Ultron Revealed for Upcoming Avengers Movie
By Roger Lee
Ultron! The name speaks volumes for fans of Marvel Comics, and soon will be on the lips of Avengers-movie fans everywhere. The cover of the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly shows us a picture of Iron Man and Captain America standing with a robotic figure behind them. That metallic menace is our old friend Ultron.
Ultron, Iron Man, and Captain America on the EW Cover
The upcoming Avengers movie is titled The Avengers: Age of Ultron, which more or less gives away who the bad guy will be in the new Marvel film. In comments in the EW article, it is revealed that Tony Stark develops Ultron as a means of helping the Avengers keep the world safe. If you recall from the ending of Iron Man 3, it seems that Tony Stark is walking away from his role as Iron Man. Given that we knew future movies were on the way, his development of Ultron and the Iron Man drones (like the extra IM suits we see in that movie), makes sense. Hey, sit back, have your robots save the world while you go off jet-setting with Pepper Potts. Sounds good. Until Ultron decides that humanity is the problem.
Avengers: Age of Ultron will also introduce to the Marvel Cinematic Universe some new super-powered individuals: Quicksilver and his sister the Scarlet Witch (referred to as “the twins” in the end-credit scene in Captain America: Winter Soldier), and the Vision.
The introduction of Ultron and the Vision into these Marvel films highlights how the movies differ from the comics. In the comics, Ultron was developed by Hank Pym (AKA Ant-Man, Giant-Man, and Yellowjacket), and the Vision, in turn, was brought to life by Ultron. With the promised Ant-Man movie mired in production issues, and with the information we now have on the new Avengers movie, the killer robot’s origin is clearly quite different. Tony Stark is now Ultron’s daddy. How the Vision develops is still an unknown, but part of the fun is to see the movies and delve into the cinematic geekiness of it all.
Just as Marvel did with the news of a female Thor, the timing of this cover, in Entertainment Weekly’s Comic-Con preview edition, shows excellent timing for optimal publicity.
Avengers: Age of Ultron is set to hit theaters May 1, 2015. It is directed by Joss Whedon and stars the current Avengers: Robert Downey, Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. New characters in the film include: Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), the Vision (Paul Bettany), and Ultron (James Spader).
Ultron first appeared via an unnamed cameo in Avengers #54 (July, 1968), and made his first full appearance in Avengers #55 (August, 1968), while the Vision first appeared in Avengers #57 (October, 1968).