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
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…
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.
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 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
·
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
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.
• 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
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
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)
(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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