Cover: John Buscema & George Klein

The Avengers #57

Oct 1968 · Marvel · 0.12 USD

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“Behold... the Vision!”

★ 1st appearance — Vision

About this Issue

Avengers #57 introduced the Vision, one of Marvel's most philosophically rich characters — a synthezoid built as a weapon who chooses humanity over programming, laying the groundwork for decades of stories about what it means to be alive. The two-issue arc beginning here established a storytelling template the Avengers title would return to repeatedly: the outsider figure who earns belonging not through power but through moral agency. The issue also deepened the Hawkeye–Black Widow relationship at a pivotal moment in Natasha Romanoff's transition from Soviet operative to autonomous hero, adding narrative texture beyond the Vision's debut. Its John Buscema cover, itself a deliberate homage to a 1940 Golden Age splash page, created one of the most-imitated single images in Marvel history.

In "Behold... the Vision!", the android Vision arrives at the Avengers Mansion with a mission that quickly unravels into something far more complex. As he confronts the team, his programming begins to fracture, leading him to question his purpose and ultimately join forces with the Avengers to face his former master. Written by Roy Thomas and brought to life by John Buscema’s dynamic art and Marie Severin’s coloring, with George Klein’s inks and Sam Rosen’s lettering, this pivotal issue features a cover by John Buscema and George Klein that captures the tension of the moment.

writer Roy Thomas · artist John Buscema · artist Marie Severin · inker George Klein · letterer Sam Rosen · cover John Buscema, George Klein

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VG) $126

CGC 9.8 · 16 in census $19,842

CGC 9.6 · 60 in census $5,184

CGC 9.4 · 143 in census $2,465

CGC 9.2 · 223 in census $1,325

CGC 9.0 · 325 in census $978

CGC 8.5 · 483 in census $710

Show all 22 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 510 in census $660

CGC 7.5 · 578 in census $447

CGC 7.0 · 581 in census $384

CGC 6.5 · 562 in census $384

CGC 6.0 · 561 in census $320

CGC 5.5 · 459 in census $275

CGC 5.0 · 507 in census $274

CGC 4.5 · 380 in census $222

CGC 4.0 · 299 in census $222

CGC 3.5 · 205 in census $183

CGC 3.0 · 146 in census $174

CGC 2.5 · 62 in census $129

CGC 2.0 · 27 in census $129

CGC 1.5 · 12 in census $67

CGC 1.0 · 11 in census $56*

CGC 0.5 · 16 in census $51*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

NM- $3.99 Foil $15 Foil $15 CGC 9.8 $99.99 GD $215 FINE $229.99 GD $235 VG $237.96

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 75 total · seen 31 days ago

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History

Writer Roy Thomas had originally proposed reviving Aarkus — the alien, smoke-traveling Vision from Timely Comics' Marvel Mystery Comics #13 (1940) — as a new Avenger, but editor Stan Lee rejected the idea and insisted on an android character instead. Thomas and artist John Buscema then synthesized a new synthezoid who borrowed Aarkus's name and visual silhouette while grounding his origin firmly in the emerging Ultron mythology Thomas had been building. A practical printing constraint also shaped the character permanently: Thomas's first instinct was chalk-white skin, but the low-grade newsprint of the era made white areas read as transparent smudges, so he and Buscema settled on the now-definitive red skin after ruling out green (too Hulk-adjacent) and blue (too Atlantean).

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of the Silver Age Vision (Earth-616), a synthezoid android distinct from the Golden Age alien Aarkus who previously used the name.
Written by Roy Thomas, penciled by John Buscema, inked by George Klein, lettered by Sam Rosen, and edited by Stan Lee; published on sale August 8, 1968, with an October 1968 cover date.
The story title is 'Behold… The Vision!' — the Wasp coins the name mid-issue when she describes the intruder as 'some sort of unearthly, inhuman vision.'
Vision is depicted as a creation of Ultron-5, built to infiltrate and destroy the Avengers; the issue ends with Vision turning against Ultron and saving the team, setting up his membership in Avengers #58.
Black Widow (Natasha Romanoff) appears in a subplot alongside Hawkeye: he finds her back in her Black Widow costume, having agreed to undertake a new S.H.I.E.L.D. spy assignment — a story thread that continued into Captain Marvel #12 and Avengers #63.
John Buscema's cover is a deliberate homage to the title splash of Aarkus's debut in Marvel Mystery Comics #13 (1940, art by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby), creating a visual lineage across nearly three decades of Marvel history.
The issue's final page quotes Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem 'Ozymandias,' an unusually literary touch for a 1968 superhero comic.
The cover image has been homaged numerous times, most notably on Mighty Avengers #14 (July 2008), and the story has been collected in Essential Avengers Vol. 3 (2001), Marvel Super Action #18 (1980), the Avengers Omnibus Vol. 2, and Avengers Epic Collection #4: Behold… the Vision (2015), among many domestic and international reprints.