It will be more than a year until The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron opens but we’ve got a theory on the creation of the killer robot and his android counterpart The Vision…
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron began filming this week in South Africa with most of the cast and crew joining the production in March with a few news and notes as well as actor and actresses still being added at this late stage of the game.
The movie won’t open until May 1, 2015 so that gives us all plenty of time to theorize and come up with our own ideas about how this movie will unfold once it lands in theaters. Director/writer Joss Whedon hasn’t said much about The Avengers sequel since it was announced at San Diego Comic Con last year outside of a few interviews, but those little pieces of information have given us some ideas about how the story might go in this movie.
These, of course, are just ideas about The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron and in no way constitute first hand knowledge of the material or information inside the script (although I’d gladly read a copy if Joss wants to send it my way). I’m just laying out the facts as I have them right now, and putting together a map of where I think this movie may be headed. If nothing else it’s fun to think about what this movie will represent once it finally opens next year. Since the first movie was one of the biggest in film history, it’s a safe bet The Avengers 2 will also be one of the most highly anticipated films of all time.
Let’s start out with dissecting the title of the movie to get that out of the way right now.
The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron also happens to match a comic book series written by Marvel favorite Brian Michael Bendis last year that showed a dystopian future where the Ultron robot and his spawn of clones took over the world, largely eliminated humanity and pretty much eradicated the superhero presence on Earth. The end result was an almost ‘X-Men: Days of Future Past’ situation where Wolverine was sent back in time to kill Ultron’s creator to help prevent this entire scenario from every happening.
We know right away from the moment the movie got announced that Joss Whedon’s Avengers sequel has nothing to do with that comic book outside of sharing a name. I have a hard time believing the producers didn’t at least get inspired to name the movie the same as the comic book, but in terms of storyline there’s nothing connected between the two.
Next up is the creation of the homicidal, human killing robot known as Ultron.
In the comic books, Ultron is a creation of Dr. Hank Pym — better known as Ant-Man — who eventually becomes self-aware and thus a killing machine out of your worst SkyNet inspired nightmares. Whedon has a different vision for how Ultron comes to life in The Avengers movie as he confirmed right after the film was announced last summer.
“We’re doing our own version of the origin story for Ultron. In the origin story, there was Hank Pym, so a lot of people assumed that he will be in the mix. He’s not,” Whedon said. “We’re basically taking the things from the comics for the movies that we need and can use. A lot of stuff has to fall by the wayside.”
Now to be clear Hank Pym will be alive and well in the Marvel movie universe because Michael Douglas will play an older version of the character in the upcoming Ant-Man movie, which is slated to open a couple of months after The Avengers 2 lands in theaters. There’s always an outside possibility that he makes an appearance in The Avengers 2 prior to Ant-Man, but let’s just say those chances are pretty slim.
So how does Ultron become a reality in our Avengers movie universe?
Through none other than genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist Tony Stark, who has become the technological wizard of the Marvel universe of films, always tinkering and toying with new ideas. What better way for Ultron to come into existence than through Stark’s own hubris that he can create a better, more self-sufficient protector of the people on Earth. Stark has constantly been shown as an inventor and innovator through three Iron Man movies, and his beautiful mind was once again put on display as he battled Loki and his battalion of aliens in The Avengers as well.
Stark creating Ultron makes too much sense if for no other reason than at the heart of this team movie, Iron Man/Tony Stark under the performance of Robert Downey Jr. will always be the real star of this series. Since they’ve never introduced Stark’s alcoholism, which was a major story driver in the comic books, this would be a great way to set him up for a morality check of his own intellect. Stark can build grand things with incredible power, but after building a killing machine like Ultron, should he still even bother? The possibilities are endless with this story.
Okay, so we’ve drilled down to Ultron’s creation and we’re chalking that up to Stark, but what about the new announcement that another android will be joining the cast with Paul Bettany set to play The Vision in the upcoming Avengers sequel.
Bettany has already been a part of several Marvel films although you’ve never seen his face through at least four movies. The veteran British actor has voiced the computer JARVIS, who currently stands as one of Tony Stark’s greatest achievements and his voice of reason in times of need. JARVIS already proves that Stark has the capability of building a sentient being with the power of reason and comprehension, not to mention making it self-aware, which also lends credence to the Ultron theory.
The Vision — in the comics — is an android built and created by the robot Ultron out of spare parts from the original Human Torch. Ultron makes The Vision as a weapon that can be used in his battle against The Avengers, but eventually the humanoid turns against his master, frees himself from the clutches of his creator, and eventually joins the super squad in their efforts to stop the robot killing machine.
This is one element of the comic book that could end up playing a major part in the upcoming Avengers sequel.
Imagine if you will, Ultron turns against his creator Tony Stark and becomes self aware — a lone Terminator if you will — with a mission to not only eliminate one person, but an entire planet. Ultron crushes The Avengers in an initial battle, but takes damage himself and realizes that the only way to be able to defeat the super team is with help. So as a final FU to his ‘father’, Ultron uses the parts from the computer JARVIS to build an android of his own that he calls The Vision.
The Vision is now packaged as an actual humanoid being, complete with JARVIS’ voice, which is actually Paul Bettany’s voice, and we’ve come full circle.
Stark creates JARVIS then in an effort to top his own efforts creates Ultron. Ultron turns on Stark and uses parts of JARVIS to build his own robot The Vision. The Vision eventually turns on Ultron and the real JARVIS deep inside finds its way out and helps save the day for The Avengers.
So there’s the theory we’re working with thus far on The Avengers 2: Age of Ultron. Right on the money or way off the mark? Let us know in the comments below.
