VisionQuest Episode 4 Brings Back Ultron's Most Famous Line — With A Big Twist

This article contains spoilers for "VisionQuest" Episode 4, "Malware."

In Marvel's "VisionQuest," the Avengers' nemesis and evil android Ultron (James Spader) is alive again. Now, MCU side projects have occasionally brought Ultron back. An Infinity Stone-wielding variant of Ultron who succeeded in "cleansing" the universe of organic life was the final villain of "What If...?" Season 1. The theme park attraction "Avengers: Quantum Encounter" also features Ultron.

In both "What If...?" and "Quantum Encounter," these Ultron variants were voiced by Ross Marquand, but in "VisionQuest," it's the O.G. Ultron — same timeline, same actor. (Spader even shows up in the flesh as Ultron's human avatar.) Preserved inside Vision's head since the Battle of Sokovia, Ultron has begun speaking up, slowly getting his "son" Vision (Paul Bettany) to trust and rely on him. At the climax of "Malware," Ultron even convinces Vision to hand him control of their body when Vision is fighting another android, Jocasta (T'Nia Miller). Big mistake.

Once Ultron takes control, we see him locking down the mansion where the AIs inside Vision's head live. Inside the mansion, Ultron is shown manning a ship's wooden steering wheel, singing a familiar tune: "I had strings, but now I'm free..."

In the real world, Vision — his voice changing from Bettany's to Spader's — completes the phrase: "There are no strings on me." Ultron quoted those lines from Disney "Pinocchio" back in "Avengers: Age of Ultron" shortly after his creation, representing him achieving will beyond what Tony Stark intended for him. He repeats them because, over a decade after his defeat, he's free again.

These lines specifically come from the "Pinocchio" song "I've Got No Strings" by Dickie Jones. The first "Avengers: Age of Ultron" trailer employed a slower, eerie rendition of the song, ending with Ultron in all his robotic glory declaring: "There are no strings on me." Now, a villain quoting a children's movie doesn't exactly scream "scary," but it's a perfect fit thematically. 

Like Pinocchio, Ultron is an artificially-created being. Pinocchio had literal strings, being a wooden puppet, while Ultron had metaphorical ones by being created to serve at Tony Stark's behest. Ultron hates humans enough he tried to wipe them all out, but like Pinocchio, part of him wants to be "a real boy" too, because then at least he could understand the purpose of his existence.

"VisionQuest" Episode 1 was even titled "No Strings," reflecting the line's synonymity with Ultron. The show has also been working to make us wonder if he deserves to have his strings cut. Speaking to Rotten Tomatoes, Spader explained that Ultron "loves and hates" Vision like most abusive parents do their children. Ultron has been passing fatherly advice along to Vision, and earlier in "Malware," they do a buddy cop routine while infiltrating some police databases (a sequence calling to mind Spader's role on "The Blacklist" as criminal mastermind turned FBI consultant Raymond Reddington).

We get why Vision trusts Ultron enough to give him control — especially with Ultron framing it as them being in it together — but it's still a huge blunder. Remember in "Age of Ultron," his goal was to get the body that became Vision for himself, to complete his evolution. Now, Ultron has what he wanted and the world should tremble.

"VisionQuest" is streaming on Disney+.