Golden Age Vision (Aarkus)

[MajorHoy]

First appearance:
Marvel Mystery Comics #13 (November 1940):




His feature appeared in Marvel Mystery Comics until issue #48 in 1943.

And from The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe: Golden Age (2004):

[gurkle]

This story has been told a number of times, but Roy Thomas said that he originally pitched bringing back the Golden Age Vision and adding him to the Avengers. Stan Lee said no, he wanted the new Avenger to be an android (he didn't say why). So Thomas and John Buscema came up with an android character who took his name and some design elements from the original.

[Sutekh]

This story has been told a number of times, but Roy Thomas said that he originally pitched bringing back the Golden Age Vision and adding him to the Avengers. Stan Lee said no, he wanted the new Avenger to be an android (he didn't say why). So Thomas and John Buscema came up with an android character who took his name and some design elements from the original.

If this was after Captain America had joined, maybe he didn't want the Avengers to continue poaching WW2 era heroes like Cap and Namor, and ending up seeming too much like 'Invaders 2.0?'

In any event, the original Vision is interesting to me, because his powers are so delightfully golden age. Just a grab-bag of random things with little or no theme. Gas control, freeze people in ice, create illusions, strong and bulletproof, mind control, dimensional travel. He's got an interesting mix, although the gas / smoke manipulation is the most interesting to me.

I'm also always a fan of a character with a cool new setting element built-in, like K'un Lun, Atlantis, Limbo, Attilan or this 'Dimension of Smoke.'

[JudicatorPrime]

If this was after Captain America had joined, maybe he didn't want the Avengers to continue poaching WW2 era heroes like Cap and Namor, and ending up seeming too much like 'Invaders 2.0?'

Weren't the Invaders (team) basically a retcon in and of itself? My memory is fuzzy, but I thought Cap, Namor, et al., didn't actually call themselves Invaders back in the 1940s when the books were first published. I might be wrong about that.

I like the original Vision as well. He's always had this Martian Manhunter-type appeal to me.

The problem there is that I love the synthezoid Vision, so if they did bring back the original in a more or less permanently active fashion, I would hope that the original Vision would get a new nom de guerre.

I'd probably also like to see his origin tweaked slightly. Is it possible that he could be a Dire Wraith? A good Dire Wraith. Shangri-La could then be not just some hidden paradisical kingdom, but a subdivision of Limbo reached by only those who have seen the light of truth. Of course, not many Dire Wraiths (or ordinary people) attain that degree of moral and spiritual enlightenment. Aarkus would be the first, though.

[Nomads1]

I really like the Golden Age Vision. I wish he'd been more explored in the original WWII Invaders. Namor and Torch are seen as the WWII biggest guns in terms of power. IMHO, Aarkus would have been awsome as the third member of a WWII power Trinity.

Peace

[MajorHoy]

If this was after Captain America had joined, maybe he didn't want the Avengers to continue poaching WW2 era heroes like Cap and Namor, and ending up seeming too much like 'Invaders 2.0?'

I'm not sure I understand your thinking.
The team The Invaders didn't appear until Giant-Size Invaders #1 in 1975, though Roy Thomas did briefly use WWII-era Captain America, Human Torch, and Namor as a threesome in The Avengers #71 (December 1969) and later retconned them into having already been The Invaders at that point in The Invaders Annual #1 in 1977.

Weren't the Invaders (team) basically a retcon in and of itself? My memory is fuzzy, but I thought Cap, Namor, et al., didn't actually call themselves invaders back in the 1940s when the books were first published. I might be wrong about that.

The only time time Cap, Torch, and Namor were officially on a team together back in the Golden Age was The All-Winners Squad which had two appearances in All Winners Comics in 1946. The three of them had been sharing the cover of that series since back with issue #1, but did not appear in a story as part of the same team prior to issue #19.

[gurkle]

Anyway, when Thomas made the pitch Captain America was no longer part of the active duty Avengers roster -- Stan Lee turned against the idea of having characters in two books at once, which is also why Hercules became an Avenger instead of bringing back Thor.

What he wasn't sure about is why Lee wanted an android character. Considering Red Tornado appeared at the exact same time as the android Vision, I wonder if he had got word that DC was working on an android and wanted to scoop them. But that's just speculation on my part.

[Nomads1]

Anyway, when Thomas made the pitch Captain America was no longer part of the active duty Avengers roster -- Stan Lee turned against the idea of having characters in two books at once, which is also why Hercules became an Avenger instead of bringing back Thor.

What he wasn't sure about is why Lee wanted an android character. Considering Red Tornado appeared at the exact same time as the android Vision, I wonder if he had got word that DC was working on an android and wanted to scoop them. But that's just speculation on my part.

An android namesake of a totally unrelated Golden Age character. "And they say there are no coincidences in life."

Peace

[JudicatorPrime]

The only time time Cap, Torch, and Namor were officially on a team together back in the Golden Age was The All-Winners Squad which had two appearances in All Winners Comics in 1946. The three of them had been sharing the cover of that series since back with issue #1, but did not appear in a story as part of the same team prior to issue #19.

Excellent, thanks for the clarification.

[useridgoeshere]

I like the original Vision as well. He's always had this Martian Manhunter-type appeal to me.

Yeah, MM must have been influenced by Vision.

An android namesake of a totally unrelated Golden Age character. "And they say there are no coincidences in life."

Maybe Stan wanted to make it up to androids after turning the Human Torch into a human namesake of a totally unrelated Golden Age character.

[gurkle]

Yeah, maybe he just decided they should have a new android character, since they couldn't bring back the old one.

He probably never expected that Thomas (and Neal Adams and Steve Englehart) would end up revealing that the android with the name of an old Golden Age character had the same body as the old Golden Age android.

[Phoenixx9]

Anyway, when Thomas made the pitch Captain America was no longer part of the active duty Avengers roster -- Stan Lee turned against the idea of having characters in two books at once, which is also why Hercules became an Avenger instead of bringing back Thor.

What he wasn't sure about is why Lee wanted an android character. Considering Red Tornado appeared at the exact same time as the android Vision, I wonder if he had got word that DC was working on an android and wanted to scoop them. But that's just speculation on my part.

DC's The Red Tornado (Android) actually appeared a full 2 months before The new Vision....so Stan might have had some insider info....

[Digifiend]

Yeah, MM must have been influenced by Vision.

Maybe Stan wanted to make it up to androids after turning the Human Torch into a human namesake of a totally unrelated Golden Age character.

It's weird in hindsight. Human Torch is a legacy character, but the other two of the golden age trinity, Captain America and Sub-Mariner, are the golden age characters and were simply brought back in the silver age. Most legacies weren't introduced until decades later - the silver age Vision, Black Widow, and Angel have nothing in common with their golden age counterparts - not even the same powers.

Yeah, maybe he just decided they should have a new android character, since they couldn't bring back the old one.

He probably never expected that Thomas (and Neal Adams and Steve Englehart) would end up revealing that the android with the name of an old Golden Age character had the same body as the old Golden Age android.

Of course that later got retconned so they could bring back the golden age Torch. Vision is NOT Jim Hammond.

[ed2962]

DC's The Red Tornado (Android) actually appeared a full 2 months before The new Vision....so Stan might have had some insider info....

This is the rumor as to why the original X-men were so similar to the original Doom Patrol...

[Phoenixx9]

This is the rumor as to why the original X-men were so similar to the original Doom Patrol...

Yes, I have heard about that rumour as well, my friend.

There are no coincidences. Nothing is without meaning....