Contains spoilers for “VisionQuest” Episodes 5 and 6.
Marvel Comics has always touted that its stories depict extraordinary characters in the world outside your window. The MCU followed suit as their characters jumped from the comic book pages to the big screen. Of course, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes have gone well beyond our everyday world as well. For example, as True Believers have followed the saga of the Vision and the Scarlet Witch, they’ve traveled to the suburban New Jersey town of Westview, a traditional Scottish pub in Edinburgh, and several timelines throughout the multiverse. But in the latest episodes of “VisionQuest,” we return to a location that gives even our bravest heroes pause.
After Ultron takes control of Vision’s body and locks all the AI away in his former prison, he spends some quality time with his “grandson,” Thomas Shepherd. By the time Vision and company catch up with Ultron’s antics while they were cut off from the real-time ocular sensors, they learn that Tommy is being held captive by Paladin in Madripoor. Vision makes the tough call to drop the firewalls, which not only frees him to regain control of the body but also allows Ultron to escape into the world wide web. But at least he was nice enough to leave the body on a cargo plane en route to the lawless island nation in Southeast Asia before he flew the coop.
Now, Vision is heading into the belly of the beast to rescue his son. What makes this place so dangerous? Let’s take a look back at the importance of Madripoor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The origins of Madripoor
Madripoor was first introduced in the MCU in the 2021 Disney+ miniseries “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” After Sam Wilson and Bucky Barnes “borrow” him from prison, Baron Helmut Zemo brings them to a safe haven for the criminal underworld in order to figure out who recreated the Super Soldier Serum that was given to Karli Morgenthau and the Flag Smashers. During their hunt, they also reconnect with their old friend Sharon Carter, who was branded an enemy of the state after helping Sam, Bucky, and Steve Rogers in “Captain America: Civil War.” Since Madripoor doesn’t extradite criminals, it attracts all sorts of people who break the law, including the former S.H.I.E.L.D. and CIA agent.
However, unbeknownst to the visiting Avengers, Carter is actually the wealthy and powerful crime lord known as the Power Broker. While it appeared like she was helping Sam and Bucky, she was actually getting revenge on Karli for betraying her and using her former allies to get a pardon from the US government and regain access to classified re
In addition to becoming Sharon’s stronghold, plenty of black market dealings happen in Madripoor. Archaeologist Layla El-Faouly reveals in “Moon Knight” that she met rare antiquities collector Anton Mogart there. He would later become an integral part of her crusade with Marc Spector/Steven Grant to stop Arthur Harrow from resurrecting Ammit and destroying the world. The notorious island is also referenced by characters in “Echo,” “Ironheart,” and “The Punisher: One Last Kill.”
The significance of Madripoor in VisionQuest
Just like the other morally questionable individuals mentioned here, the battle-hardened Paladin is right at home in Madripoor. Even though the client who hired him to capture Vision ended their arrangement, the mercenary is determined to fulfill his contract due his personal code, and it’s clear that he feels like this is the place to make it happen. Unfortunately for him, the client has enlisted the services of Ten Rings commander Raza Hamidmi al-Wazar (who was last seen in the MCU as Tony Stark’s captor in “Iron Man”) to finish the job.
But how did the client know to dispatch Raza to Madripoor to capture Vision? It’s possible they could have been tracking either Vision’s or Paladin’s location. Or maybe due to its loosey-goosey attitude toward criminal activity, the client is based in Madripoor and they heard through the grapevine that an Avenger was among them? And based on who we know resides there and sits in a position of power, could Sharon Carter, aka the Power Broker, be the one who is interested in acquiring the Vision? Clearly, she has some experience hiring mercenaries to carry out her dirty work as she did with Georges Batroc and the Flag Smashers.
With only two episodes of “VisionQuest” left and the threat of Ultron and Jocasta’s master plan looming, hopefully fans will get some satisfying answers from the final chapter of the Multiverse Saga before its highly anticipated conclusion in “Avengers: Doomsday” and “Avengers: Secret Wars.”
