Since director Joss Whedon mentioned that he wanted to include Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch in his sequel to The Avengers, they have grabbed all the publicity as the new members of the super team. The increased attention was due mainly to competing versions of the character with their own Avengers sequel and Fox’s X-Men: Days of Future Past, played by Aaron Taylor Johnson and Evan Peters respectively. This showdown has grabbed the spotlight away from the other ways Whedon has tinkered with the lineup in the Age of Ultron. Long time fans of the Marvel comic know the Vision as one of the traditional members of the Avengers, while this will be the character’s first major introduction to the mainstream in 2015.
Paul Bettany is the newcomer to the Avengers, however he has been part of the Marvel cinematic universe from the very beginning. He voiced JARVIS, the A.I. system that can be heard in all three Iron Man films, as well as The Avengers. However this time around Bettany will get a physical form. While he will still voice Tony Starks’ virtual butler, he will also portray the android known as Vision. Vision is a robot with a humanoid form who has enhanced strength, flight capabilities, and the ability to manipulate his density, which allows for him to be hard as steel or pass through walls. He will be a definite game changer.
In the past two days there has been a flood of publicity art for The Avengers: Age of Ultron, along with some interesting descriptions for Vision and the villainous Ultron. Up until this point it has been widely assumed that Vision, would be an android created solely from the artificial intelligence within Tony Stark’s JARVIS program, with some possibly tinkering from Ultron. Well it looks like there will be an unexpected, yet logical angle in the birth of the heroic android. It looks like the Science Bros, also known as Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, are both responsible for the creation of the newest Avenger, as was recently revealed on this merchandising promotional artwork.
Meanwhile new details were unearthed in the genesis of the evil mastermind at the center of the sequel, Ultron. It should be mentioned that both robots gain sentience at some point during the course of the movie and as the artwork reflects, their birth and fates may be possibly intertwined.
It was widely speculated that Stark would be the primary mind behind the programming of Ultron, which he still might be, but it looks as if it won’t be that simple. According to the new descriptions, Ultron will be birthed from Chitauri technology from the attack on New York, in the first Avengers film. It is a clever way to tie together the on-going narrative and to give further consequences to what is happening in the series. There is a ripple effect not just from other Marvel movies and shows, but it also reflects that the Avengers’ actions are not isolated. While this may begin to lose the moviegoers not following along, it will give a unique experience to those comic fans who truly understand the point of geeking out at the interconnected world.
This wouldn’t be the first time Marvel has touched on the after-effects of the alien invasion on their cinematic universe. There was a short film produced called Item 47, in which a couple go on a bank robbing spree with found Chitauri technology. That direct to video short actually helped to inspire the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. television show. Even though the Age of Ultron is heavily rumored to be an Earth-bound film, this does leave the writers room to tie Ultron into the cosmic universe even further in The Avengers: Infinity War Pt 1 & 2. Not that Ultron will necessarily reappear in a future installment, but it does make for interesting drama if it comes to pass that Thanos is the grand puppetmaster slowly and methodically weakening Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
We also got some fun publicity shots of some of the other cast members. There aren’t any other huge surprises besides another look at Black Widow’s upgraded technology which will allow for her signature electrified sting attack. One of the coolest pictures is of Iron Man, that gives a sense of scale to Stark’s Hulkbuster armor and an idea of the level of threat that the Hulk truly is. So far all of the revealed story and design choices in Age of Ultron have been unflappable. We can’t wait to bring you much more on this film very soon.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron opens May 1st, 2015.
So what do you think of the new images and info about the Age of Ultron? Do you like how Whedon is connecting it to the larger M.C.U? Let us know on the comment boards, , , and !
Source: Slashfilm, ScreenRant