(2/2) he could safely glide to the ground (“turn him into a glider”). Of course, Sam couldn’t have known this so he instinctively dodged, but vision also couldn’t have known sam was going to dodge, so neither of them are to blame, it was a complete accident, right? I’ve also seen people say that vision purposely targeted rhodey since he hurt wanda with that sonic pulse thing, but he would never do that and the idea that people think he would kind of annoys me.
The writers and directors have talked at length about this, and they’ve all confirmed that Vision was distracted by “feelings” for Wanda, exactly as stated in the film. He wasn’t intentionally trying to hit Rhodes (or kill Sam, for that matter).
Just from a narrative perspective, the whole point of the “turn him into a glider” line is to let the audience know unambiguously that neither Rhodey nor Vision were intending to endanger Sam. Unless you’re hellbent on vilifying either character, there’s no real point in trying to argue otherwise.
I think the confusion mostly comes from Tony and Vision seeming to agree that Vision has some sort of fault–but it’s not obvious what that is, given that Sam dodged and it was an accident, which leaves us to guess at what it could be. Some people think it means Vision was acting out of malice, or that Vision missed and hit Rhodes. Like I said, neither are true.
The way I interpreted it is that Vision knows that he wasn’t acting logically.
Why didn’t Vision involve himself more in the airport battle?
Why didn’t Vision chase after the Quinjet?
Why didn’t he respond to Rhodey’s first call for assistance?
Wanda, of course. He was distracted by her and her well-being, leading him to prioritize her before their mission. But Tony and Vision don’t understand this, so both are taken aback.
In short, let these pages from Avengers #99 describe what I mean:
Avengers v.1 #99
Those Celestial Bodies 