An enormous chunk of Marvel’s programming post-Endgame has been used to introduce new characters that could be used in both upcoming Marvel movies, but also MCU shows that are available with a Disney+ subscription. The Multiverse Saga launched with introductions to Shang Chi (Simu Liu), the Eternals, Namor (Tenoch Huerta), and countless villains… some of whom will team up in the 2025 Thunderbolts movie. But Marvel also has been using its animated side to explore possibilities on which characters the studio can bring to live-action, and Marvel executive producer Brad Winderbaum told us exclusively which character he’d like to bring over.
Winderbaum has been with Marvel Studios since the earliest days, ,with credits that range from Ant-Man to the current series, Agatha All Along. It was during the press day for Agatha that I asked Brad Winderbaum which Marvel villains he’d like to see get his or her own spinoff, similar to the way that Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) got her start on the award-winning series WandaVision. The producer went right to What If?, the series he oversees that offers up alternate realities in the MCU. And Winderbaum told CinemaBlend:
If you're asking me personally, I can only do what I can do. But I love Infinity Ultron . Infinity Ultron is one of my favorite things that has emerged over the last few years. So if, in some world – if there was some way to bring him into live action, I'd be behind it a hundred percent.
Brad Winderbaum is referencing the two-episode arc that concluded the first season of Marvel Studios’ animated What If?, where Ultron (James Spader) succeeded in taking over Vision’s body, defeated Thanos – rather easily – and assumed the power of the Infinity Stones. This made the android so powerful that the passive being The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) actually had to intervene, and stop Ultron from controlling the Multiverse.
And Brad Winderbaum is correct. The story of Infinity Ultron would be an amazing way to do a live-action team up movie sometime in the future of the MCU Saga. In fact, some of the groundwork might be getting laid for this story by Marvel. It has been reported that James Spader would bring Ultron back for Paul Bettany’s announced Vision show. The concept of the Multiverse deserves to be explored beyond what has been done so far in the MCU. So later on, after the one-two punch of Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars, it’s possible for Kevin Feige to greenlight a live-action Infinity Ultron movie, where the Guardians of the Mutliverse have the be recruited by The Watcher to defeat this incredibly powerful foe.
Realistically, this would be a long time in the future. Given the return of Robert Downey Jr. as Victor Von Doom, that Latverian monarch appears to be the MCU’s focus for the next few years. We will have The Fantastic Four introduced to the MCU, as well as sequels for Spider-Man, Shang-Chi, Thor and more on the horizon. But for fans of the Infinity Ultron storyline, just know that Brad Winderbaum has your interests in mind. And he shares them.
