Why Vision Starts Dying Outside The Hex

Warning! Spoilers ahead for WandaVision episode 6.

One of the most grueling scenes in WandaVision episode 6, “All-New Halloween Spooktacular!” features Vision slowly dying as he leaves the hex barrier outside Westview. This week’s outing of the Marvel Studios series brought the sitcom into the ’90s with a Halloween-themed episode, which was the perfect opportunity to feature Wanda and Vision in their comic-accurate superhero costumes without looking outdated or silly. Evan Peters’ Pietro Maximoff is also still in town and part of the family’s shenanigans while Tommy and Billy do the traditional trick-or-treating. But like previous WandaVision episodes, not everything was as light and happy as it seemed to be.

Coming off last week’s big fight, there was palpable tension between the show’s titular couple, a bit of exposition Billy shared in several fourth-wall-breaking asides in the episode. Motivated to help the people of Westview following his eye-opening encounter with Norm at work, Vision attempts to figure out what’s exactly happening in the mysterious town. He wandered around his community, leading him to the edge of Wanda’s magic hex barrier, which he then attempted to break through. Despite being able to partially break the magical wall, stepping out of it proved to be gruesome as every step he took outside the protective barrier slowly deteriorated his body.

It was harrowing to watch Vision continue moving forward while begging for help for the people of Westview as his physical body disintegrated. Had it not been for Wanda’s intervention thanks to a tip from Billy, he likely would have died then and there while Hayward and the SWORD agents watched. It all proves that Vision is only alive inside Wanda’s magical bubble. As revealed previously in WandaVision, his remains were in SWORD’s possession before Scarlet Witch took his corpse from them. Based on the CCTV footage that was shown, his corpse was taken apart and barely recognizable. It’s worth remembering that Vision, as a synthezoid, was part vibranium and part flesh, the former functioning as his skeleton much like it did Ultron, while the rest of him was tissue formed by Helen Cho’s regeneration cradle from Avengers: Age of Ultron. His synthetic flesh has decomposed by now considering it’s technically been five years since he died in Avengers: Infinity War; this part of him no longer exists outside Scarlet Witch’s hex barrier.

Darcy actually made a passing comment about this as she hacked into SWORD’s system and monitored what was happening inside Westview from Hayward’s point-of-view after she, Monica, and Jimmy were kicked out of the main operations. This confirmed that the organization’s sketchy director is tracking Vision with his program analyzing the “decay signature of vibranium.” This means that while Vision looks like his old self from the broadcast coming from Westview, that’s not how he really appears in the real world. In conjunction, it also further lends credence to the theory that SWORD are actually the bad guys here. While it’s uncertain what they were trying to do with Vision’s corpse, exactly, chances are they’re up to no good, so Scarlet Witch stepped in and saved his remains.

Given this revelation, it’s curious what the future holds for Vision and Scarlet Witch— if there’s any at all. Granted that there’s a precedence of him being reconstructed in the comics, that would require help from other MCU geniuses like Bruce Banner and Shuri. Sooner or later, the barrier that preserves Scarlet Witch’s fantasy world where he is still alive will eventually have to come down especially after it expanded significantly in the latest WandaVision episode, making it even more dangerous for the world.