Marvel screened the entire first episode of VisionQuest at New York Comic Con on Thursday, the whole premiere, days before it hits Disney+. I thought it was excellent, and I came out understanding why Marvel is putting these episodes out two at a time.

I want that to be clear before I start picking at the structure, because I know how it can sound when you say “it felt like setup.” I enjoyed it. I’m delighted we got to see it. And James Spader was in the room, and my brain keeps going there.

VisionQuest, and why two at a time

The way it felt to me was like watching the first two acts of a setup. You’re being brought into the concept, you’re learning how this is going to work, and you’re starting to understand the shape of the story. There’s enough there to interest me, absolutely, but I could feel that I was still being positioned for what comes next. It made me want to keep going immediately.

That’s where the release plan suddenly made sense. VisionQuest is eight episodes, and Disney+ is putting out two a week for the first three weeks, starting October 14, then one a week to the finale on November 11. You give people this first piece, and then you let them move straight into the next one while all of those ideas are still fresh.

Now, I’ve seen one episode. I’m not going to pretend I know how the season is built or that somebody at Marvel handed me their reasoning. This is my impression from what I watched. But I can see the value in giving a concept like this a fuller pass each week. Let people get their footing, then let them take a few steps.

Because there’s a difference between being interested in a concept and being comfortable inside it. Sometimes a show needs you to learn how to watch it. What are the rules? What kind of reality are we dealing with? How is it showing you what’s going on inside this character? You can enjoy all of that and still feel like you’re waiting for the next part to bring it into focus. That was my experience with the premiere. If episode two gives the opening that extra shape, putting them together makes a lot of sense.

Everybody’s going to talk about who’s back and what it connects to. I’m over here thinking about where they chose to stop the episode, and how that lands differently when you can press play on the next one right away. It didn’t take anything away from my enjoyment. If anything, it made me more curious about how the rest is arranged.

James Spader was right there

I’m a massive James Spader fan, and getting to see him in person was amazing. You spend all this time watching somebody’s work, listening to that voice, appreciating what they bring to a performance, and then they’re right there. That never stops being exciting to me. I can be paying attention to the actual business of the panel and still have a separate thought running that’s just, “James Spader is in this room.”

And the voice is such a part of it. With Spader it’s the way he delivers something. Where he puts the emphasis. How much he can do with a pause. He can make you pay attention before you’ve even decided whether you like the person he’s playing. Getting him back as Ultron already had me interested in VisionQuest. Seeing him up there next to Paul Bettany was a whole other level.

Vision and Ultron have so much built into their relationship before this story even starts. Bettany talked about the fathers-and-sons angle, and in Marvel’s production notes he calls the show “a father-son story disguised as science fiction.” That gives it an emotional question underneath everything else. What does being a father mean for someone like Vision? What does connection mean when your own identity is something you’re still working out? Put Spader into that conversation as Ultron, and yes, I want to watch it.

Showrunner Terry Matalas, who created the series for television, was there too, along with Ruaridh Mollica, who plays Tommy Shepherd, and Emily Hampshire, who plays E.D.I.T.H. Marvel bills VisionQuest as the end of the trilogy that started with WandaVision and continued with Agatha All Along, and Bettany is an executive producer on it alongside Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Brad Winderbaum, Mary Livanos, Matalas, Jac Schaeffer and Christopher J. Byrne.

I liked that the panel gave us both the people talking about the work and the chance to sit with the work itself. A trailer can get you excited. An episode gives you time to feel the rhythm, how a show is going to move and what it’s asking you to pay attention to. Spader in person was amazing, but leaving with an actual impression of the show was a gift.

The Defenders, minus one, and Born Again’s last season

Seeing the Defenders cast was exciting too. Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter and Finn Jones were up there together, and there’s something about seeing those three in the same place that brings you right back to that whole stretch of Marvel television. Mike Colter couldn’t make it, but Luke Cage is part of what’s coming in Daredevil: Born Again, so there was still that sense of these characters finding their way back to each other. You can announce that on a screen. Seeing the people there makes it feel a little more real.

Then the room heard that season three, coming to Disney+ in 2027, is the final season of Born Again, and the feeling changed. Cox brought up the Save Daredevil campaign and said he expects it to gear up for round two. I understand why. This audience has already shown it’s willing to make some noise.

The footage gives people plenty to talk about anyway. Matt is still in prison, the Defenders are back in the picture, and he’s put together an improvised Daredevil look out of prison clothing. I like it when the circumstances force a character back down to what they can actually do with what they have. Take away the familiar suit, put him somewhere terrible, and now you have to show us who he is under those conditions.

X-Men ‘97 goes from Sentinels to a wedding

Before any of that, there was a lot of animation news, and I went straight to Spader and VisionQuest and skipped right past it. X-Men ‘97 season three is coming in 2027, and Brad Winderbaum, Marvel’s head of television, animation, comics and franchise, said a fourth season is planned. The footage had mutant restrictions, Sentinels, the Brotherhood back, and then Rogue and Gambit’s wedding, which is a fairly substantial emotional gear change.

That’s part of what makes the X-Men work. You go from the larger conflict straight to remembering how invested people are in these specific relationships. The big ideas matter, but so do the people trying to have some kind of life inside all of it.

Spider-Man, Doctor Octopus and a tease of the symbiote

Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man season two comes to Disney+ on January 13, 2027, from creator and executive producer Jeff Trammell, with Hudson Thames voicing Peter. The footage had Doctor Octopus, a confrontation at a fundraising event, Spider-Man saving Harry off the side of a building, and a Venom tease at the end.

There’s a lot you can put in front of a Spider-Man audience to get its attention, but the symbiote is always going to start a whole separate conversation. What interests me is how this version handles those familiar ingredients, because that’s where an adaptation shows you what it wants to emphasize. You recognize the pieces. Now show me what you’re doing with them.

Three more years of Marvel Zombies

Marvel also announced three more Marvel Zombies stories, each a two-part event series: The Winter Soldier for Halloween 2027, The Fist of Khonshu in 2028 and The Last Guardian in 2029. Winderbaum said they’re about halfway through animatics.

And this is where I remind people, again, that I’m not a horror fan by any stretch of the imagination. I can get interested in what happens to these characters under those conditions, but the zombie part isn’t automatically a selling point for me. I know it is for plenty of you. I’m going to need the story to bring me along, which is usually how this works with me anyway. Give me something to care about, and I’ll go somewhere I wouldn’t normally choose.

Zodiac, a spy thriller for 2028

Then there was Zodiac, a new live-action series Winderbaum described as a top-secret global spy thriller, coming to Disney+ in 2028, with filming set to start this spring. That gets my attention in a different way. I like Marvel television having room for different kinds of stories. A spy story, animation, Daredevil, and whatever particular mix of identity, family and strangeness VisionQuest turns out to be. I don’t need everything moving at the same speed or going for the same response.

The room

Brandon Davis hosted, with Winderbaum and Marvel Comics editor in chief Stephen Wacker on stage, and there was a lot coming at us. Seeing the Defenders cast together was exciting. But what I carried out of the Empire Stage was the feeling of having watched the beginning of something I want more of.

The double drop feels sensible to me after that opening. Again, that’s one episode’s worth of impression, and I’m curious whether the next one gives me the sense of completion I’m expecting from that first stretch. VisionQuest starts October 14, so I won’t be waiting long to find out.

Also, James Spader was right there. I’ve said that several times now. I’m probably going to keep saying it.

Are you starting VisionQuest on night one, or waiting to binge it? Tell me in the comments on the channel.