Wait, is FRIDAY dead?! Explaining Ultron’s shocking betrayal in VisionQuest episode 7

*Warning: Spoilers ahead for VisionQuest episode 7*

A lot went down in the penultimate episode of VisionQuest, including the reveal of the Client’s face. He’s got the same appearance as Ultron’s human avatar, but Ultron was elsewhere – busy pushing FRIDAY off a balcony. 

But how did we get here? Well, if you remember, FRIDAY (Orla Brady) has been secretly hiding inside Jocasta’s (T’Nia Miller) neural network, trying to figure out what she’s planning without getting caught.

Meanwhile, Jocasta has teamed up with Ultron (James Spader) to unlock her supply of nanobots. She wants to use the microscopic robots to control the human race through a hive mind. No biggie. 

But she’s missing a sixth passcode needed to unlock them. And it appears to be connected to one of Dr Josephine Carrington’s forgotten research partners.

This is where the mysterious Client comes in. He offers to help Jocasta recover those memories. In order to do so, she needs to unlock Jo’s memories. She opens the data pack given by the Client and it shows her some coordinates. 

She and Ultron head there, only to find a rather familiar house. It’s the same place Ultron has been trapped inside Vision’s mind, and it also appears in Jo’s memories.

As it turns out, the house has a much longer history. It once belonged to Phineas Horton, the scientist who created J.I.M., the original Human Torch, back in 1939.

And FRIDAY has been watching all of this unfold from inside Jocasta’s mind. But there’s a problem: Ultron knows she’s there.

In fact, he reveals that he’s known about her presence all along, and claims he’s actually been covering for her. He also suggests that Jocasta isn’t the real threat, and that someone else is pulling the strings.

So, for a moment, it almost seems like the two are on the same side. Almost.

As Jocasta begins recovering her memories, Ultron and FRIDAY watch a scene involving Jo and a mysterious man she used to work with. Jo reveals that she has no intention of selling her AI creations or the NEST to Stark Industries.

It’s shown that Jo and the mystery partner were romantically involved. And he just so happens to have the same face as Ultron’s human avatar.

But it’s something the man says that makes the whole thing even more interesting. Jo suggests they use the tech themselves to control the world, to which he replies, “Peace in our time.” Sound familiar? It’s the same phrase Ultron used in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Given the Client is revealed to have the same face as Ultron’s human avatar, it seems likely that the man with Jo is also the Client. And he may have had something to do with Ultron’s creation.

This is, of course, speculation. But for FRIDAY, it seems she knows too much. Before she can learn anything more, Ultron pushes her off the balcony. So, is she dead?

Is FRIDAY actually dead after VisionQuest episode 7?

Well, not necessarily. While Ultron certainly appears to have killed FRIDAY, we never actually see her die. Instead, she disappears before hitting the ground at the end of VisionQuest episode 7, leaving her fate up in the air.

And there’s another reason she might still be alive. FRIDAY is an AI, meaning even if Ultron destroyed her avatar inside Jocasta’s mind, that doesn’t necessarily mean her actual code has been deleted. After all, we’ve already seen just how difficult it is to get rid of Ultron.

Plus, Paul Bettany previously hinted that death doesn’t always mean the end for an AI character. Speaking to The Wrap about JARVIS’s death in episode 2 of the Marvel series, Bettany explained that his programming still exists within Vision.

“The good news is, is Jarvis’s DNA is part of Vision,” he said. “So there’s always a way back.”

Of course, he was talking about JARVIS rather than FRIDAY. But his comments do suggest that an AI’s apparent death in the MCU might not be quite as final as it seems. It’s possible that she has a backup somewhere.

Or, maybe Ultron was simply pushing her out of the way for the time being. 

Why did Ultron push FRIDAY off the balcony?

This is another question entirely. After all, Ultron admits he’s known about FRIDAY hiding inside Jocasta for some time. But rather than exposing her, he’s apparently been protecting her. Maybe he’s doing the same thing here. 

Ultron warned that Jocasta isn’t the real threat, suggesting there’s someone much more dangerous behind everything. Could he have pushed FRIDAY out of the simulation to protect her from what’s coming?

It’s certainly possible. This is the view of many Marvel fans after watching the latest episode. 

As one said on Reddit, “I don’t think Friday’s dead. I think Ultron just kicked her into cyberspace to keep her out of the way and protect her from whatever is coming. He doesn’t want to confront whoever he was based on with her there.”

“I read it that way too. He booted FRIDAY back out into the Internet, where she’ll be in position to have the opportunity to save the day,” said another. “I also suspect that Ultron will be against the aims of his human avatar, The Client.”

A third added, “It feels like they are setting Ultron up as an anti-hero. This fits with that.”

No doubt we’ll find out what really happened to FRIDAY in the upcoming finale, which lands on Disney+ on November 10 in the US and November 11 internationally.

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Featured image credit: Disney+