Question #1: Who is Ultron?
Basically, Ultron is a highly sophisticated robot. He first appeared in The Avengers #55
published in August 1968, leading the Masters of Evil in an attack on
the team using Jarvis, the Avengers’ butler and confidant, as his pawn.
In flashbacks we see how Ultron was created as an artificial
intelligence by one of The Avengers (more on that later) using their own
brain pattern as a template, but as Ultron developed, he evolved his
own goals and ideals, and decided that they didn’t align with either his
“father’s” or his comrades in The Avengers.
But Ultron, despite being destroyed at the end of nearly
every confrontation with the team, often returns stronger, smarter, and
more evolved, as well as more blood thirsty in his desire to destroy The
Avengers and their legacy. Other than Loki and the Masters of Evil,
Ultron is probably The Avengers’ most powerful, and most bothersome,
nemesis.
Question #2: What About Thanos?
Thanos, in case you didn’t know, was the big purple guy we saw in the first bonus scene at the end of The Avengers.
He was the guy that taught Loki the secrets of the Tesseract, and sent
the Chitauri to conquer the Earth. It was presumed that Marvel was
setting up Thanos as the antagonist in the next Avengers film, a
presumption helped along by the Easter egg appearance of Thanos’
ultimate weapon, the Infinity Gauntlet, as one of the trinkets in Odin’s
treasure room in Thor.
And while Guardians of the Galaxy is at least
going to circle “the Mad Titan” with a number of the characters having
an either overt or implied connection to Thanos, it now seems that
Thanos himself is being saved for an epic conclusion in The Avengers 3.
Question #3: What’s the meaning of the subtitle: “Age of Ultron?”
The title Age of Ultron comes from an actual
storyline and miniseries featuring the villain that Marvel Comics
released earlier this year. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has already
thrown some cold water on the idea that the comic book miniseries and
the plotline of Avengers: Age of Ultron will have much in common, mostly because the Age of Ultron
featured a lot of characters that Marvel Studios and Disney don’t have
the rights to use on film, specifically Wolverine and the Fantastic
Four’s Invisible Woman.
The plot is interesting though, with the heroes of the
Marvel Universe forced into an underground resistance after a new,
super-advanced Ultron takes over the world. Time travel eventually comes
into play, with Wolverine going back in time to kill Ultron’s creator,
but complications abound and the story becomes rather convoluted even
for the above average comic book fan. For those reasons, it’s doubtful
that the movie will be a faithful adaptation of the comic book, but
given Whedon’s predilection for challenging his heroes to the point of
defeat and death, to confront The Avengers with a villain for whom
defeat means evolving into a better bad guy seems like the perfect fit.
Question #4: Does the choice of Ultron as villain indicate that one Avenger in particular will join the team?
We will now address the topic of Ultron’s creator because,
yes, as a robot, Ultron was created by a scientist named Henry Pym.
Recognize the name? If not, how about his superhero alter ego Ant-Man?
For years, director Edgar Wright has endeavoured – struggled even – to
bring Ant-Man to life on the big screen. Progress has been slow, but now
Ant-Man is expected to begin production sometime early next
year with a November 2015 release date currently pencilled in on the
calendar, a mere six months after the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Does that mean that Ant-Man will appear in someway in the
Avengers sequel before being spun-off into his own film? It would be
kind of odd to have Ultron without Pym, just as it would be peculiar to
show the formation of the X-Men without Charles Xavier. And what about
Vision, another robot created by Pym who’s been rumored to play a part
in the Avengers sequel and possibly played by Vin Diesel, who reportedly
has a mysterious role in an upcoming Marvel film? Regardless, Pym may
become the first Avenger to join the team before spinning off into his
own solo adventure.
Then again,
Whedon has played down the speculation,
saying that Pym won’t be involved. Still, who knows if he’s telling the
truth and who knows what will change between now and the film’s
release. It would make sense for Pym to appear but at the same time,
Whedon can probably find a way to tell Ultron’s story without him.
Question #5: What other Avengers might join “Earth’s Mightiest Heroes?”
The first movie gave us a core team of six – Captain
America, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye – but in the
comics, The Avengers are made up of dozens of heroes, active and
reserve, and spread across several teams from the New, the Mighty, the
Secret, the Young, and even occasionally the West Coast. But if Pym/Ant
Man ends up joining the team, who else might we expect?
Maybe The Falcon? The character is already being introduced in the upcoming Captain America: The Winter Soldier and
will be played by Anthony Mackie. Whedon himself talked about mutant
twins Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch playing a big role in the film,
even though Bryan Singer is also using Quicksilver in his X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Aaron Taylor-Johnson has been talked about for the fast moving
Quicksilver while Saoirse Ronan has been suggested for the magical
Scarlet Witch.
That’s about four contenders right there, and though Ultron
is a powerful adversary, we know that screen time can be cruel as well
as kind when we’re talking about a superhero team movie (ask any X-Men
member not named Jackman). Still, there’s a strong case to be made for
Ms. Marvel, Spider-Woman, Wonder Man, Vision, Swordsman, Namor,
Mockingbird, Tigra, She-Hulk etc.
So there you have it. Hopefully that clears up some of your questions about Ultron and what direction Marvel may be taking Avengers: Age of Ultron in.
If you’re still confused, or wondering about anything else, feel free
to head down to the comments and let us know what you’re thinking.
