Joss Whedon Dishes On 'The Vision' & James Spader's Titular AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Villain

Joss Whedon Dishes On 'The Vision' & James Spader's Titular AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON Villain

The Age of Ultron writer/director now characterizes Paul Bettany as the Vision, and what makes him different from the others, while also elaborating on the sequel's villain, played by James Spader.

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By DCMarvelFreshman - Mar 06, 2015 12:03 PM EST
Filed Under: Avengers
Source: SFX


"Once again, he's someone who's completely different than anybody else in terms of his powers, his look, but also his perspective," Joss Whedon told SFX magazine of the Vision (Paul Bettany), who we finally caught a glimpse of during the "epic" latest Avengers: Age of Ultron threatrical trailer. "He's artificial life and he's not caught up in the in-house bickering and the pain and self-doubt. He shows up and he's very certain. But we're not certain what he's certain of! And Paul's great, because he's so gentle, so compelling, but at the same time you're like 'He's nice but... what if murdered me?'" When SFX magazine chatted with the writer/director, it was  a day after he had screened the Marvel sequel (which he boasts about HERE). Whedon then talked lengthily about the titular antagonist, portrayed by James Spader. "You know, he's really been a mainstay of The Avengers, but for me it's a robot who's angry," he said Ultron. "And that was a gateway for me to a robot who's completely irrational. I wanted to write a robot what we really haven't seen in this kind of movie, who can basically talk all the logical robot things, but then has hissy fits! He also has a real perspective on who the Avengers are, and a real beef with them. He's not a straw man. The thing that worked about Loki was that he was able to get inside everybody's head a little bit, and Ultron, he's got the same thing. He knows pretty much everything there is to know about these guys. The only way you can attack Earth's mightiest heroes is from within."

Later during the interview, Joss Whedon explained why he resisted the urge to return to the original comics while scripting Age of Ultron. "I didn't got back to them at all," he said. "You know, he was an angry robot. Angry all the time! That's one of the things that drew me to him - this guy's angry! Angry for like 50 years! You know, they reinvented him in Ultimates and stuff. At one point he was a beautiful woman... I'm not doing that one! I loved him when I read the comics as a kid, because of the scope and the sci-fi and what the team was going through, but I never looked to Ultron himself in the comics for why I love Ultron. I had an idea that I sort of extrapolated from that, so in that way he sort of a new guy. "But he's been a tricky one to nail down. Not because the voice eluded me, but just in terms of 'How much of his agenda is he revealing? How much of his agenda does he even understand?' And then of course there's the inevitable over-explaining that we do in these things, where you're watching and you're like 'Okay, he said it enough, people know!'" Whedon then talked up James Spader, who performed motion-capture and provided the voice for the villainous Ultron. "Everything I've ever given to Spader he's just knocked out of the park," enthuses the filmmaker. "But - and James and I talked about this - every now and then he'll have to do a non sequitur. And James is like 'I have to pull out this emotion from something that's not happening in this scene!' But that's who Ultron is. He's clicking on all these different cylinders. And James really took to it. It means that you can pretty much say anything sometimes! He's very much en scene, but at the same time, if he doesn't have a little bit of free associative lateral now and again, he's not going to be as much fun." What do you think?




Marvel Studios presents Avengers: Age of Ultron, the epic follow-up to the biggest Super Hero movie of all time. When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to the Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure. Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Robert Downey Jr., who returns as Iron Man, along with Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. Together with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and with the additional support of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, the team must reassemble to defeat James Spader as Ultron, a terrifying technological villain hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Pietro Maximoff, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and meet an old friend in a new form when Paul Bettany becomes Vision. Written and directed by Joss Whedon and produced by Kevin Feige, Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron is based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series “The Avengers,” published in 1963. Get set for an action-packed thrill ride when The Avengers return in Avengers: Age of Ultron May 1, 2015.
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batz11
batz11 - 3/6/2015, 12:04 PM
Love the World War Z of Ultron bots...
superotherside
superotherside - 3/6/2015, 12:12 PM
Really excited to see the Vision! Plus they say he fights with Thor! That should make an interesting battle.
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 3/6/2015, 12:15 PM
This guy…. he's a keeper.
YeezusWept
YeezusWept - 3/6/2015, 12:17 PM
Marvel right now:
Reasonnnn
Reasonnnn - 3/6/2015, 12:19 PM
@Omarvls and THE CHECK (Falcon)
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 3/6/2015, 12:20 PM
Everything Whedon says about Ultron makes me more and more confident that he's going to be the one non-Loki villain that Marvel hits out of the park. They've really done their homework on him, but it sounds like Whedon has so many great original ideas on where to take the character too. Is it too much to hope that Ultron becomes the Heath Ledger Joker of Age of Ultron?
ALegendaryPanda
ALegendaryPanda - 3/6/2015, 12:21 PM
Calling it now, Vision is going to steal this movie! They're holding back on showing him too much for a reason
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 3/6/2015, 12:22 PM
Also damn you guys and your trailer gifs! May can't come soon enough haha
Reasonnnn
Reasonnnn - 3/6/2015, 12:23 PM
@SauronsBANE Just makes me wish that Whedon writes/oversees the scripts for all the future films. He just gets it.
McGee
McGee - 3/6/2015, 12:25 PM
Yeezus...sometimes I feel like a plastic bag....
slickrickdesigns
slickrickdesigns - 3/6/2015, 12:26 PM
The advertising is like the Hulk from first Avengers… Show as little as possible and let him surprise the crap out of everyone on the big screen… Im hoping we get some Android on Witch lovin at the end…
MrAisA
MrAisA - 3/6/2015, 12:27 PM
I can already spot the piece of those comments that is going to be pulled out of context. Nothing to do now but wait...
NocturnalPRIME
NocturnalPRIME - 3/6/2015, 12:28 PM
"The thing that worked about Loki was that he was able to get inside everybody's head a little bit, and Ultron, he's got the same thing."

Confirmed: Avengers and AoU are the same movie...
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 3/6/2015, 12:29 PM
@Reasonnnn Yeah seriously. I don't blame the guy for wanting to do his own movies after Age of Ultron, but hopefully he stays on in some capacity. His loss would be a huge blow for the MCU.

@EzioKenway1225 I think they will delve into that. They apparently felt the Pinnochio/strings stuff was important enough to include in at least 2 trailers (don't know if they played that up in the final trailer too), so I'm sure it'll be further explored in the movie.
SauronsBANE
SauronsBANE - 3/6/2015, 12:30 PM
"I can already spot the piece of those comments that is going to be pulled out of context."

""The thing that worked about Loki was that he was able to get inside everybody's head a little bit, and Ultron, he's got the same thing."

Confirmed: Avengers and AoU are the same movie..."

Impeccable timing haha. You can't plan that any better than this.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 3/6/2015, 12:33 PM
"You know, he's really been a mainstay of The Avengers, but for me it's a robot who's angry," he said Ultron. "And that was a gateway for me to a robot who's completely irrational. I wanted to write a robot what we really haven't seen in this kind of movie, who can basically talk all the logical robot things, but then has hissy fits!"

So basically, like that one photo has it Ultron is Siri on her period.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 3/6/2015, 12:33 PM
@MARVELPSYCHO79

This is why Hollywood needs more talented writers and directors who are comic readers and fans and love the mythology to make these movies.

Fixed it for you.
SageMode
SageMode - 3/6/2015, 12:37 PM
Everything from the narrative details to the look of this movie is just awesome. We need more directors like Whedon that actually "Get It" when it comes to understanding these characters and binging them to life.
YeezusWept
YeezusWept - 3/6/2015, 12:39 PM
@McGee
KrazyForKomix
KrazyForKomix - 3/6/2015, 12:44 PM
@TheAmbassador

That clip makes all those Ultron's look like ants.

Almost as if an Ant-Man had designed them.

But alas, we know that's not true.







apparently.
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