During the Thor: The Dark World press junket, the Huffington Post caught up with Kevin Feige and asked the Marvel producer about the casting of Joss Whedon's first choice for Ultron, James Spader, for the forthcoming Avengers sequel. Well, I think it will be more than a voice role -- we'll be capturing his face and his body to create a whole performance," says Feige. "He's a very unique and incredibly exciting and unpredictable actor. And Ultron in the comics is a robot, but what's cool about him in the comics -- and certainly how Joss Whedon is interpreting him for the movie -- is that he is much more than just a robot. That he's infused with much character. And I don't want to say too much, but you can imagine James Spader will be very dynamic in his portrayal of this character." Can we assume Spader will use a robot voice? "We did not hire James Spader to do a robot voice," responds Kevin Feige. What do you think?
So far starring Robert Downey, Jr., Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson and James Spader, with Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen in negotiations to join, The Avengers: Age of Ultron is directed by Joss Whedon from his screenplay, and is slated to begin production in March 2014 and release on May 1, 2015.