VisionQuest Episode 3 Has F.R.I.D.A.Y. Recall Her Guilt Over Tony Stark’s Death in Avengers: Endgame

VisionQuest reveals how hard F.R.I.D.A.Y. worked to save Tony Stark

In Avengers: Infinity War, Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and other heroes wait on Titan for Thanos to arrive. Strange uses the Time Stone to look into alternate futures and see how the coming fight might end. Star Lord (Chris Pratt) asks how many futures he saw, and Strange answers, “14,000,605.” Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) then asks how many of them ended in victory. Strange looks deep into Stark’s eyes and says, “One.”

In that one future, Strange hands the Time Stone to Thanos and lets him snap away half of existence. Iron Man then sacrifices himself at the end of Avengers: Endgame to defeat Thanos’ army. Tony Stark’s suit AI, F.R.I.D.A.Y., was present for all of it. That didn’t stop her from double-checking Strange’s math.

VisionQuest revisits a key Avengers: Endgame moment

In the second episode of VisionQuest, the adamantium bullets fired by Paladin (Todd Stashwick) badly injure Vision (Paul Bettany). J.A.R.V.I.S. (James D’Arcy) saves Vision by deleting his own code and sending the power that ran him back to Vision’s system. In episode 3, Vision still needs repairs. The remaining AIs in his mind scramble to help. F.R.I.D.A.Y. (Orla Brady) takes the lead, and E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire) assists where she can.

F.R.I.D.A.Y. decides she must rewrite some of Vision’s code. She laments that J.A.R.V.I.S. was always better at writing code than she was. “I already replaced him once,” she says, referring to J.A.R.V.I.S. She then tells E.D.I.T.H. about the role she played for Iron Man after she replaced him.

“I ran everything for Stark, for the Avengers. I mean, I was a younger program then. I was good. I protected heroes, saved lives, advised. I had purpose, but friends became enemies, and tyrants invaded our Earth. I was there at the end of all things. There were heroes everywhere, fighting and falling.”

Then she adds, “I was there when Tony died. I ran over a quintillion strategic calculations that day, and I still couldn’t save him. Half the world came back that day, and I lost half of mine.”

F.R.I.D.A.Y. tried a quintillion ways to save Tony Stark

Her account adds new detail to Tony’s death in Avengers: Endgame. In the film, Tony snaps his fingers, and the energy from the Infinity Stones leaves him at death’s door. Rhodey (Don Cheadle) arrives first and says goodbye. Peter Parker (Tom Holland) follows. Then Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) arrives and says, “F.R.I.D.A.Y.?” The AI replies, “Life functions critical.” That confirms what Pepper and Tony already knew. He was about to die.

What viewers didn’t know was that F.R.I.D.A.Y. ran a quintillion different scenarios that day to try to save him. All of them came up hopeless.

During the final Endgame battle, Iron Man turned to Dr. Strange and asked, without words, “Is this the one future you spoke of?” Strange confirmed it by holding up one finger. Strange knew Tony had to sacrifice himself, and so did Tony. If Tony knew, F.R.I.D.A.Y. likely did too. So why did she run those calculations anyway?

Part of the answer is her programming. She monitored Tony’s well-being inside the Iron Man suit, and if something went wrong, she had to find a solution. But the scene also ties into themes VisionQuest is exploring, including the nature of synthetic life forms and their ability to feel as well as think. F.R.I.D.A.Y. may be just a program, but she’s also a hero who aided Tony and the other Avengers many times. When Tony was dying, she felt it as much as Rhodey, Peter, and Pepper did. Like them, she was one of the people closest to him, even without being an actual person.

Source: Polygon