Heading into 2015, Joss Whedon’s The Avengers: Age of Ultron remains one of our most anticipated titles. We thought we had a pretty good handle on the backgrounds of the major players in Whedon’s sequel, but then some vital information dropped and changed how we’re approaching the pending summer blockbuster. This is potentially very spoilery, so proceed with caution if you don’t want some plot details for The Avengers: Age of Ultron to be revealed.
Still here? OK, so, a Reddit user posted an image of promotional art for two key characters in the movie: Namely, Ultron (James Spader) and The Vision (Paul Bettany). And the accompanying text spilled some interesting details about each, some of which contradicts what we thought we already knew. This is where things get very revealing, so seriously, stop reading now if you don’t want to know.
If this information is to be believed, then Ultron starts his existence as "a simple computer program hidden among the ruins of the Chitauri invasion of New York City." That’s right, the events of the end of The Avengers will play a huge part in the formation of the villain in Age of Ultron. The text in the Ultron image explains that the "sophisticated artificial intelligence" fully becomes Ultron with some help from a tinkering Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), and his mission is to eliminate humanity pretty much from the moment he wakes up. That part we basically already knew. The text confirms that Ultron’s powers include infiltrating and corrupting basically any computer system on the planet, and he’ll have an army of robotic drones at his disposal… though we saw them at work in the trailer.
The Vision, meanwhile, remains a bit of a mystery – and the last card that Marvel is keeping close to its vest with regards to marketing. We haven’t yet seen footage of Vision in action, but the text on the promo image of the hero reveals that he is "programmed by the combined geniuses of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner," and that he is "imparted with the ability to fly, project intense energy beams, and change the density of his form." Vision will be a formidable addition to The Avengers, but it sounds like he will be an ally from the get go, and not an offshoot of Ultron, or a possible creation of the evil robot who learns to be a savior.
Are there more surprises on the horizon for The Avengers: Age of Ultron? Absolutely. Now that Marvel has mapped out its franchise plans from now through 2019, we can expect breadcrumbs to be sprinkled throughout each and every new movie. The challenge will be avoiding ALL of the spoilers, so that the movie still ends up being somewhat fun when it opens on May 1, 2015.
