By now, most of you will have seen the trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron. If you haven’t, then stop whatever you’re doing and watch it right now. It’s glorious. But amidst all the Ultron awesomeness and Hulkbuster awesomeness and Quicksilver/Scarlet Witch awesomeness and Captain America awesomeness and the sheer amount of destruction wrought upon Earth and its mightiest heroes by Ultron, there’s a chance that you may have missed a few smaller moments. One of which is our first look at the character played by the mo-cap master himself, Andy Serkis.
It was revealed a few months ago that Serkis would be helping out Mark Ruffalo with the motion capture work required to bring the Hulk to life, and that he had been cast in a minor role in the film. Ever since then, we’ve had plenty of rumours about the identity of his character- ranging from Phineas Horton to Uatu the Watcher. But now that we’ve got an official look at his character, and some plot details involving vibranium and Ultron going to Africa, a theory has emerged regarding the identity of his character, one that would tie in with numerous rumours. And, seeing as how I am 100% on board with this theory, I believe that Andy Serkis is in fact playing Ulysses Klaw.
For the uninitiated, Ulysses Klaw was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, and first appeared in 1966 as a villain opposing the Fantastic Four. Despite his origins fighting Marvel’s First Family, he is much more well known as a long-time enemy of T’Challa, the Black Panther. Klaw was a scientist working on applied sonics, and created a sound gun that is powered by vibranium- which just so happens to come from a massive meteor that crash landed in Wakanda millennia ago. Later on, he was converted into a being made of pure sound (don’t ask), and went on to become one of the key members of the anti-Avengers team the Masters of Evil.
So what does all of this have to do with Age of Ultron? Let me explain. It’s evident from the trailer that Ultron has many different forms- we know of three so far, and there may be more. Another interesting shot is of liquid metal pouring over a metal hand, which is probably Ultron making his final form. In the comics, Ultron’s body is made from adamantium- however, with the rights to Wolverine and therefore that particular metal firmly over at Fox, it seems natural that vibranium would take its place. And where do you find vibranium? Wakanda, of course!
Many rumours have stated that Ultron at some point will head to Wakanda to get some vibranium to construct his final form out of. So my theory is that Ultron will enlist the help of Ulysses Klaw to get a hold of vibranium, as Klaw is one of the foremost experts in that field. Chris Hemsworth already namedropped vibranium at SDCC in July, and it has already appeared in the MCU- Cap’s shield is made of the stuff. Wakanda has been referenced numerous times in the MCU as early as Iron Man 2, and as recently as the premiere of the second season of Agents of Shield. And this isn’t just connected via rumours and references- Serkis also bears a striking resemblance to the character, as this image shows:
This could all be building up to an eventual
Black Panther film in Phase 3. Kevin Fiege has said that the project is ‘definitely in development’, and Stan Lee has stated numerous times that Marvel Studios are working on a film starring the King of Wakanda. The introduction of his arch-nemesis in a film as massive as
Age of Ultron would definitely help to build publicity for the film and raise public awareness of the character and his mythos. Serkis is an extremely talented actor with a wide body of work, and it would be awesome to have him appear as a villain like Klaw. I could be completely wrong ad he could just be playing a random scientist or archaeologist (remember all the speculation about Nathan Fillion’s role in
GOTG?), but I doubt Marvel would have shown his charcter in the trailer and got an actor as talented and popular as Serkis for a throwaway role.
So that’s it from me for now. Like my theory about Andy Serkis’ character? Have a theory of your own? Let me know in the comments below! Live long and prosper!