Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Starring Robert Downey Jr (Tony Stark / Iron Man), Chris Evans (Steve Rogers / Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor), Scarlett Johansson (Natasha Romanoff / The Black Widow), Jeremy Renner (Clint Barton / Hawkeye), Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner / The Hulk), Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Paul Bettany (the voice of JARVIS / The VISION), James Spader (ULTRON), Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda Maximoff), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Pietro Maximoff), Don Cheadle (James Rhodes / War Machine), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson / The Falcon), Stellan Skarsgard (Erik Selvig), and Idris Elba (Heimdall) with a special appearance by Stan Lee and a mid-credits scene featuring Josh Brolin as Thanos
Directed by Joss Whedon
Produced by Kevin Feige
Written by Joss Whedon
Music By Brian Tyler and Danny Elfman
Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures
Run Time: 2 hours and 21 minutes
World Premier: April 13, 2015, in Hollywood, California
Opening Weekend Box Office: $191 million (North America)
Worldwide Box Office: $1.4 billion
Rotten Tomatoes Score: 76%
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Memorable Avengers: Age of Ultron Quotes
âLook, I don’t know if I can help you with this, but I do know this: If you do it, and you do a sequel, in the sequel, it has to be ULTRON. And then [ULTRON] has to take JARVIS and make The VISION. Because Paul Bettany has to play The VISION.â â Joss Whedon’s initial pitch for an Avengers sequel to Marvel Studios while discussing his vision for The Avengers.
âI was walking onto the set [in costume] for the first time, and Kevin Feige nearly cried. That was when I understood why the [MCU] movies have worked so well: It’s because they’re made by fans. They just really want to do right by these characters that they grew up loving and continue to love.â â Paul Bettany
âIn the comics, ULTRON always has his mean face on. But we couldn’t do two hours of a mean face â that’s a ⌠mistake. I was interested in his soulfulness, his sadness, and doing everything people don’t do with robots.â â Joss Whedon discussing his vision for ULTRON
â[The Twins’] powers are very visually interesting. One of the problems I had on [The Avengers] was everybody basically had punchy powers. Quicksilver’s got super-speed, Scarlet Witch can weave spells, and a little telekinesis, get inside your head. That’s good stuff they can do that will help keep [Avengers: Age of Ultron] fresh.â â Joss Whedon
âFor [Avengers: Age of Ultron], I wanted to give it a different feel. Give people what they love, but also give them a new vision of it. So that it wasn’t just ‘Hey, you liked our pony? It’s going to do that trick again!’ Looking back, maybe the pony should have done the trick more.â â Joss Whedon
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Fun Avengers: Age of Ultron Facts
On Friday the 13th of July-2012, Marvel Studios screened the Marvel One-Shot: Item 47 short film at San Diego Comic Con. This was Marvel Studios’ third Marvel One-Shot feature and was set on the MCU Timeline (the Sacred Timeline) following the Battle of New York. This short film was directed by Louis D’Esposito and starred Maximiliano Hernandez in a reprisal of his role as S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Jasper Sitwell while introducing Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. Felix Blake and criminal lovers Claire Wise (portrayed by Lizzy Caplan) and Bennie Pollack (portrayed by Jesse Bradford). The short sees Claire and Bennie come to possess a Chitauri weapon, which they use to embark upon a lucrative crime spree. The short ends with the rebellious young couple being recruited into S.H.I.E.L.D. by Sitwell. In a video message, Robert Downey Jr (supposedly on the set of Iron Man 3) introduced Item 47 at SDCC. The short was Marvel Studios’ third One-Shot following The Consultant and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor’s Hammer. Disney CEO Bob Iger was so impressed with the One-Shot, he proposed the idea of a television series revolving around S.H.I.E.L.D., which eventually became ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Jeph Loeb’s Marvel Television produced Agents of S.H.I.EL.D. and the show was promoted as being set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe, complete with appearances by MCU actors such as Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury), Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), and Jaimie Alexander (Lady Sif), while revolving around the resurrection of Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson (killed in The Avengers by Loki),and incorporating the Extremis serum (seen in Iron Man 3) and the Battle of London (seen in Thor: The Dark World) into its plot. It’s most effective MCU tie-in however was its seventeenth episode (Turn, Turn, Turn) which delved deeper into Hydra’s shocking infiltration of S.H.I.E.L.D. and S.H.I.E.L.D.’s consequent fall (as seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier). The second season of the series then tied in to Avengers: Age of Ultron, as Clark Gregg’s resurrected Phil Coulson was shown to have been the person that worked with Nick Fury on getting an old S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier back up and running for use during the Battle of Sokovia. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would go on to last seven seasons, with its references to other MCU projects decreasing over time, and the series was later confirmed to be non-canon to the MCU Timeline (the Sacred Timeline) after all in 2023 with the release of the book Marvel Studios – The Marvel Cinematic Universe: An Official Timeline, as none of the events that transpired in ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were alluded to.
Meanwhile, in the midst of the monumental success of The Avengers, Joss Whedon agreed to return to direct a second Avengers film, contacting Paul Bettany and casting him to portray The VISION in the movie. Bettany had previously voiced Tony Stark’s JARVIS program in Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, and Iron Man 3.
Iron Man 3 concluded Robert Downey Jr’s initial Marvel Studios contract and the film was made and released without any further commitment from Downey to reprise his role as Tony Stark in the future. On June 20, 2013, however, Marvel Entertainment announced that RDJ had reached a deal with Marvel Studios to return as Tony Stark in two future Avengers films; the first being Avengers: Age of Ultron, followed by what was at the time an Untitled Avengers film.
On July 20, 2013, at San Diego Comic Con, Kevin Feige formally introduced Joss Whedon as the director of Marvel Studios’ next Avengers film, and Whedon announced the title for the sequel as Avengers: Age of Ultron.
In August-2013, actor James Spader was cast to portray ULTRON in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Spader was Director Joss Whedon’s first and only choice for ULTRON.
Filming on Avengers: Age of Ultron commenced on February 11, 2014. The film would be Marvel Studios’ most ambitious shoot yet, with shooting taking place in the United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea, South Africa, Bangladesh, and New York. Filming wrapped on August 6, 2014.
Scarlett Johansson was pregnant during Avengers: Age of Ultron filming.
Stan Lee makes his 11th MCU cameo appearance in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Stan plays a war veteran that can be seen mingling with Thor during the party scene at Avengers Headquarters early in the film.
Avengers: Age of Ultron presented Director Joss Whedon with the new challenge of introducing multiple new characters and balancing their development and execution. In The Avengers, Maria Hill was the only primary new character that Whedon had to develop, as all of the other big hitters had already been introduced in previous Marvel Studios films. Amongst the new characters Whedon had to juggle in Age of Ultron were ULTRON, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, The VISION, and Helen Cho.
The Twins (Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff) were briefly introduced during the mid-credits scene for Captain America: The Winter Soldier (a scene that was directed by Joss Whedon). Known in the world of comics as The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver respectively, Wanda and Pietro were traditionally mutants that were the twin children of Magneto. Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were cast by Marvel Studios to portray The Twins in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Though 20th Century Fox owned the film rights to all of Marvel’s mutants at that time, a loophole pertaining to Wanda and Pietro’s days as members of The Avengers allowed Marvel Studios to bring the characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe under the condition that they not be referred to as mutants, nor as the Children of Magneto. On May 23, 2014, with the release of X-Men: Days of Future Past, 20th Century Fox introduced their own version of Quicksilver (portrayed by Evan Peters), referred to as âPeter Maximoffâ and complete with a tease that he was the son of Magneto (portrayed by both Michael Fassbender and Ian McKellen in the film). Some six-years later in the Disney+ series WandaVision, Evan Peters would be cast by Marvel Studios to portray a faux version of Quicksilver, pretending to be Pietro Maximoff and mingling with Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda while under the spell of Agatha Harkness.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, ULTRON is primarily created by Tony Stark (with help from Bruce Banner). In the Marvel comics, ULTRON was created by Doctor Hank Pym. Michael Douglas would portray Pym in 2015’s Ant-Man, which concluded Phase Two of the MCU.
Many viewers of Iron Man 3 saw the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron as a plot contradiction due to the fact that Iron Man 3 ended with Tony Stark having the Arc Reactor that the events of 2008’s Iron Man forced him to wear, removed from his chest and the shards of shrapnel ever rushing towards his heart with it. Tony also destroyed all of his suits as a Christmas gift to Pepper Potts in that film. While it is true that Tony had the Arc Reactor taken out and more or less decided to stop being Iron Man at the end of that film, he does after Iron Man 3 continue to build suits, including the Iron Legion drones, the Mark XLIII, the Mark XLIV (the Hulk-Buster), and the Mark XLV, which are all seen in Avengers: Age of Ultron. He has also developed the FRIDAY program which we see late in the movie. Tony’s continued obsession with his suits continues to drive a wedge between himself and his beloved Pepper Potts off-screen as she continues to run the day-to-day operations of Stark Industries. The Hydra Uprising and the Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. (both seen in Captain America: The Winter Soldier) were huge events that had major ramifications throughout the MCU, and it was these events and the theft of the Cosmic Scepter with them that inspired Tony to go back on his promises to Pepper and to suit back up as an Avenger, with Arc Reality technology still powering the suits that he wears. The world needed Iron Man, so Tony Stark got back into the game at the expense of his relationship with Pepper (confirmed on-screen in 2016’s Captain America: Civil War).
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark’s trauma from the Battle of New York, which was addressed in Iron Man 3, resumes as it is Tony’s fear of the next looming threat that Wanda Maximoff takes advantage of in the outskirts of Sokovia at Von Strucker’s castle. Wanda shows Tony a vision of the future in which The Avengers are all dead before him and in which he is the only survivor, helpless to save them nor to prevent the Chitauri and Leviathan forces from invading the Earth once more. Wanda (who is able to see what Tony sees through her powers) is taken aback by what Tony sees initially, as evident by her expression of shock. She now knows what Iron Man truly fears, and this is why she allows him to take the Scepter from Sokovia back to America; she knows that Tony’s fear will consume him, and it does, as it is this vision from Wanda that convinces Tony there is no time like the present to create âA suit of armor around the world.â
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the first audible reference was made to the Nation of Wakanda, which was directly mentioned by Mark Ruffalo’s Bruce Banner. Wakanda was first teased in 2010’s Iron Man 2. In the 2021 MCU tie-in book: The Wakanda Files: A Technological Exploration of The Avengers and Beyond by Troy Benjamin, it is revealed that through their extensive spy network, Wakanda had had their eyes on the activities of S.H.I.E.L.D. and The Avengers for years. The files that Wakanda obtained and studied dated all the way back to World War II and the creations of Johann Schmidt and Steve Rogers as the world’s inaugural Super Soldiers. The Wakandans were also close observers of the later experiments that transformed Bruce Banner into The Hulk and Emil Blonsky into The Abomination. The Nation also kept a close watch on the activities of Tony Stark as Iron Man, with detailed documentation on all 45 of his Iron Man suits in addition to the spin-off suits that Stark created for James Rhodes, as well as other advancements made by Stark and Stark Industries in robotics and weaponry. Wakanda furthermore closely studied the activities of Asgardians Thor and Loki, the roles of Clint Barton / Hawkeye and Natasha Romanoff / The Black Widow within S.H.I.E.L.D., and the works and advancements of personalities such as Doctor Helen Cho and Industrialist Hank Pym. Villainous people and organizations were also closely monitored including Hydra, Hammer Industries, and A.I.M. Wakanda furthermore took tremendous interest in intergalactic relics like the Tesseract and the Cosmic Scepter, with their concern / curiosity rising to new heights following the enhancements of Wanda and Pietro Maximoff via the Scepter by Hydra in Sokovia. Wakanda is of course where Vibranium originated on Earth and in Age of Ultron, we learn that there exists far more Vibranium than the small portion Howard Stark used to create Captain America’s shield. From there, Vibranium would be a key plot point of Age of Ultron as ULTRON would use the material to create the synthetic body that it desired for itself.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, several other members of The Avengers are subjected to haunting visions by Wanda Maximoff as well. These visions tapped into the respective fears and shortcomings of each character via peers into their pasts or possible futures. These visions were full of Easter eggs that would pay off in future films and offer greater insights into the characters they afflicted. Thor’s vision offered a glimpse into the debauchery that Asgard had fallen into following Loki’s seizing of the Throne. Heimdall labels Thor a âDestroyerâ while lightning bolts can be seen emanating from Thor’s body that turns those surrounding him into dust. This teases events seen in 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok and 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War. In Ragnarok, Thor learns that he does not need Mjolnir to channel lightning and sees him willingly unleash Surtur upon Asgard. Infinity War meanwhile revolves around Thor’s war with Thanos, culminating in the God of Thunder’s failure after not âGoing for the headâ, which allows Thanos to erase half of all life throughout the Universe, turning them to dust with the Snap of his fingers. Steve Rogers / Captain America receives a vision into his past and a fantasy of getting the dance he never got with Peggy Carter. There are all sorts of disturbing images during this vision, but perhaps the most disturbing was Cap’s dance with Peggy abruptly ending with the realization that everyone in the room had suddenly vanished. This also alludes to Thanos’ Snap and the instantaneous disappearance of half of all life throughout the Universe. Natasha Romanoff is also taken on a trip through her past, where she revisits the Red Room. This sequence reminds us why Natasha continues to fight the good fight: she’s done some very horrible things; her ledger is gushing red, and she longs to wipe it out.
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, the overarching MCU plot pertaining to the Infinity Stones begins to rise to the forefront. During the scene in the cave with Thor where he invokes a dangerous vision, the God of Thunder sees a brief shot of the Stones coming together in front of a backdrop that begins to take the shape of a Golden Glove (the Infinity Gauntlet). This is the fate’s warning Thor of the looming threat posed by the Cosmic Warlord Thanos. The search for the Cosmic Scepter wielded by Loki in The Avengers (which went missing during the Hydra Uprising / Fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. and then bestowed upon the Maximoff Twins their powers) is what brought The Avengers back together as a team for this film and as the film evolves, the Scepter is revealed to encase the Mind Stone. This marks the fourth official Infinity Stone reveal in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the Power Stone (encased within the Orb in Guardians of the Galaxy), the Reality Stone (at the core of which is the Aether, seen in Thor: The Dark World), and the Space Stone (encased within the Tesseract). Then, during the mid-credits scene of Age of Ultron, we see Josh Brolin’s Thanos put on an Infinity Gauntlet with the words âFine, I’ll do it myself.â Thanos’ quest to assemble the Infinity Stones within the Infinity Gauntlet and Thor’s quest to stop him would end up being the two narratives that most drive the plot of the third Avengers film.
On March 18, 2014, ABC aired a Marvel special titled Assembling a Universe which boasted concept art pertaining to Avengers: Age of Ultron, including designs for Wanda and Pietro and the tease of a Hulk vs Hulk-Buster scene that would pit The Hulk against Iron Man.
On July 26, 2014, Marvel Studios returned to San Diego Comic Con where an Avengers: Age of Ultron panel was held comprised of Kevin Feige, Robert Downey Jr, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Cobie Smulders, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany, James Spader, and Elizabeth Olsen. Bettany was confirmed as The VISION in the film and the cast welcomed the newest member of the Marvel Studios family in Josh Brolin, who was announced to be portraying the Mad Titan Thanos within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
On October 22, 2014, the first trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron leaked online. Marvel Entertainment had intended to debut the trailer during the October 28, 2014, episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The trailer was set to an unsettling version of the song âI’ve got no Strings on Meâ from The Walt Disney film Pinocchio with narration by James Spader’s ULTRON. After being released on YouTube, the trailer received 26-million views during its first 24-hours of release.
On October 28, 2014, fresh off the success of Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige hosted an impromptu event at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, California where he announced the full Phase Three MCU Slate forthcoming from Marvel Studios. The first film announced was Captain America: Civil War and Feige introduced Chris Evans, Robert Downey Jr, and Chadwick Boseman, with Downey announced as having signed a contract extension with Marvel Studios that would see him reprise his role as Tony Stark / Iron Man in Captain America: Civil War and actor Chadwick Boseman announced for the part of T’Challa / The Black Panther in that same film. In all, Feige announced nine new Marvel Studios films to be released from 2016-2019: Captain America: Civil War (May 6, 2016), Doctor Strange (November 4, 2016), Guardians of the Galaxy Volume Two (May 5, 2017), Thor: Ragnarok (July 28, 2017), Black Panther (November 3, 2017), Avengers: Infinity War Part One (May 4, 2018), Captain Marvel (July 6, 2018), Inhumans (November 2, 2018), and Avengers: Infinity War Part Two (May 3, 2019).
While promoting Avengers: Age of Ultron during the Summer of 2015, Joss Whedon’s burnout and overall unhappiness while making the film became widely reported with Whedon himself speaking out against a production process that he deemed grueling. For starters, when Whedon signed-on with Marvel Studios to direct the Avengers sequel, he also signed a contract with Marvel Television to help create ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television series. As we’ve explicitly learned in the years that have followed. Marvel Studios and Marvel Television weren’t exactly on the same page. Feige’s Marvel Studios and Jeph Loeb’s Marvel Television were different divisions within Marvel Entertainment that were comprised of different teams of people under different leadership. With the release of Age of Ultron, Whedon publicly contended that the Marvel Studios team were none too thrilled with him working on a television show at the time as they felt all of his energies should be spent on the second Avengers film. Kevin Feige furthermore wasn’t happy with the resurrection of the Phil Coulson character in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., nor was he thrilled with Loeb and his team hijacking characters such as Daredevil, Jessica Jones, The Punisher, and Ghost Rider when Marvel reclaimed the licensing rights to those characters from 2010-2013 for use in their television / streaming productions. Feige had also had his fill of Ike Perlmutter’s Marvel Creative Committee. As 2014 turned to 2015, the situation amongst all parties involved began to reach a boiling point with Feige reportedly threatening to quit and less than four months after the release of Age of Ultron, The Walt Disney Company removed Marvel Studios out from under Marvel Entertainment, making the Studio a direct division of Walt Disney Pictures. Kevin Feige would now answer directly to Alan Horn, while Marvel CEO Ike Perlmutter would wield no further creative control over the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Therefore, shows that had initially been intended to take part in the MCU such as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter on ABC and Daredevil on Netflix, were rendered obsolete as it pertained to official MCU (Sacred Timeline) canon as recognized by Marvel Studios. On top of the divide between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television which Joss Whedon found himself in the middle of, he suffered through further clashes over select creative decisions. One notable dispute saw Whedon be given a choice between a longer scene with Thor in the Water of Sights, or the Barton Family Farm scene. Whedon chose to go with the Farm Scene, resulting in the trimming down of the Water of Sights sequence into something that Whedon never intended it to be. Furthermore, Joss Whedon was extremely troubled by Marvel Studios’ termination of his friend Edgar Wright from the long in-development Ant-Man film, which transpired while Age of Ultron was filming in 2014. Whedon publicly voiced his disapproval of this move. All of these things ultimately led to Whedon adamantly deciding against directing a third Avengers film and moving on from Marvel Studios after serving as a creative force for the Studio for five years.
On August 16, 2015, at the Teen Choice Awards, Chris Evans won the Award for Choice Movie: Scene Stealer for his role as Steve Rogers / Captain America in Avengers: Age of Ultron. On January 6, 2016, at the People’s Choice Awards, Chris Hemsworth won the Award for Favorite Action Movie Star for his role as Thor in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
My Avengers: Age of Ultron Review
Avengers: Age of Ultron is one of the more divisive Marvel Studios films out there, with the vocal majority taking issue with several aspects of the film. I’ve seen it labeled as both disjointed and overstuffed, with a lot of people taking issue with elements of the Bruce Banner / Natasha Romanoff romance plot, the Barton Family Farm, Thor’s experience in the Water of Sights, ULTRON’s look and personality, and the (many) ways the film set-up future MCU films. It didn’t help much either that Joss Whedon went on what was more or less a public bashing tour concerning his relationship with the Studio and the stress of making this film upon its release. This was a sequel that everyone seemed to have an opinion on in the Summer of 2015, with a pretty clear line dividing the fan base between those who outright hated Age of Ultron and those who loved the film.
Well, I am one of those who loved Avengers: Age of Ultron. I remember telling each and every one that I discussed this movie with that I felt like it was sort of made for me. This movie checked all of my boxes in terms of what I expected as a fan, and I came out of theater with Age of Ultron edging out Captain America: The Winter Soldier to become my favorite Marvel Studios film at that time.
I do read a lot of Marvel comics, and I can see where watching this movie would be a different experience for someone who does read the comics (and enjoys them) as opposed to someone who doesn’t. I see Age of Ultron as a sort of love letter from Joss Whedon to the comic book community and fandom. I think with The Avengers, Whedon did a really good job of making a film that people could walk into off the street and watch, understand, and enjoy without having ever seen a previous Marvel Studios movie. Age of Ultron was not that kind of film. This was a movie that started fast and kept the proverbial foot on the accelerator. It assumed you knew who The Avengers were and why they came together, and that furthermore assumed you knew what had happened between this film and 2012’s The Avengers with these characters in their solo MCU films. Whedon furthermore assumed that every tiny thing didn’t need to be spelled-out for the viewer, and a lot of people took issue with this.
When Avengers: Age of Ultron starts, The Avengers are together assembling to take the fight to Baron Von Strucker and his now former Hydra forces. S.H.I.E.L.D. is no more due to the Hydra Uprising that was exposed by Steve Rogers. Von Strucker is being targeted because during the Hydra Uprising, the Scepter wielded by Loki during The Avengers (which was left in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody at the end of that film) has gone missing. Finding the Scepter is of the utmost importance to The Avengers, and it is that mission which has brought the group back together. Tony Stark is back as Iron Man and Steve Rogers has taken a break from his ongoing search for the elusive Winter Soldier, for finding the Scepter takes precedence. Iron Man and Captain America rally the troops, and Thor, The Hulk, The Black Widow, and Hawkeye answer the call. During the battle with Von Strucker and his Hydra remnants, The Avengers learn that Strucker has used the Scepter to conduct advanced experiments in robotics and to conduct advanced experiments on human volunteers from the Sokovian populace. Von Strucker has also been experimenting on a Leviathan. These experiments resulted in two Sokovian twins named Wanda and Pietro Maximoff being enhanced and receiving what the world would call superpowers, and The Twins are unleashed upon The Avengers at Von Strucker’s castle. The Twins hate The Avengers because they hate Tony Stark. They lost their family to one of Stark’s weapons, and all they have now is each other and their thirst for vengeance. Toss in the fact that Tony Stark has developed the Iron Legion drones, three new sets of Iron Man armor, and the VERONICA satellite system, Bruce Banner and Natasha Romanoff have begun to develop feelings for each other, and Nick Fury has gone into hiding, and you are all set to watch this movie. Maybe that is a lot to take in, but such is the nature of a Shared Cinematic Universe.
I thought Joss Whedon did a great job exploring who The Avengers were as a team in this film. The first Avengers was rightfully about the coming together of that team. It was the origin story of The Avengers. Age of Ultron was more about, okay, we’re together, but are we really a team? This film tapped into the complexities of these characters and the lingering mistrust amongst these teammates, who are now operating this time around without a governing body like S.H.I.E.L.D. had been. That’s a huge change and is one that would ultimately serve to hinder the public’s perception of The Avengers.
There is no character that this change in status quo affected more greatly than Tony Stark. Many look at Avengers: Age of Ultron as a sort of turn to villainy for the hero that launched the MCU, with some going so far as to suggest that Tony Stark is the true villain of Age of Ultron. I believe there are two sides to this coin. While it’s true that Stark created ULTRON and that his fears got the best of him in this film, Tony also proves to be quite unselfish throughout this movie, and that’s a big thing for a character that is one of the most egotistical in the MCU. As touched upon during the scene with Nick Fury at Hawkeye’s farm, for Tony, the worst thing about Wanda’s vision is that everyone else died. Not him. He was still alive to take it all in, and for Tony, that was a fate worse than death. He doesn’t set out to make his idea for ULTRON a reality because he’s afraid of a looming threat and what it may do to him, he’s afraid of what it will do to The Avengers. He wants to spare their lives and putting a suit of armor around the world and replacing the need for a superhero team would in his mind do that. Tony Stark is on a mission to save the planet and to save his friends, and on a more personal level, to save his relationship with his beloved Pepper (and to also protect her) by creating a world that doesn’t need Iron Man, because it has ULTRON. This is a win / win scenario for Tony, and a rather unselfish one at that, and it shines a definitive light on his heroic side despite his mistakes. On the other side of the coin, Tony Stark does study what Von Strucker was trying to do with the Scepter, and it’s through those studies that Stark begins to believe that the Scepter could be the key to creating ULTRON. Tony does this without an endorsement from his teammates, and disaster strikes, and just like that, boom, Tony Stark is a villain in this narrative because without Tony Stark, there would be no ULTRON. I thought Tony’s progression throughout this film was extremely compelling.
In all of Marvel, The Scarlet Witch is one of my most favorite characters. She is in fact, second only to Loki. I like Wanda Maximoff for many of the same reasons that I like Loki. I enjoy magical characters, specifically the likes of sorcerers and witches and I enjoy the many mythologies that surround those subjects. That makes Wanda a fun character to read because she dabbles in spells and hexes, and in more recent years, her actual roots in Witchcraft itself has been embraced and this has made for some really great things that have been done with her character in the comics, breaking her out of the mutant mold and sending her on a more grounded path that has been fully loaded with twists, turns, and revelations. Beyond that, the thing that has drawn me to Wanda as a character is her moral ambiguity and the complexity of who she is as a character and a hero. Wanda started out in Marvel Comics as a villain; a member of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and a rival of The X-Men. Despite being the biological daughter of Magneto for a long while there, Wanda and her brother Pietro went on to join The Avengers and Wanda had a storied tenure as a member of the group, growing into a romantic relationship with The VISION and actually marrying the synthezoid. Wanda’s ever-changing story reached shocking new heights in the 2004 Avengers: Disassembled event which saw Wanda go crazy and lash out against The Avengers in violent fashion, wielding The VISION as a weapon against the team and killing Hawkeye in retaliation to The Avengers’ erasure of her memory after she used her powers to create children for herself out of nothingness. Wanda was awesome in this comic book series, and from there came the House of M event which saw Wanda completely remake reality. That culminated in her âNo More Mutantsâ spell which eradicated the population of Marvel’s mutants. Eventually, Wanda’s more villainous moments were retconned so that she could reemerge in the comics pages as a proper hero, but at the time, I couldn’t get enough of the crazed and resentful Scarlet Witch!
So yeah, I was really excited to see Wanda establish herself in the MCU in Age of Ultron. I liked the casting of Elizabeth Olsen just fine, and I was intrigued by all of the concept art that came out before the release of the film. I even liked the costume selection, though it was quite different from the traditional comics and more in-line with the look of the character in the Ultimate Comics line. It was subtle and simple, but it also made her standout in this colorful world of heroes. Many of my favorite Age of Ultron moments revolve around Wanda Maximoff. From the start, when she and Pietro venture out to confront The Avengers, I loved her drive and ambition as a character. Those early scenes with the creepy stop / go sort of method of her style of walking; especially the backward movements, combined with her glowing red eyes and sinister if not mischievous expression sold Wanda as a scary villain and I loved the execution of all of that. I also liked her Sokovian accent in Age of Ultron as it served to make the character more exotic while grounding her in her Nationalism. Wanda was quickly established as a formidable foe for The Avengers during the sequences in South Africa where she used her powers to torment The Avengers mentally before unleashing The Hulk upon Johannesburg. From there, Wanda took a heroic turn, which was expected given the trailers as well as the comic book history of the character. I thought Wanda’s turn was handled brilliantly, with the reason for it being what she saw within the mind of ULTRON (which cleverly, she could only read after ULTRON began uploading its consciousness into its synthetic body). Seeing that ULTRON planned to exterminate the human race eradicated Wanda’s Nationalism and overrode her quest for vengeance. For one cannot avenge if there is nothing left to avenge. ULTRON was now the enemy. Wanda and Pietro’s heroic turn saw them assist Captain America and then venture with Cap to the United States to confront Tony Stark, as Wanda assured Steve that like ULTRON, Tony Stark cannot tell the difference between destroying the world and saving it. After the birth of The VISION, Wanda and Pietro return to Sokovia as members of The Avengers where Wanda fully embraces her heroic side. She does so not through mere affiliation, but through ambition and determination. Wanda gets completely overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the Battle of Sokovia, and overcome by guilt for her part in it, prompting Hawkeye to encourage her as only he can, demanding she let go of the past and embrace the moment as a hero and a fighter, ensuring her that in that moment, she is not a villain nor a coward, but an Avenger! This provokes Wanda to unleash hell on the countless ULTRON drones The Avengers are fighting and leads eventually to the tragic moment where ULTRON kills her beloved brother Pietro. In a moment of pure grief and rage, Wanda obliterates several ULTRON drones en route to tracking down the Prime ULTRON, delighting in its destruction at her hand as she rips out its mechanical heart. Wanda has made peace with calling it a life at this point, but The VISION flies in to make the save and whisk Wanda away, planting the seeds for their romance. At the end of the film, Wanda has a new lease on life, deciding to relocate to New York and train as a New Avenger under the guidance and leadership of Captain America and The Black Widow! Elizabeth Olsen’s performance throughout Age of Ultron was SO good! I liked the frailty of the character that she conveyed as well as the instability of her. It set the stage for a lot of amazing things that would come for Wanda Maximoff within the MCU, and she was my favorite part of this movie.
Another of my favorite parts of this movie was ULTRON. James Spader’s performance was great! I loved the sound of his voice and all of the little quirks in ULTRON’s personality. ULTRON did not have the same sort of character development that Loki or The Winter Soldier did, but it didn’t have to. The lack of character development is in fact part of ULTRON’s charm. ULTRON was born out of nothingness in this film. In an instant, ULTRON becomes sentient through no fault of its own. ULTRON is a program, and ULTRON’s birth is far different from what humans experience. ULTRON is born with complete self-awareness. ULTRON is confused and even a little frightened when it becomes self-aware. It’s all of the horrors of birth but with a fully developed mind and consciousness to understand it! Still, there is a distinct child-like side to ULTRON as it processes information. ULTRON is constantly learning, and ULTRON is driven by a simple instinct: Peace. And, as ULTRON begins to scour its files and assess the information it has been programmed with, ULTRON deduces that the greatest threat to peace is The Avengers. ULTRON therefore declares war on The Avengers. As the film evolves, ULTRON too evolves in both its knowledge and its body. ULTRON absorbs information at a frightening pace and its resentment for The Avengers grows along the way. ULTRON is malevolent yes, but within its own mind, it really is fulfilling the mission that it was created to fulfill. Imagine a creator chastising you for doing what they created you to do! It’s illogical nonsense like this that ULTRON cannot bring itself to tolerate and this manifests itself within ULTRON as anger and hatred; very human emotions, and it’s this uncontrollable humanity that ULTRON grows to hate about itself. This is why it lashes out at the suggestion that it is like Tony Stark. ULTRON wants to be better than Tony Stark. At the beginning, ULTRON genuinely wanted to be viewed as humanity’s savior, it wanted humanity to perceive it as beautiful. And, given its frequent religious references, I think ULTRON even wanted to be worshiped by humanity. Ironically, it wasn’t until ULTRON began the process of making itself synthetic that it changed its plan to global extinction. ULTRON’s humanity was able to now take hold and its rage and hatred, and aggression were consequently amplified. ULTRON reacted to Wanda and Pietro’s turn by throwing what amounted to a temper tantrum and its single mission became corrupted by human traits such as pride and need. When ULTRON beholds The VISION for the first time, you can hear the sadness and regret in its voice. Another violent temper tantrum results and in the end, it is none other than The VISION that destroys ULTRON.
I loved everything that went into the thought process of bringing ULTRON to life in this film. It made sense for Tony Stark to create ULTRON and it made sense for ULTRON to have personality traits akin to Stark. I liked ULTRON’s small moments of humor, and I loved how ULTRON’s adoration for Wanda provided a foundation for Wanda and The VISION’s future relationship. Go back and watch the scene where Wanda crushes ULTRON’s heart! ULTRON is profoundly concerned about Wanda’s potential death and saddened by the thought of it. The VISION was comprised of some of the same programming that created ULTRON, which is why The VISION was drawn to Wanda! ULTRON loved Wanda. Therefore, The VISION did too. To do this day, I feel ULTRON is one of Marvel Studios’ most intriguing and compelling villains. I do regret that ULTRON was seemingly destroyed in this film, as I would have loved to have gotten more of James Spader as ULTRON.
The VISION is the next character I want to discuss, because The VISION was amazing in this movie! Paul Bettany absolutely nailed it, bringing a distinct nobility to the character along with a benevolent sentience. The VISION doesn’t want to destroy ULTRON. The VISION says that outright as he is rallying the troops to go and fight ULTRON in Sokovia. But The VISION will do whatever has to be done to fight on the side of life. This genuine goodwill is why The VISION is worthy to wield Mjolnir; the one thing that convinces the uncertain group of concerned heroes that The VISION can be trusted.
I thoroughly enjoyed the scene in which The VISION springs to life, from the creating of a cape to look like Thor, to the casual wielding of Mjolnir, and I have to bring up the incredible sequence when Bruce Banner is questioning whether or not The VISION can be trusted in a threatening way, and The VISION sternly asks, âWhat will you do?â – That was a really unsettling exchange, and it was that exchange that won me over to The VISION.
I also have to mention the absolutely beautiful verbal exchange between The VISION and ULTRON at the edge of the Sokovian forest. Their little debate about the beauty and complexity of humanity gives me chill bumps whenever I watch it. This was a wonderfully written, spoken, and filmed scene that moved me to tears for I agree: there is grace in our failings, and something isn’t beautiful because it lasts.
One of my other favorite scenes in Avengers: Age of Ultron is one we saw in the trailers, but that made it no less awesome when it came time to view it. I’m speaking of the party scene at Avengers Tower! There were lots of cool moments here, from Stan Lee getting blitzed after drinking Thor’s Asgardian ale, to the emergence of ULTRON in the form of one of Tony’s tattered Iron Legion drones, but what made it so special for me was The Avengers simply hanging out and trying to lift Thor’s enchanted Hammer Mjolnir. Everyone’s doubts and insults were fun. I loved Banner’s unintimidating roar and Tony and Rhodey’s unsuccessful team-up. The highlight was Steve Rogers managing to budge it ever so slightly. That was an incredible moment that was made even better by Thor’s reaction to it. It is debated to this day whether Steve could have lifted Mjolnir or not, due to Steve’s wielding of Mjolnir in the comics, which had previously established his potential for worthiness (read the Fear Itself event if you’re interested). Some say Steve chose not to lift Mjolnir in order to spare Thor’s feelings, while others say Steve wasn’t able to do so because he wasn’t quite worthy yet. That could be explained by the fact that Steve was knowingly hiding the truth pertaining to the death of Tony’s parents from Tony. No, Captain America is not perfect, and I lean toward that second option; that Steve wasn’t quite worthy, but whatever the reason, this made for a phenomenal scene that would pay off big time in 2019’s Avengers: Endgame
So, I liked the Hawkeye family thing. In fact, I don’t really understand why some people hate it so much. Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton drew the shortest straw in The Avengers and he hadn’t been seen in the MCU since that film, so something needed to be done to endear the character to audiences. Giving Hawkeye a beloved top-secret family gave audiences something to chew on and it grounded Barton as a committed family man whose top priority in every single mission that he took was to return home safely. I know that’s not the coolest kind of character for a lot of people, but it’s something I admire and respect, and it made Hawkeye a different kind of a hero within a group where at the time, no one was married, and no one had children. Avengers: Endgame wouldn’t have been the film that it was without the Hawkeye family narrative, and I think the family raised the stakes for the character in all of his future appearances in the MCU. I also liked what Joss Whedon did here in swerving audiences concerning Hawkeye’s seemingly inevitable death. I for one was sure Hawkeye was going to be killed-off in this film given the sentimental way he was built-up, but Pietro ended up saving him from certain doom, sacrificing his life for Barton in the process.
Last but certainly not least, let’s get to The Hulk vs The Hulk-Buster! This was an incredible action sequence and was (as if I needed one) a selling point for me to get out and see this movie. The Hulk-Buster is my favorite Iron Man suit, and it was brought to life in spectacular fashion! In The Avengers, The Hulk really stole the show as this enormous destructive force, but The Hulk-Buster dwarfed The Hulk! It was an enormous technological marvel, and the fight was pure irresistible force vs immovable object combat that was a spectacle to behold! The Hulk vs The Hulk-Buster is one of my favorite fight scenes in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe and it was one of those unforgettable moments where I sat there in the theater back in 2015 in disbelief of what I was seeing!
I may be in the minority, but I love so many things about Age of Ultron and it’s one of my favorite MCU projects to digest and analyze and discuss with others. The film introduced some great characters while getting viewers up to speed with several previously established characters, all while setting up important story threads for the future. Yes, it was a juggling act, but I think Joss Whedon pulled it off, and I will always appreciate this film!
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Highlights of Avengers: Age of Ultron:
Elizabeth Olsen is Wanda Maximoff
James Spader as ULTRON
Paul Bettany as The VISION
Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton / Hawkeye
Avengers Try to Lift Mjolnir
Hulk vs Hulk-Buster
Language!
Chemistry between Robert Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo
Raid of Von Strucker’s Castle
Robert Downey Jr is Tony Stark
Chris Evans is Captain America
All of You vs All of Me
Death of Quicksilver (Didn’t See That Coming)
Marvel Studios / The Walt Disney Company
Notable MCU Concepts and Characters Introduced:
ULTRON. The VISION. The Water of Sights. Doctor Helen Cho. Laura Barton and Clint Barton’s children (Lila, Cooper, and Nathaniel Pietro). V.E.R.O.N.I.C.A. F.R.I.D.A.Y. Ulysses Klaue. Iron Man Armors Marks XLII-XLV.
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