In Theseus’s own story, the son becomes king on the day his father throws himself into the sea. That’s the part of the myth VisionQuest pointed at in episode 2, and I don’t think it’s an accident that Ultron is the one doing the pointing.
Everybody walked out of “Theseus” arguing about the ship. Of course they did. The Ship of Theseus scene in WandaVision is one of the best things Marvel has ever done on television, and Terry Matalas has said it’s one of the two scenes this whole series is built on. But Ultron watches the news in his attic, says the thought experiment ignores Theseus’s own story, and then hands Vision the line of the night: “When a monster has your son, don’t be the ship. Be the king.”
So go read Theseus’s own story. Ultron did.
The sail
Here’s the version Plutarch tells. Theseus is the son of Aegeus, king of Athens. Every few years Athens owes a tribute of young men and women to King Minos of Crete, to be fed to the Minotaur in the labyrinth. Theseus volunteers to go as one of them, to kill the monster. The ship that carries the tribute sails under a black sail. Aegeus makes his son promise: if you come home alive, raise a white one, so I’ll know from the cliff before the ship ever lands.
Theseus kills the Minotaur. He gets out of the labyrinth. And on the way home, he forgets to change the sail.
Aegeus is standing on the cliff watching for his son. He sees black. He believes his son is dead, and he throws himself into the sea. The sea still carries his name, the Aegean. Theseus lands, and he’s king.
And then the Athenians keep his ship for centuries, swapping out every rotten plank, and the philosophers start arguing about whether it’s still the same ship. That’s the part everybody knows. It’s the epilogue.
Two fathers, one son
Now put the show back over it.
“When a monster has your son.” Vision is the father in that sentence. Tommy is the son, held by somebody who wants something from Vision. Vision is Aegeus on the cliff, watching for a sail.
But Ultron isn’t telling Vision to be Aegeus. He’s telling him to be the king. And in this myth, the son becomes king one way: his father dies.
So who’s the father in that version? Vision is Tommy’s father, sure. But the show closes episode 2 on the other relationship in the room. Vision says Tommy didn’t listen. Ultron says, “Like father, like son.” He’s not talking about Tommy. He’s talking about himself. Ultron built the Vision. In the comics, Avengers #57, October 1968, Roy Thomas and John Buscema, Ultron makes Vision to destroy the Avengers, and the son turns on the father, and the issue ends on Shelley’s “Ozymandias,” a king’s statue broken in the desert.
That’s two fathers and one son standing in the same attic. And the oldest one is the one quoting mythology.
Why the advice is a trap
This is my read, and I’ll own it: I don’t think Ultron is giving Vision a pep talk. I think he’s giving him a job description, and the job comes with a death in it.
Be the king. Stop worrying about whether you’re the same ship. Take the throne. In the story Ultron is citing, taking the throne means the man who came before you is gone. Ultron is the man who came before Vision. He has spent years in that attic. Matalas says he’s been consuming humanity’s artistic efforts. He’s read everything, including Plutarch. He knows exactly how the Theseus story ends.
Here’s the generous version, and you can call it that: maybe Ultron means it. Maybe he’s telling his son to stop being passive and go get the kid. Fine. But look at what the advice does if Vision takes it. A king acts. A king doesn’t check with the voices in his head. A king who’s busy being king isn’t watching the attic.
And I already told you on the channel how I think this ends. Ultron always gets out, and almost every time, he comes back through a body somebody else built. Vision’s head is the most recent house he’s lived in. The hubris of thinking you can hold him is what gets Vision in trouble. The Theseus story adds one thing to that: the son who forgets the signal is the one who causes the father’s death. Somebody in this show is going to forget to change a sail.
What I’ll be watching for
Episodes three and four drop Tuesday night, “Reboot” and “Malware.” I’m watching for two things.
First, whether Vision acts on Ultron’s advice without telling the house. The moment he starts making a king’s decisions alone, the attic door is open.
Second, whether anybody in that house dies watching for a signal that never comes. J.A.R.V.I.S. already deleted his own code so the rest of the house could live. “Family is forever, and it’s worth the fight.” That’s one father figure gone in two episodes.
Theseus became king on the day his father died. Ultron told Vision to be the king. I don’t think he picked that myth by accident.
My full review of episodes one and two is up: Vision Is How Ultron Gets Out.
So who’s the father in Ultron’s story, and who’s the king? Tell me on the channel.
