While Ultron was one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s more interesting villains, he didn’t reach the levels of terror fans expected him to in Avengers: Age of Ultron, instead coming across more eccentric. As it turns out, he would have been much crazier had James Spader been channeling one of his past characters: Robert California from The Office. Fortunately, a media group has shown us what that would have looked like, and it’s much funnier.
The YouTube account RedLetterMedia posted this video entitled "Ultron California," where they’ve substituted Ultron’s dialogue with California’s odd tangents. The result is Ultron coming across as unhinged and out of touch with reality…yes, even more than he actually was in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Among the video’s many oddities are Ultron exclaiming his distaste for the Black Eyed Peas during the Avengers’ party at Stark Tower, telling Quicksilver and Scarlet how he decides to buy things and talking about how he feels like he’s at a sex club while being blasted with energy by Iron Man, Thor and Vision. It’s all completely random, but still hilarious.
The Office fans know California as Michael Scott’s replacement during Season 8. Although he was well-received during his Season 7 introduction, critical reception was more mixed in later episode, and eventually Spader departed the show in the Season 8 finale. Best known for his odd comments and weird sex interests, check out the clip below of California telling the Office crew what "titillates" him to understand how weird he was.
You can also see how threatening he could be in this clip of him challenging Andy Bernard over the phone and proclaiming himself as the "fucking lizard king," which was appropriately overlapped for the scene when the Avengers corner Ultron, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver on Ulysses Klaue’s ship.
Although Ultron was implied to be permanently dead once Vision destroyed his last body, like his comic book counterpart, there’s always a chance he was able to copy his consciousness elsewhere. However, even if Ultron does return, there’s no way that he’ll be as off-the-wall crazy as his California iteration, so all we can really hope for is that he’s more menacing and developed than what moviegoers got in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
