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About

WandaVision "Ship of Theseus" Conversation refers to a scene in the finale of the television show WandaVision in which the main character Vision has a climactic battle with an "evil" version of himself, called White Vision. As the battle goes on, Vision realizes the pair evenly matched and asks White Vision if he's familiar with the Ship of Theseus, an ancient Greek thought experiment concerning the metaphysics of identity. The conversation leads to the pair's reconciliation. The scene was celebrated and joked about on social media for its quality and its apt use of the thought experiment.

Origin

The Ship of Theseus thought experiment was introduced in ancient Greek philosophy. It wonders if a wooden ship that has had each board replaced over a long period of time remains the same ship it was when it was first constructed. A second part of the thought experiment wonders if the removed planks were kept in a museum but technology allowed them to be restored, and a ship was constructed using the original planks from the Ship of Theseus, would that be considered the Ship of Theseus?^[1]

In the March 5th, 2021 finale of WandaVision, Vision battles with an evil version of himself known as White Vision. After a long battle in which the two are evenly matched, Vision asks White Vision if he's familiar with the Ship of Theseus. The two converse and White Vision realizes that Vision, who was sent to destroy, is essentially the same as him, causing the battle to end (shown below).

Spread

After the episode aired, fans celebrated the moment on social media, praising the show's character writing. Twitter user @JoshuaYehl^[2] wrote, "I cannot express how much I LIVE for Vision being Vision, and this is the most Vision thing that has ever happened," gaining over 470 retweets and 5,500 likes (shown below, left). User @WandaOlsen^[3] shared a similar sentiment, writing, "The Ship of Theseus scene is literally the most Vision thing to ever exist, change my mind," gaining over 1,200 retweets and 14,000 likes (shown below, right).

Others joked about the moment using various meme templates. For example, user @iclarke95^[4] used an Evil Kermit meme to parody the scene, gaining over 2,000 retweets and 17,000 likes (shown below, left). User @RahSamer^[5] used a Men Discussing Things meme to parody the scene, gaining over 370 retweets and 3,700 likes (shown below, right). Several memes were covered by The Mary Sue.^[6]

Various Examples

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External References