Marvel reportedly bringing back the one character nobody expected to return

In the ever-changing world of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, nothing is certain; not even death. With time travel, interdimensional travel, and a whole multiverse at its disposal, characters can always return in some form or capacity, even the most unexpected ones.

As Marvel Studios continues to build out its Multiverse Saga, a new rumor has emerged and it suggests that an old foe of the Avengers could make something of an unexpected comeback in the future of the franchise. The question is: Would it be a wise move bringing them back?

Ultron could return to the MCU in the future

According to a new report from Marvel scooper HolyField News, Ultron will return to the MCU at some point in the future. While the comment, posted on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) in response to a fan's question about the character, doesn't shed any light on when Ultron could come back, it isn't the first time that this has come up in the fandoms.

This was also previously reported by The Cosmic Circus back in 2022, as a source told them that the Ultron AI had not been totally destroyed and thus could return at some point. And that's not entirely unfeasible.

Ultron was the big bad of 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron. An advanced AI designed by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner to protect the world from threats, it became self-aware and decided to take it for himself after learning too much. It consumed Jarvis in the process, but the team were able to upgrade him to Vision, giving him the synthetic human body that Ultron wanted. And with the help of the android, The Avengers stopped the threat of Ultron and literally saved the world.

In order for him to be fully destroyed, they would have needed to eradicate every last trace of him, destroying his army of Ultron Bots (and wiping him from the internet). They seemingly accomplished this, which we thought was made clear when Vision obliterated the final one. However, the 2022 report claims that all traces of the AI were not destroyed and that remnants of it are still active, but dormant for now.

That's a terrifying thought because it means that - or someone - could just revive himself and start the chaos all over again. But if that were to happen, would Ultron return for his own purposes, or would someone use that technology for themselves? And could it provide the character with the storyline fans wanted from him the first time around?

A redemption for Ultron in the Multiverse Saga?

If the Ultron rumor is true and the advanced AI does resurface that would create an interesting dilemma for the new line-up of Avengers. The question is: How could it happen?

Naturally, our first thought would be that the returning Ultron could actually be a new version of the character from another universe. This is the Multiverse Saga, so it would make sense if it was an alternate version of the character who reared his head. However, the 2022 report does suggest that it will be dormant remnants of the original Ultron that surface - not a new version.

If that were the case, it is possible that a major villain with limitless powers (like Kang, for example) could reprogram the original Ultron to do his bidding. This could have been foreshadowed all along, in fact. Remember in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, the Illuminati of Earth-838 used reprogrammed Ultron Bots to do their bidding, so it wouldn't be entirely out of the realm of possibility for a more regular character to do the same with the original Ultron.

While that doesn't exactly sound like a redeeming arc for Ultron, there are fans who would love to see the character return in some capacity. Avengers: Age of Ultron was received well by fans and critics at the time of its release, but the movie is widely regarded as the worst of the four Avengers movies, and a large part of that is down to its misuse of Ultron. A lot of fans felt that the movie never truly capitalized on him as a villain and that he could have been so much more than what he was; while that's not necessarily untrue, the portrayal was still a strong one and he served the plot well as a formidable foe.

It would be quite a thrill to see Ultron back a decade after his attempt to become The Avengers' greatest enemy. Whether or not it actually happens remains to be seen, but the thought of it is very, very exciting indeed.