Ultron 101: Five Things You Need To Know About The Robotic Avengers Villain

Ultron wants to wipe out all life

Ultron could properly be described as a nihilist. Not only does he find robotic life to be superior to the flesh and blood variety, he wants to extinguish the latter kind if at all possible. He’d be fine with just killing the Avengers to start, but he’d like to eventually graduate to … everything. As a result, his plans typically involve attempting to destroy every living thing on Earth, or in his most powerful incarnations, wiping out all life in the galaxy or the entire universe.

Obviously, that makes him an extremely dangerous threat. He’s single-minded in his goal, and while his megalomaniacal tendencies often allowed him to be tripped up in overcomplicated schemes just like any comic book villain, he also knows that time is on his side, His organic opponents will eventually grow old and pass away, while Ultron has so far proven to eternal. He’s never going to stop trying to destroy all living beings as long as he’s able.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Age of Ultron screenwriters take the robot to this extreme. Will he content with merely subjugating all life, or will he be out to destroy it? James Spader’s presence will make Ultron scary either way, but sticking with his comic book motivations will give him that little bit of extra dread, as well as the possibility that he’ll serve as a very topical warning about the dangers of unchecked artificial intelligence.