I'll be breaking down what we know, what we've been speculating on as far as the story, characters, motives, and themes in
Avengers: Age of Ultron. Let's first go back to the beginning of Phase II and continue from there. (
NOTE: In celebration of
A: AOU coming out on May 1st, 2015, I've decided to make the article go live on May 1st, 2014.)
First up...
What We Know So Far...
Recurring Characters / New Comers
As we already know, Phase II started off with a bang with
Iron Man 3 as Tony Stark dealt with the aftermath of the battle of New York. 6 months later, Stark makes 35 new suits (excluding Mark 1-7) in which J.A.R.V.I.S. was able to control them all
at once. (Noting that the Mark XLI (Bones) and Mark XLII can come apart into several pieces at will, and that each suit was only
coded to Tony)
Thor: The Dark World set Thor on a new adventure in fighting the Dark Elves and it's leader. Using his hammer in, as per-usual with the new batch of Marvel films, a different way. His fighting style and use of the hammer is vastly different this time around. (Noting that at the end of the film, Thor has decided to stay on Earth with Jane, Selvig, and Darcy.)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier set the stage for something bigger for
Avengers: Age of Ultron with the introduction of Bucky's mechanical/robotic arm, Arnim Zola's A.I. lifeform, and a targeting sequence brought on due to HYDRA, the ground is set for a shattering second-half. Oh, and the introduction of
Von Strucker (head of HYDRA),
Loki's septer reappearing, and
the Twins being introduced..
Newcomers to the fold will be
Scarlet Witch, who has the ablity to see into someone's past, future, and present state, as well as the
ability to manipulate things via Hexs and spells. SW has some problems, but who doesn't? lol.
Quicksilver, who can think at super-human speed, run at high rates of speed, and is very protective of his sister. Both Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver will work for Von Strucker (willing, or unwillingly) during the events of the first half of the film. After all, they were 'volunteers'...They will eventually end up teaming up with The Avengers.
Now this part gets a bit tricky...
Vision will be featured in the film as well. It is unknown how he will come into the fold. He may be created by Tony, or Ultron.. We'll need to wait til the film comes out to decide. With Paul Bettany as Vision, it's tricky because of his involvement with J.A.R.V.I.S., I'm sure he'll still voice him, and there's one more added bonus, he's supposedly had a scene with
Hayley Atwell and
Chris Evans during a 1940s ballroom scene in London, England. It's all up in the air. In the comics, the Vision was created by Ultron but go's against his creator and ulitimately joins the Avengers and marries Scarlet Witch, it's a whole thing...
Ultron, voiced and motion captured by James Spader.. In the comics, Ultron is created by Hank Pym by the brain-waves of Wonder Man. In
AOU Ultron's origins will be slightly different. Pym won't be featured, and Ultron will have a new origin story. He wants to eradicate the human race, as opposed to Loki wanting to conquer Earth. Whedon has stated that some of Ultron's powers will be stripped, I'm assuming he's speaking of Ultron's ablity to mind-control people and his phaser beams. Ultron himself will
evolve in the film, as stated by Joss Whedon, and I personally believe that due to Spader getting
extensive facial and body scans, that it's likely that Ultron will become a
humanoid, as he has in the comics. It's completely plausible.
Ultron will also know
everything there is to know about
each Avenger,
S.H.I.E.L.D., and
HYDRA member. He will also know about Loki, and the other worldly happenings that have gone on. Why wouldn't he? He will be after
state-of-the-art technology in South Korea, and it's been rumored that Ultron will get his
vibraium shell from none other than,
Wakanda, South Africa... home of the
Black Panther. After all,
the first 10 minutes of the film will take place in South Africa, (Johannisberg, to be exact) and will involve Tony taking on the
Hulk in the Hulkbuster. Ultron will have an army of evil robots, and will have an extreme personality. He won't be the Ultron you know from
A: EMH or
NA:HoT. His goals for eradicating the human race are the same, just none of his dead-pan personality will be shown. He will either be created by Stark, or even HYDRA. The possibilities are endless.
The image above is
Pre-VFX, and from the looks of the image itself, Ultron will be sporting different iterations of his 'ear-plugs', with the ones featured above being similiar to this:
In the Title-Reveal Teaser, Ultron has his more notable 'ear-plugs'.
We all know that
James Rhodes will be showing up at some point in the film, as well as
Nick Fury's cameo, and Maria Hills role in the film, which is unclear. What we do know of Maria Hill's character at this point is, is that she's working for
Pepper Potts at
Stark Industries.
What We DO Know (and Don't)
In the film, we know that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver will be working
for Baron Strucker, but what we don't know is what capacity that will be, or how
Loki's Staff factors into all this. If I was a betting man, and I am...
I'd say that during the first ten minutes, with Tony and Hulk duking it out.. I believe that Scarlet Witch (or Von Strucker) will manipulate Banner to unleash the Hulk, that's most likely why Hulk seeemed to be on a rampage during those set videos, and why military prescence was seen in those shots as well.
We already know that Ultron will be after State-of-the-art tech at the same IT institute that Stark's friend
(Claudia Kim) and fellow scientist works at. We don't know what Ultron is after, but we do know that Ultron will lay waste to some of the surround area in Seoul, and that the 'beauty' of that area will be show cased via Iron Man.
The film will also be a Global film, with Avengers Tower (United States) finally being featured in the film, as well as shots in London, a ficional Russian area, South Korea, South Africa, Italy, and a fictional Sebian area.
What we can speculate from here on out about Iron Man's newly painted, and revamped Mark 42.. (It may be the Mark 42, fully realized, making it the Mark 43?) It seems as though it may be leaning that way with the look of the suit itself.
The suit does look like a fully realized Mark 42, or am I seeing something different?
What we also know is that Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and Banner/Hulk will be coming into the fold, and how they factor in could be anyone's guess.
(NOTE: The other articles I'll be making in the series will be about Avengers 3, Captain America 3, Thor 3, and Iron Man 4.)
Welp, there's my article! I hope everyone enjoys reading it, and if you have anything else to add, please do so in the comments section!
In Avengers: Age of Ultron, The Avengers reassemble to battle the forces of HYDRA and the sentient A.I. known as Ultron. Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Samuel L. Jackson, Cobie Smudlers, and James Spader. A:AOU comes out May 1st, 2015.