A lot of you saw Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron over the weekend, to the tune of an opening-frame figure of $187.6M. Massive. But because this story also contains massive spoilers, I’m bolding this warning. There are spoilers for The Avengers: Age of Ultron in this article, so stop reading now if you haven’t yet seen the film. For real, STOP!
OK, if you are still reading, then you know that Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s new addition to the ensemble, Quicksilver, met an heroic end during the final faceoff against Ultron (James Spader). Realizing that Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) was going to get shot while in the act of saving a young boy, Quicksilver quickly moves a vehicle in Hawkeye’s way… and takes the bullets for the Marvel hero. "You didn’t see that coming?" are the new hero’s final words. It’s a tragic ad heartfelt moment, particularly because of the effect that it has – and will continue to have – on Quicksilver’s sister, Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).
But when I had the opportunity to interview Aaron Taylor-Johnson on behalf of The Avengers: Age of Ultron, I asked him point blank if there ever existed a version of the script where his character survived the movie, and lived to fight on in the MCU. And his answer totally surprised me. He said:
It’s [the] Marvel universe. It was very much our intention to kind of go the way we did. There was a costume designed for whether… if I didn’t [die]. Which was fucking really cool. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’I’m not sure if I really can really go down that realm, but you know, yeah, it was definitely an alternative, that I think they had to play with. But, it was very much set from the very beginning, and Joss had in mind to tell the story that he told… and I was very game for that, as well, because I think it really gives [the movie] sort of an emotional twist to it. A surprise."
It certainly does. Because there’s a running joke – thanks to the fates of characters like Agent Coulson and Nick Fury – that no one actually dies in the MCU. Or, at the very least, people don’t "stay" dead.
Quicksilver, however, looks to be done. Which is interesting, because there was chatter that SOMEONE was destined to die in Age of Ultron, and for the amount of time we spend analyzing MCU contracts of actors like Chris Evans and Chris Hemsworth, very little was said about Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s deal with Marvel. Apparently it was for one film.
What I’m dying to see, though, is concept art for the costume Marvel, Joss Whedon and the team designed for Quicksilver had they decided to let him live. Was he going to be a member of Captain America’s new Avengers initiative? Maybe, in an alternate version, it was Wanda (Olsen) who perished in battle, allowing Quicksilver the chance to fight on? For the moment, all we know is that this alternate suit was "fucking really cool," thanks to Taylor-Johnson. Maybe it will be a special feature on an upcoming DVD?
