EDITORIAL: Ultron, Hank Pym, and the MCU

EDITORIAL: Ultron, Hank Pym, and the MCU

Two possible theories on how Ultron can exist without Pym, as well as a look at how Pym could be later integrated into Ultron's origin.

Editorial Opinion
By contrast - Jul 22, 2013 02:07 AM EST
Filed Under: Avengers

Firstly, let me say that while I personally prefer films that attempt to stick to the source material as closely as possible, I understand that there are times to deviate when it serves the overall narrative structure of a piece. Considering that Hank Pym is a complex character in his own right, and has yet to be introduced in the MCU, I feel that it would be a mistake to try to shoehorn him in without organically allowing him to have his own cinematic debut.

However, I also think that while it is quite easy to have Ultron without Pym, the bigger disservice is having Pym without Ultron. What I mean is, Ultron will be the same character with or without Pym, but unless Pym is Ultron's creator, Pym himself won't be the same character.

With that said, Marvel also has a rather good track record of painting itself out of the corners it's gotten itself into, (for example, "The Consultant" One-Shot as a way to explain the ending of The Incredible Hulk, which no longer made sense with the story they'd decided to tell, or the fact that Tony Stark was allowed to join the Avengers in a time of crisis, even though he had previously been given the boot from the Avengers Initiative in Iron Man 2) so the likelihood that, down the road, we find out Hank was involved in Ultron's creation is pretty high, in my opinion.

Now, my current working theories on Ulton's MCU origins, as well as how Hank Pym could be tied in later on down the line are as follows --

1.) Stark Creates Him

It seems to be popular consensus among fans that Ulton's creator in the Avengers' sophomore outing will be Tony Stark, but the how and why remain up for debate. I currently believe that, if Stark is indeed Ultron's creator in the Cinematic universe, then Ultron's origins will go a little something like this -- After Iron Man 3, Tony tries to give up being Iron Man to be with Pepper, and upgrades JARVIS to more effectively pilot his suits (as they didn't seem all that well-controlled when JARVIS took them over during Iron Man 3's climax), should the need for some heavy-duty heroics arise. This upgraded version of JARVIS is referred to as ULTRON, and eventually goes rogue, attempting to protect humanity by wiping out its greatest threat, coincidentally also humanity. This prompts Tony to don the armor once more and join the Avengers in dealing with his creation. This raises a question that's never been touched on in any of the solo Iron Man films, though... How is a glorified mechanic (as he self-describes in Iron Man 3) able to create such lifelike artificial intelligence? The easy answer is "he's a genius", but likely the more accurate answer can be taken from a throwaway line in The Avengers, in which Tony states that he became an expert on thermonuclear astrophysics "last night" simply by reading the files that SHIELD had provided him with. So, if Tony Stark can manage to, in the space of less than 24 hours, grasp something that complex, he could certainly figure out how to create his own artificial intelligence simply by reading research on the topic. Research written by...

(drum roll please,)

Hank Pym. Down the line, in the Ant Man solo film (if Hank is even in the solo film, as speculation seems to suggest that Scott Lang will be Ant Man, and not Pym), I believe that Pym will discover that his theoretical research had been used as the basis for Ultron, and will have some sort of existential crisis, believing himself to be responsible for unleashing such a monster into the world, and reinstating a much-needed "My God, What Have I Done?" factor to Pym's character.

The other option, however, I find more promising because of the fact that, according to Kevin Feige, Captain America: The Winter Soldier will be the most important Phase 2 film. This other option is that...

2.) SHIELD Creates Him

In the SDCC '13 Captain America: The Winter Soldier footage (which, admittedly, I wasn't lucky enough to see), we see Robert Redford's Alexander Pierce state that he joined SHIELD to protect the world, and that "to build a better world sometimes means tearing the old one down", which seems to be where he's coming from as far as sending SHIELD strike teams out after Cap and Black Widow. My theory is, after failing to take out the two Avengers by the end of the film, Pierce will commission SHIELD scientists to build Ultron as a way to deal with not only these two Avengers (and Falcon), but the rest of the team as well. Ultron would, in this story, be created using existing SHIELD technology, Chitauri technology, and potentially a mix of Iron Man's technology (obtained from all of those destroyed suits from the end of Iron Man 3) and whatever technology was used to create Winter Soldier's bionic arm. The team that is responsible for Ultron's creation will be virtually faceless in the Avengers sequel, but by the time the Ant Man solo film rolls out, Hank Pym could be identified as one of the scientists on this team, and he could begin to feel remorse for being responsible for Ultron's creation.

Regardless, I'm very excited to see how Ultron is handled on his first outing in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

As always,

Excelsior!

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Orphix
Orphix - 7/22/2013, 3:44 AM
I think the JARVIS/Ultron connection is pretty sound. I don't think the issue with Stark specialising artificial intelligence is a biggie.

In IM1 during the Ceasars Palace intro for Stark it mentions that he excels in creating A.I. and that how he graduated so highly (magna cum laude???) from college. It was thrown in there to explain two things. Firstly where his 'scutter' robots come from and how he developed JARVIS.

A.I. is definitely part of his area of expertise.

Also, on a side note the upside of this is perhaps seeing Paul Bettany as Ultron which I think would be pretty damn cool.
contrast
contrast - 7/22/2013, 4:00 AM
I wasn't doubting that Tony would be smart enough to create a highly advanced A.I, (I mean, he built a miniature arc reactor in a CAVE, WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!!! Sorry, I couldn't help myself...) I was more using it as an "in" to allow for Tony to create Ultron, but for Hank to still, ultimately, feel responsible due to being he person that Tony studied to gain the level of knowledge he already has, as of the first Iron Man, about Artificial Intelligence.

And, Paul Bettany would be amazing as Ultron!
NovaCorpsFan
NovaCorpsFan - 7/22/2013, 4:10 AM
But Ultron looks like an ant for a reason.
kinghulk
kinghulk - 7/22/2013, 6:18 AM
martian- i dont get whedon this would be a perfect time to introduce those 3 characters and i thought he would have jumped at the chance because apparently the wasp featured heavily in the draft for the avengers. i mean id rather see the wasp than scarlet witch no offense to her i just like the wasp better. plus i would absolutely love to see black panther the team need more diversity and adding wasp and black panther would do that or add falcon for that matter.

i think if hes not in the film black panther will be mentioned and then appear in his own film in phase 3 hopefully.
LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 7/22/2013, 7:13 AM
Or

3. Banner creates him
Ocelot
Ocelot - 7/22/2013, 7:22 AM
There' far more emotional payoff for the audience if Stark is the creator, we've seen him in four movies already and are accustomed with the character. Pym hasn't even been introduced, so there's no point, yeah we see this guy in one film(in small parts) and he builds a robot and it goes bad so what, audience wont care, now if it's Iron Man it gets people talking.

If Pym had already been established on screen and in the first Avengers movie or another then it would have worked as you would know the character and would have seen the character face the repercussions for his actions, his friends and his overall failiure but we wont as he's not part of The Avengers and we dont know the character as he hasn't been established.

Furthermore Ultron's character and motives stay the same with or without Pym being the creator. Iron man being the creator is clearly a fusion between the Iron Man sentient armor storyline and Ultron's, you're not gonna call a rouge evil armor/robot "the sentient armor are you" it needs a name a good name, it has a similar backstory to Ultron, so it makes sense to fuse the concepts. In the Sentient armor storyline, the armor had a hatred of Stark like Ultron does for Pym.

I think Ultron will be a secret contigency weapon against both SHIELD and The Avengers should they ever happen to go rouge, initialy created by Stark to help out SHIELD to be his replacement but reprogramed and remodeled by Fury due to the events of The Winter Soldier and after SHIELDS infiltration by the "bad guys".

At the start of The Avengers 2 Ultron initialy helps out to take down some superpowered threats e.g. the twins and extremis bad guys, before becomming more self aware and going bad. Ultron will see The Avengers as a threat to it's plans and will try to take them down.

Diesel will probably voice Ultron, the Iron Giant voice is perfect and menancing. Pym will be an old man who's simply responsible for the creation of the Pym Particles and suit which are stolen and used by Lang in the Ant-Man film.

LEVITIKUZ
LEVITIKUZ - 7/22/2013, 7:26 AM
Soto

What could Ultron do?

Orphix
Orphix - 7/22/2013, 7:34 AM
There maybe an element of the MoE in this as well.

Ultron was the Crimson Cowl who led one manifestations of the MoE. I could then see Quciksiler and the Scarlet Witch being part of that before coming good later in the film.
punkfusion
punkfusion - 7/22/2013, 10:09 AM
i think that Pym does in fact create him. From the description of the video, they find Ultron in an alien temple. Ultron's origin was unknown to the avengers when they first fought him and he does come from an alien empire to fight them. Ultron hypnotized Pym to forget the creation of Ultron who then travels to an empire(maybe the bringing the Kree empire to earth)
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