Static Media/Marvel Television
Contains spoilers for “VisionQuest” Season 1, Episode 6 – “Deadlock”
Marvel’s Disney+ series “VisionQuest” brings several of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s best-known artificial intelligence characters into its story, while also introducing entirely new ones. Among them is Jocasta (T’Nia Miller), reimagined as a murderous synthezoid carrying the mind of neuroscientist Jo Carrington. The series delivers another major A.I. twist in Episode 6, “Deadlock,” when it reveals that Paladin’s (Todd Stashwick) weary mission controller, the Handler (Diane Morgan), is actually an artificial intelligence.
“VisionQuest” has already revisited one of “WandaVision’s” most unsettling ideas by introducing the Mindspace, a digital realm capable of imprisoning artificial intelligences such as Ultron (James Spader). Its function echoes the Hex, the reality-altering bubble Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) used to trap the people of Westview inside her sitcom-inspired fantasies. For the Handler, however, the Mindspace is essentially a prison: a rundown office where she remains confined until E.D.I.T.H. (Emily Hampshire) hacks into the system and sets her free.
The Handler has appeared throughout “VisionQuest,” usually operating from the sidelines as Paladin’s mission control. “Deadlock” gives the character a much larger role, though, and her dry, deadpan humor may leave viewers wondering where they have seen the performer before. That familiarity is no coincidence. Diane Morgan is a seasoned comedian, best known internationally for a character who has attracted renewed attention in recent years.
The woman behind Philomena Cunk joins the Marvel Cinematic Universe
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A familiar face on British television, Diane Morgan has starred in the BBC comedies “Motherland” and “Mandy,” the latter of which she also writes and directs. She is also a co-writer and performer on “Ann Droid.” In addition, Morgan played the prominent role of Kath in Ricky Gervais’ Netflix comedy-drama “After Life.”
For audiences outside the United Kingdom, though, Morgan is perhaps most closely associated with her funniest and most recognizable creation. Anyone who has spent time online in recent years has likely encountered clips of Philomena Cunk, her confidently misinformed yet relentlessly deadpan interviewer.
Morgan first played Cunk on “Charlie Brooker’s Weekly Wipe,” the culture-review program hosted by “Black Mirror” creator Charlie Brooker. With Brooker continuing as one of the writers, the character later headlined several Netflix specials, including “Cunk on Earth” and “Cunk on Life.” Whether Philomena Cunk will ever offer her thoughts on “VisionQuest” is still unknown.
