed Vision not as a true character, but as a machine.

In dialogue, Captain America and Iron Man try to rationalize Vision's holding the hammer by noting that if you put the hammer in an elevator, and the elevator goes up, that doesn't make the elevator worthy. On Reddit, fans have taken that theory a step further, suggesting that Captain America's ability to call Mjolnir to him and to use it to bring lightning lends some credence to the idea that Vision was less "wielding" the hammer and more "transporting" it. User RabidFlamingo, who identifies Vision as one of their favorite Avengers, noted that between not being resurrected that this implication that he wasn't really "human" to begin with, Endgame was a pretty unlucky movie for the character. You can check out the theory below:

[MCU] Endgame confirms Vision wasn't actually worthy from r/FanTheories

Of course, the question of whether The Vision is a being with a soul or whether he is little more than a computer program is a constant part of his story. The character has struggled for years to convince people -- often even to convince himself -- that he is a "real boy" and more than the sum of his android parts. That existential question was a big driving force in the recent The Vision series by Tom King and Gabriel Walta, in which The Vision built himself a family, and had to reckon with the rest of the Marvel Universe not fully understanding what he was doing.

This idea might seem like a flippant way to think about Endgame, but it seems plausible that they will follow the character into WandaVision, the upcoming Disney+ streaming series that centers on Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and The Vision (Paul Bettany) in a post-Endgame Marvel Universe.

Avengers: Endgame is now in theaters while Spider-Man: Far From Home is due out July 2nd.