New VisionQuest theory points to a sinister plan involving Tommy and the X-Men

The director Pierre Chanliau came up with an interesting theory for VisionQuest ahead of the Disney+ MCU show's release next week. This fan theory revolves around the show's key protagonist, Tommy Maximoff (Ruaridh Mollica). The recent trailer includes a shot of Tommy being strapped to a chair, right next to some medical instruments, which looks like his captors were going to torture him.

If this fan theory is to be believed, Tommy's captors are related to the Department of Damage Control (DODC), the government organization that served as the antagonist for this year's Wonder Man and Spider-Man: Brand New Day. According to this theory, the DODC could return in VisionQuest as well.

Tommy might be held captive for extracting the MGH (Mutant Growth Hormone):

The Mutant Growth Hormone (MGH) appeared in the X-Men films twice: Deadpool (2016) and Logan (2017). In Deadpool, Ajax experiments on several patients, including Wade Wilson, with MGH. Ajax tortures patients until their mutant genes are activated. If they aren't activated, the patient would die.

Conversely, the MGH in Logan enhances Wolverine's healing ability and provides enough adrenaline to fight off the Reavers. But the MCU could reintroduce the MGH and make the serum more comic book accurate. In the comics, the MGH serum could enhance a mutant's abilities, something one of the X-Men movies adapted. But in the comics, the serum could give non-mutants temporary, not permanent, powers.

While the MCU is slowly introducing the mutants, it hasn't confirmed that Billy and Tommy are mutants yet. VisionQuest could confirm the twins as mutants, something that Marvel wasn't able to do for the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver a decade ago due to rights issues.

The MCU is hinting at Tommy's status as a mutant, as actor Ruaridh Mollica described the character as a "hurt young man":

"We meet Thomas Shepherd as a hurt young man. He's a grifter, he's a small-time thief, he's a bit of an artful dodger at the time, and he's lost in his life. He's looking for a purpose, and he ends up on the road with Vision. And that's probably all I can say for now."

Based on the trailers, we have seen Tommy as a hostage in a mysterious location. The Direct article theorizes that the DODC might have hired the bounty hunter Paladin to hunt down Tommy, who is inhabiting the body of an 18-year-old boy in the UK.

The most recent VisionQuest trailer also includes a shot of a plane flying towards Madripoor, which was introduced as a shady city-state in the MCU in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. The end of Spider-Man: Brand New Day revealed that Bill Metzger is a fugitive. Madripoor is an ideal location for a fugitive who was part of a government organization that kidnapped a specific group of people.

There is a precedent for this dark storyline:

One of the darkest revelations in the X-Men comics is Mystique kidnapping the mutant rockstar Dazzler in Madripoor and using her as a source for extracting MGH and selling it. VisionQuest could hint at this dark storyline by swapping out Dazzler and Mystique for Tommy and the DODC.

This storyline also sets up the MCU X-Men movie, which is being directed by Jake Schreier and scheduled to be released in May 2028. This serum could play a huge role in the next phase of the MCU, which is titled the Mutant Saga.

What do we know about Tommy's future in the MCU after VisionQuest?

As of now, we don't know if Ruaridh Mollica is returning to the MCU after the upcoming solo Vision series. Considering that VisionQuest is set to debut this new adult version of Tommy, we can expect Mollica or Tommy to return to the MCU after next year's Avengers: Secret Wars. While it would make sense for Mollica to return after Secret Wars, Marvel could choose to recast the character.

Considering that Avengers: Secret Wars has been described as a "reset" of the MCU, it will not be surprising if Marvel opts to recast the character of Speed for the long-rumored Young Avengers project after the continuity clean-up.

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The first two episodes of VisionQuest drop on Disney+ next week.

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