WandaVision: The Vision Writer Tom King Compares Tone, Marvel/DC, and Influences

In writing The Vision comic, Tom King injected some shocking moments to the Marvel Comics story. [...]

By Brandon Davis

In writing The Vision comic, Tom King injected some shocking moments to the Marvel Comics story. Some of these were simply unexpected plot twists but others were straightforward moments which were simply dark in their nature, like the violent death of a teenager of a neighboring dog dying only for its brain to be used to create a synthezoid version of the house pet. The bold swings paid off, though. King and his Vision comic are decorated with awards. As parts of this The Vision comic seem to be influencing Marvel's WandaVision series, King joined ComicBook.com's Phase Zero podcast to talk about his comic's influences and just how far Marvel Studios might be willing to go.

When it comes to how to take King's perspective in terms off opinions or insights, the writer is quick to admit he has not been a part of WandaVision's development. "I am completely out of the loop on all of this. I work, exclusively, across the street from Marvel, at their competitor DC," King says. "And not only do I work for DC, but I'm also writing DC movies and I'm on that side. So I'm completely in the competitor market. So I mean, yeah no, I'm watching these episodes as surprised as you are, and delighted as you are. Yeah, no, I'm not involved at all. And it's fine that I'm not involved. I'm not resentful or salty."

Still, King is watching each episode of WandaVision on their release day like any excited fan does. In what he has seen through four episodes, King is quick to deflect credit for the stories. "I see a lot of Brian Michael Bendis in this show. I think I get too much credit and he gets to little, to be frank," he says. "I see his, and I see a lot of Steve Englehart, a lot of John Byrne, his West Coast Avengers stuff. So yeah, clearly, sort of the idea of Vision as, again, this sort of elevated thing that I tried to do, where it's ripping off Alan Moore with Vision, that's sort of the baseline. But then they're really cooking with the other ingredients of Bendis, and Englehart, and Byrne, yeah."

The series took things a step in the direction of darkness at the end of Episode 4 when Vision was seen in his lifeless form from the end of Avengers: Infinity War, implying Wanda has been talking to his synthezoid corpse all along. Still, this hardly compares to the levels or heaviness and emotion King's comic evoked. "I always go back to comic book and comic book history, but Marvel has made incredible comics, but DC has made these sort of dark, tent-pole comics, these Watchmen, these Dark Knight Returns, New Frontier. These sort of comics that are, like, for lack of a better term, literary superhero comics, and Marvel has shied away from them. I mean, that's a big over assumption, but that's generally true," King explains. "So, I mean, that's what I was trying to do, was sort of to bring that DC sort of vibe to Marvel. And yeah, I mean, the most popular comic in DC's history was Watchmen, Dark Knight Returns. Those are still the popular comics and they still inspire the movies. And I think when people see that kind of energy in Marvel I'll just spark more energy."

With five episodes remaining in WandaVision and the series leading into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (which was once described as the first "scary" Marvel movie), the best of the scares and darkness might still be ahead for the Disney+ series.

Do you want to see WandaVision take a few risks with scares and dark tones? Share your thoughts in the comment section or send them my way on Instagram!

Links to listen and subscribe to Phase Zero:

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