WARNING: The following article contains major spoilers for Avengers: Infinity War, in theaters now.
The Vision is dead! Long live the Vision! In Avengers: Infinity War, the android met his untimely end twice: once at the mercy of his partner Scarlet Witch, who used her powers to destroy the Mind Stone, and the other at Thanos' hand after he turned back time to reverse the Infinity Stone's destruction. However, judging by his final moments on screen, Vision may not be gone for good.
At the climax of the film, Thanos tore through the Avengers, waving fan-favorite characters away like gnats. As he approached, Vision begged Scarlet Witch to destroy the Mind Stone in his head. She obliged, and the Mind Stone shattered just before Thanos reached them. The ensuing explosion completely obliterated Vision, leaving nothing but a smoking crater behind.
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However, unbeknownst to the Avengers, Thanos had already acquired the Time Stone from Doctor Strange. That meant the Mad Titan could reverse time with a flick of the wrist -- which was exactly what he did. He rewound time to the moment just before the Time Stone exploded, thus restoring Vision. Thanos then grabbed Vision by the throat and tore the Mind Stone out of his head, killing him again.
This is where things get interesting. As soon as he died, the color disappeared from his costume. The purple faded to gray; the green, to white. A closeup look at his face revealed that his eyes had also turned completely white in death. This color change is particularly important, since Vision once turned white in the comics -- right after he was brought back from the dead by Hank Pym.
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In 1989's West Coast Avengers #42, Vision was kidnapped by an network of international spy agencies that feared he would use his powers to take over the world. By the time the West Coast Avengers tracked him down, they were too late; Vision had already been completely disassembled. The Vision as they knew him was, for all intents and purposes, dead.
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Fortunately, Hank Pym was able to put him back together, but the "new" Vision had some noticeable differences. For one, he had completely changed colors, becoming a "ghost" of his old self. The other change was a bit more subtle, and far more devastating for his friends and family, particularly his wife Scarlet Witch. Though Pym downloaded Avengers data files to replace Vision's memories, Vision lacked all the emotion of his previous incarnation.
Effectively, Vision had lost his soul.
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So far as the Marvel Cinematic Universe goes, Avengers: Infinity War has already established that Vision can exist without the Mind Stone. Indeed, that was the entire reason for the Avengers' trip to Wakanda. According to Bruce Banner, Vision is based on Tony Stark, Stark's defunct A.I. JARVIS, what they found in the Mind Stone and Banner himself. So, removing the Mind Stone would leave behind the other aspects of Vision -- which, Banner argued, may even be the "best" parts. In the movie, Black Panther's tech-savvy sister Shuri had even begun the process of removing the Stone when she was rudely interrupted by Corvus Glaive.
In his second death, much of Vision's body was left unharmed. Theoretically, then, the MCU's top scientists should be able to put him back together again. After all, Stark and Banner -- who helped create the Vision -- were left alive after the events of Infinity War and have the skill rebuild him. Should Shuri be a survivor as we suspect she is, they'd even have an extra hand to help them repair him. So it's within reason to expect Vision's return to the MCU.
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However, should Vision return, he probably won't be the same. Like the Vision of West Coast Avengers, who was missing his emotional core, the MCU's Vision would be missing a key element of himself: the Mind Stone. Further, his head was badly damaged in Thanos' attack, which means his "brain" would have to be reconstructed. As such, the MCU's version of Vision could return in much the same way as he did in West Coast Avengers: with his memories, but not his "soul." (Fortunately, there's a Soul Stone floating around out there, so that may eventually be recovered as well.)
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Avengers: Infinity War left all the pieces behind for Vision's return. Between his largely undamaged body and the continued existence of Earth's top scientists, the MCU has all the tools it needs to put Vision back together again. However, since he turned white when he died, the film suggested that any such resurrection would take a page out of West Coast Avengers' book -- which means there's a catch. If or when Vision returns, he may not have the emotional or moral core that made him a hero, and that may spell trouble for the Avengers.
Directed by Joe and Anthony Russo, Avengers: Infinity War stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Jeremy Renner, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Bettany, Anthony Mackie, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Olsen, Tom Holland, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chadwick Boseman, Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, Tom Hiddleston and Josh Brolin, among others. The film is now in theaters worldwide.