Okay, so Avengers:Age of Ultron is on everyone's most anticipated films of 2015 list, usually only topped by Star Wars. We've had two trailers, set pictures, toy photos, and interviews. Surely we should know something. Here is what we know:
1) Ultron is the villain.
2) There is tension amongst the team members.
3) Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, and Vision are joining in on the fun.
4) Hulk vs Hulkbuster
5) Wakanda will be visited in some capacity.
That, for the most part, is what we know about the plot. With less than four monthes until the film, that is what we know about Avengers:Age of Ultron. Honestly, that scares me. We know more about Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice than we know about this movie. Many are saying that this is "keeping the plot underwraps to avoid another The Amazing Spider-Man 2". But here is the thing, there is a difference between saying too much and saying too little. Also, a movie should have a plot to be teased.
Here is the synopsis for Avengers: "With S.H.I.E.L.D. destroyed and the Avengers needing a hiatus from stopping threats, Tony Stark attempts to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program with Ultron, a self-aware, self-teaching, artificial intelligence. However, his plan backfires when Ultron decides that humans are the main enemy and sets out to eradicate them from Earth, and it is up to Iron Man, Captain America,Thor, the Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, along with support from Nick Fury and Maria Hill, to stop him from enacting his plans. Along the way, the Avengers encounter the powerful twins, Pietro and Wanda Maximoff, as well as the familiar Vision."
That is what we know. That is basically saying "The Avengers are fighting Ultron." That is not a plot. That is a log line that some executive was pitched. We should know that there is a plot and stakes. Not just that the heroes are fighting the villain. And that brings me to my next point: The Hulk vs Hulkbuster fight is so far the only real fight we've seen.
Don't get me wrong. I've seen The Avengers fighting the Ultronbots. But the real fight is the Iron Man vs Hulk fight. That is the one that has been hyped the most. That makes me fear that Ultron will receive the continued Marvel Villain experience and won't be the real threat. He is already a robot that wants to kill. How many villains like that have we seen in the past? Marvel Studios should be trying to find a way to differentiate him from other robotic killers. The trailers should be hyping him up, and how the Avengers are going to be struggling to stop him. Instead, we get a few cool lines from James Spader, and a lot of sped up scenes of Ultronbots (I don’t know the real name of his “army”) some fighting, and mainly the Iron Man/Hulk duel. I’m saying this here: if the final battle in Age of ULTRON is Iron Man and Hulk I am going to be pissed off, and probably, so will a lot of you guys on the site.
Other than that, I think that this movie will be filled with set up. We’ve seen it happen before, a movie just being set up for an Avengers film. But this time, and I hope this won’t happen, I think they’re using an Avengers movie to set up another movie. And what is this movie? Civil War. The whole thing with everybody getting pissed off at Tony Stark will get overblown to hell and back, making it so that whatever causes the conflict between Captain America and Iron Man can happen for Civil War. In other words, this movie will turn Iron Man, who has been the hero since Day 1, into the bad guy. I mean, there are benefits to setting up some conflict early, but if this movie were to end with tension amongst the heroes and an unstable allegiance that would make sense. But if this movie does what I think it does, it would mean that Civil War actually begins in this movie. Meaning that the entire film, while probably entertaining, is just a trailer for another Marvel movie. This happened already in Phase One with Iron Man 2 (and to a lesser extent, Captain America: The First Avenger), and in 2014 with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Sinister Six. The point is, we don’t need a two and a half hour long trailer for Captain America: Civil War.
So yeah. That is my concern with this movie. I think that the plot is going to be over bloated with set up for “Civil War” and “Phase 3”, which Marvel Studios has done with past films, and that the villain is getting overhyped and will be a letdown. Am I wrong? Possibly. But I’m just saying, that while the first trailer was cool (I wasn’t too much of a fan of the second one) I’m not sold that this movie will be great. And I know people will say “Marvel is on a role with The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy”. Well keep in mind, The Russo’s and Gunn aren’t directing it. They didn’t write this movie. This is Joss Whedon, who directed the first Avengers (which was a good movie, not great). You can’t judge this movie based on those two films. If anything, look at the overall track record Marvel has with their movies, plots, and characters, and you will see something that you can use to judge this movie. If you’re a die-hard MCU fan, more power to you.
Thanks for reading everybody! If you enjoyed, thought I may have said something smart at one point, show some love and hit the red thumb! Peace out.