Thursday, April 23, 2015

Avengers: Age of Ultron Guide for Beginners





Super-Powered Preparation: Beginners Guide to Avengers: Age of Ultron

In a week, the world’s mightiest heroes re-team for what promises to be an epic battle with one of the most fearsome villains in quite some time. Avengers: Age of Ultron is the eleventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and for those of you who missed the last Avengers team-up (although I’m not sure how you could have, given it’s the third highest grossing film domestically ever) you might feel like too much has been missed to fully understand what’s going on. Even if you are caught up with all the Marvel heroes, Age of Ultron is still introducing a number of new characters and tying together multiple story lines that, no matter how talented writer/director Joss Whedon is, might still get confusing.

Never fear, I have assembled a guide that will help explain everything you need to know to go into this movie feeling like an expert. I refrain from using the term “idiots guide” (it just sounds insulting) but for all intents and purposes, that’s what this is.


Preparing for

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON



What Happened Last Time?


In 2012’s The Avengers, Thor’s brother Loki (right) showed up on earth and opened a portal using the Tesseract (the blue power cube thing), and brought an army of aliens, The Chitauri, through said portal, which proceeded to destroy New York City and cause mayhem.
To save the day, Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) brought together Tony Stark A.K.A. Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Steve Rogers A.K.A. Captain America (Chris Evans), Bruce Banner A.K.A. The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth), as well as Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), thus forming the Avengers team for the first time.
The Chitauri were defeated, the portal was closed, and Loki surrendered. Thor returned Loki and the Tesseract to Asgard (Thor’s home world) and peace was restored. Temporarily… 


What Happened in Phase Two?

The Avengers marked the end of the first phase of films. The first phase kicked off with Iron Man (2008) and The Incredible Hulk (2008), was followed by Iron Man 2 (2010), Thor (2011), and Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) (which led in to The Avengers) (For more on all of these phase one films, check out my Marvel Movies Ranked CCC list) Phase one has aptly been given the subtitle: Avengers Assembled.

Phase Two began with Iron Man 3 (2013) and Thor: The Dark World (2013), continued with Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), went cosmic with Guardians of the Galaxy (2014), and now here we are at Age of Ultron (2015).



Iron Man 3



Tony Stark faced off against faux-terrorist The Mandarin and angry regenerative scientist Aldrich Killian. Both of them were defeated, with The Mandarin (sorry, I mean Trevor) being incarcerated and Killian being killed. 
 
In the end, Stark destroyed his collection of drones (Iron Man suits that work without anyone being inside) and had the arc reactor (the light circle thing) removed from his chest. 

But he says he’s still Iron Man. 


Thor: The Dark World

Thor defended Asgard and Earth from the evil dark space elf Malekith, and recruited his brother Loki to help defeat him. They did so, but in the final scene, it is revealed Loki—presumed dead after the battle—is on the throne in Asgard disguised as Thor’s dad, Odin! (*gasp!*)








Captain America: The Winter Soldier

S.H.I.E.L.D (Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division) is infiltrated by the terrorist group Hydra, and Cap is joined by Black Widow and newcomer Falcon to fight against Hydra’s secret weapon, The Winter Soldier. Cap saves S.H.I.E.L.D and discovers The Winter Soldier is actually his friend Bucky Barnes, whom he thought died in WWII. Cap sets off to find out what happened to his friend, and Bucky/Winter Soldier sets off to re-discover who he was before Hydra did whatever it was they did to him.


As far as I can tell at this point, nothing that happened in Guardians of the Galaxy directly connects to what will take place in Age of Ultron (except for one small thing which I’ll touch on later). Writer/Director James Gunn has gone on record as saying the Avengers and the Guardians have their own separate worlds to look after (but we all know those worlds will come crashing together at some point in the future, probably in Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and/or 2)



The Cast for Age of Ultron

Like the first Avengers, Age of Ultron has a star-studded cast, including many familiar faces

Note: this is only based on what the trailers and posters indicate. There will likely be other surprise appearances that we don’t know about yet. The fate of these characters is also only speculation on my part, there are no spoilers in what follows, only my own expectations and hypotheses.

Returning Characters


Iron Man!

·         Tony Stark is back to “design everything” and “make everyone look cooler”.
·         He will be unleashing some cool new gadgets and gizmos, including the Hulk-buster armour designed to combat The Hulk.
·         Given that Iron Man has been confirmed as an integral part of next year’s Captain America: Civil War, the likelihood of him surviving the events of Age of Ultron are pretty good.
·         Chance of Survival: High.




Captain America!

       Cap is back to lead the Avengers team into battle.
       He will be using his signature star-spangled shield once again.
       Given his name is in the title of Civil War, one would expect him to live through this to show up for it.
       Chance of Survival: High.





Thor!

       Thor will be taking another vacation from Asgard to help out the Avengers on earth.
       He will be bringing his hammer and all the power it wields with him once again.
       It’s almost a guarantee this won’t be the last time we see Thor—he’s set to appear in Thor: Ragnarok in 2017, plus he’s a god, so, yeah. Can’t really beat that.
       Chance of Survival: High.





Hulk!

       The big green guy finally returns for the first time since the last Avengers team-up, again being played by Mark Ruffalo.
       Writer/Director Joss Whedon said Hulk has a large part to play in this film.
       As crazy as it might sound, Hulk’s survival chances are not as good as his fellow Avengers. No solo Hulk film has been announced for Phase Three, and Whedon also said this film will be full of death (plus he loves killing off main characters, remember when Coulson died in the first Avengers?)
       Chance of survival: Medium.


Black Widow!

       Scarlett Johansson reprises her role as Black Widow, making this her fourth film appearance.
       From the trailer and poster, it appears she has new electric-baton mechanisms.
       As a less-powerful member of the team, it seemed her survival was unlikely based on Joss Whedon’s comments and some certain shots in the trailer, but she is lined up to appear in Captain America: Civil War.
       Chance of Survival: High.




Hawkeye!

       Hawkeye is back—like Hulk, for the first time since the last Avengers film.
       His outfit looks a bit cooler than last time—black is the new black?
       Being less-powerful and more of a secondary hero (like Black Widow) and not a particular fan-fave, there was a lot of speculation about whether or not Hawkeye would live to the end of Age of Ultron, but like Black Widow, he has been confirmed for Avengers 2.5—oops, I mean, Captain America: Civil War. But does confirmed mean certain survival?
       Chance of Survival: Medium-to-High.


Nick Fury!

       The original Avengers-assembler returns.
       Given that he almost died in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and everyone thought he was dead, will everyone be all that surprised if this is Nick Fury’s last appearance?
       Chance of Survival: Low.









James Rhodes!

       Rhodey took on the role of War Machine in Iron Man 2, then got a paint job and became Iron Patriot for Iron Man 3
       Rhodey returns, this time as War Machine, but he might not play a large part overall in Age of Ultron (Possibly will be in final battle)
       He’s not a major character, but he is Tony Stark’s buddy, and from what we know of the upcoming Civil War, Stark is heading down a dark path. Rhodey’s death would definitely contribute to that.
       Chance of Survival: Low.



Maria Hill!
       Though she didn’t factor in to the big picture in the previous Avengers, S.H.I.E.L.D agent Maria Hill was an important part of the mission, and has since appeared on the TV show Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
(Cobie Smulders)
       Although she does appear in a couple of the trailers, Hill’s role in Age of Ultron will likely be comparable to her role before (minor)
       Chance of Survival: Medium.



Falcon!
       According to the poster, Anthony Mackie will be (briefly) returning as Falcon.
       Falcon has only appeared in last year’s The Winter Soldier so far, so it might seem like a safe bet that he’ll stick around to play a part in Civil War, but he’s also inexperienced. Will he join the Avengers in battle? His role is unclear, but he will likely help out cap in the near future.
       Chance of Survival: High.






New Characters

There are several noteworthy characters appearing for the first time. Some are good, some are bad, and some are a bit of both.


Scarlet Witch!

       Technically first appearing in a mid-credits scene for The Winter Soldier, Wanda Maximoff, A.K.A. Scarlet Witch, has hypnosis and telekinetic powers.
       She is the brother of Pietro Maximoff, A.K.A Quicksilver (another newbie) and will not be on the Avengers’ side to begin with.
       Her powers seem quite formidable, plus she’s a former Hydra prisoner, so she should be tough enough to make it through this film.
       Chance of Survival: High.

 


 Quicksilver!

       Brother of Scarlet Witch, this Quicksilver is not the same one that appeared in last year’s X-Men: Days of Future Past.
       Quicksilver has super speed and, like his sister, is not a hero at the start of the film.
       There are two things that make it seem likely he will die by the end. 1, this is the second version of Quicksilver and last year’s X-Men version was beloved, and 2, there is a shot in the trailer of Scarlet Witch screaming—maybe because her bro just got toasted?
       Chance of Survival: Low.

 

Ulysses Klaw!

       Andy Serkis, an actor famous for his motion capture (wearing a spandex suit that is turned into a cgi character later, ex. Cesar from Rise of the Planet of the Apes) is playing the role of the villainous Ulysses Klaw.
       He was shown in the trailer a couple times for a split second (see pics) and that’s it.
       Nothing is known about him so far, except apparently he is an enemy of the Avengers in the comics, as well as an enemy of Black Panther, who will be getting his own movie in 2018.
       Chance of Survival: High.


The Vision!

       An old friend with a new face: Tony Stark’s reliable A.I. Known as J.A.R.V.I.S. will become the android known as Vision.
       Unlike in the comics, this Vision will be built by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, to help fight the main threat in this film (speaking of A.I...) But does he start as a hero or a villain? It’s unclear at this point. (He starts bad in the comics and becomes good)
       Vision is being kept quite secretive, but will play an important role. He’ll likely come back to help the Avengers in future films.
       Chance of Survival: High.



And Finally...
 

Ultron!

       The villain in the title, Ultron is the creation of Tony Stark, who was trying to make a protector for earth, but the artificial intelligence that is Ultron becomes self aware (Terminator-ish?) and decides all humans must be killed.
       Ultron will have several forms throughout the film, and will be voiced by James Spader.
       Ultron is self-replicating, meaning he has an army of lesser Ultrons (known as Ultron Sentinels) that obey his every command (making him Ultron Prime)
       He has been described as a Frankenstein-like villain, in the way that he was created in the image of his creator (he bears an uncanny resemblance to Iron Man, doesn’t he?) and wants to destroy his creator.
       Also, as you can clearly see, there are no strings on him.
       Because Ultron is self-replicating and extremely intelligent, he will not only be a difficult enemy to defeat, but he can return in multiple forms (which he has done many times in the comics). This means the chances of Ultron surviving past this film are quite good. Or bad, depending on whose side you’re on.


What Will the Future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Be Like After This?

Originally, Age of Ultron was to mark the end of Phase Two, but now Ant-Man, which comes out a couple months after Age of Ultron, is going to be the final Phase Two film.
Ultron will undoubtedly leave a mark on the Avengers, and the world as a whole, and whether or not he’ll be connected to other story threads is yet to be seen.
Don’t forget, super villain Loki is still secretly in control of Asgard, and the villainous alien Thanos is searching for the infinity stones so he can use the infinity gauntlet to take over the universe (Thanos was teased at the end of the first Avengers, and was featured as the boss of the villain Ronan in Guardians of the Galaxy, see pics). Loki is by default in control of the infinity gauntlet, which resides in Asgard, and chances are, they will be teaming up or making some kind of deal somewhere down the line.
Will Ultron, at some point, possibly join in their conquest to rule the universe, and destroy humanity?

Loki being in control of Asgard will definitely be a big part of the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok, but it might even be addressed in Age of Ultron.
As for the rest of the Avengers, this battle with Ultron may be just as epic as another upcoming war...




Next year’s Captain America: Civil War will have Tony Stark/Iron Man fighting Steve Rogers/Captain America, in an epic hero vs. hero battle. Age of Ultron will definitely be setting this up. Not only is Civil War going to have all kinds of heroes choosing whose side to be on, but will also introduce a brand new Spider-Man into the Marvel Cinematic Universe!

Going back to Ant-Man, if we don’t see an after-credits scene featuring Spider-Man after Age of Ultron, then chances are pretty good we’ll see one during the end credits of Ant-Man, and we’ll see an Ant-Man tease after Age of Ultron instead.
Ant-Man will also tie directly in to Age of Ultron, but in what ways is not yet certain (apparently at least some of the events take place at the same time Age of Ultron takes place, so to get the full Ultron experience, we’ll need to see it as well)
In the comics, Hank Pym (the first Ant-Man) is the one who creates Ultron, not Tony Stark, so this might be something they address in Ant-Man.


So there you have it, folks. Whatever does go down, it should be awesome, but I hope you enjoyed my theories and recaps of the previous films!

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