The following story contains light spoilers from Avengers: Age Of Ultron. Read at your own risk...
Where does he get those wonderful toys? OK, I know, that’s the Joker talking about Batman, but it also applies to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in the ever-evolving Marvel Cinematic Universe. This time out, Tony’s tinkering creates a world-threatening foe in Ultron (James Spader), an evil, sentient computer program born out of Stark’s hope of protecting our planet from alien threats.
But that’s not the only creation at Iron Man’s disposal in Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Tony Stark built a fall-back suit, a weapon he could call on in case of emergency. You’ve seen it, but you don’t quite know EVERYTHING about it. He calls it Veronica, and it’s one of the coolest effects you’ll see on screen in Age of Ultron. Because people are seeing this movie in stages, I’ll say that there are minor spoilers for The Avengers in this feature. Stop reading now if you haven’t yet seen Whedon’s movie. For the rest of you, get to know Veronica, an incredible "tool" at the disposal of The Avengers
Veronica Contains Tony’s Hulk-Buster Armor
Ah, so THAT’s where you saw "her" before the movie opened. Marvel has turned the heavyweight bout between Iron Man and a mystified Hulk (thanks, Scarlet Witch) into the centerpiece of its Ultron marketing campaign. And with good reason. It’s every bit the knock-down, drag-out tussle you’ve hoped that it could be, and little by little, in various clips and trailers, we watched Tony’s regular armor… enhance with pieces of Hulk-Busting metal. But where do they come from? Well, they are housed in Veronica, a flying mechanism that can dispense pieces of armor at Tony’s beckoning, and that actually builds a containment unit around Hulk. It only contains him temporarily, mind you, but it worked long enough for Iron Man to get into position. Where does Stark keep this amazing tech? That will surprise you.
Veronica Sits In A Satellite Station, Hovering Above Our Planet
Tony Stark’s eyes are on the skies in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, for a number of different reasons. He talks about an "end game" that can only happen in outer space. (See you at Infinity War, folks!) When Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) messes with Stark’s mind, he sees the alien threat from The Avengers, and it has wiped out his team. And when Tony wants to make his team feel guilty, he reminds them of the time he carried a nuclear missile into the stratosphere, saving New York City. So it makes sense that in the time between Iron Man 3 and Age of Ultron, Stark created a space station to hold "Veronica," and the Hulk-busting parts that are necessary to bring Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) to his knees. The funny part, though, is that Banner knows this is coming…
Bruce Banner Helped Tony Design Veronica
As a worst-case scenario. The Science Bros. first talk about the existence of Veronica, and the need for her power, in the early-planning stages of Ultron. Banner admits that he’s still wary of his furious rage, and he talks about helping Tony create this fail-safe protection program, basically to protect citizens from the Hulk, himself. There’s something intriguing – and mildly disturbing – that Banner would help Tony create an armor suit specifically designed to stop Hulk in his tracks. But this is the moral conundrum often tearing at the scientist, and that push-and-ull is elevated in Age of Ultron. Banner knows that just such a complication could arise, where an unforeseen threat – like Scarlet Witch – turns the beats loose. With Bruce’s help, Tony is able to subdue Hulk. But it will happen again. Not if. When.
But Why Is It Called Veronica?
For that, we turn to Joss Whedon, himself, who addressed the design of Veronica during a press conference at the Age of Ultron media day. And when a reporter asked the blatantly obvious question of where the name "Veronica" came from, he offered this bit of Archie-related trivia:
You know, I just decided to call it Veronica because [Bruce Banner] used to be in love with a girl named Betty, and Veronica is the opposite of that."
So awesome. See Veronica – and the rest of the Avengers – in action now that The Avengers: Age of Ultron is opening and screening in theaters around the globe!
