With the release of Marvel's mega-sequel, The Avengers: Age of Ultron, creeping up ever so imminently, one would think that us fans have gotten a proper read on the scope of the film’s ambitions. However, recent comments from cast member, Paul Bettany serve to remind us in the most immediate way possible that this movie is going to be FREAKING HUGE!
In an interview with RadioTimes, the actor, who will play the Avengers comic book’s iconic android, Vision, would drive home the idea of the pure size and ambition that has gone into Age of Ultron. No stranger to the big-budget action game, having starred in several of them himself, Bettany would remark that he had "never been on a bigger set" in his entire life, describing the use of helicopter and drone cameras which he says made him feel like a kid.
This is the biggest thing Marvel have ever done. It was enormous. I remember, we were at Comic-con, and they showed a portion of the footage, and I was just gobsmacked. And I looked down the row and every one of the Avengers was the same."
Indeed, for Bettany, the real crux of the Marvel movie experience would lie in attending the ephemeral insanity of Comic-Con. It certainly is an unprecedented source of feedback for a film actor to sit on a stage in front of a screaming legion of fans who consume the product that you’re producing. When it comes to Marvel properties, the Comic-Con audience serves as a rite of passage and an acute moment of edification for any cast member who still does not understand the vast, ubiquitous nature of the film’s popularity and the passion of the fans. Bettany continues:
I’ve been to Comic-con like 5 times, and I went this last time as part of the Avengers, and it was… just nuts. It was crazy, Those fans go CRAZY. And that was strange."
Bettany’s confession of being left "gobsmacked" certainly does not come as a franchise newcomer. The actor has actually been involved with the Marvel Cinematic Universe since the very beginning in the first Iron Man film in 2008, having provided the voice performance for Tony Stark’s artificial intelligence helper, JARVIS. (The film’s version of Stark’s butler of the same name in the comic books.) While details about JARVIS’ connection to Vision (should one even exist,) are still kept tightly under wraps, it has become perfectly clear to those who have been watching Marvel’s Agent Carter on television, that Tony’s creation of JARVIS was inspired by his father, Howard Stark’s flesh and blood butler. (One who would presumably go on to raise Tony.) In Vision, we have a key member of the Avengers team and now Bettany will finally take the corporeal plunge into the MCU with anticipatory eyes fixed firmly on him.
Avengers: Age of Ultron arrives at theaters to smack the "gob" of evil on May 1.
