One of the biggest bits of news to come out of this year's SDCC was the revelation that Ultron, not Thanos, will be the villain in the follow-up to 2012's The Avengers. As a huge fan of Ultron, this seemed like great news. At first. Then I got to thinking - if Hank Pym is going to be Ant-Man in the first film in the MCU's Phase 3, does that mean he'll be introduced earlier than that? Maybe he'll show up in Avengers 2?
Then Joss Whedon kindly confirmed that this would not be the case. I thought that would be a little strange - it's difficult to introduce Ultron without the guy who created him. But they've got a fix for that too - Hank Pym won't create Ultron. Ta da! Sounds great, right?
So here's why this is a problem.
As most of you will know, Hank Pym created the artificial intelligence known as Ultron. Or at least he did in the comics. Ultron later went on to combat The Avengers on many occasions, and has proven to be one of the greatest threats to their universe.
And at the center of all those threats is the nagging thought that this is all Pym's fault. Pym created Ultron. Ultron was his greatest failure. As brilliant a scientist as he may be, he'll always be known as the guy who created Ultron, omega-level universe-ending threat. Oops.
In the more recent comics, this is a pretty integral part of Pym's identity. No one is more upset about Ultron's existence than Hank Pym. And he's trying every day to make up for that mistake by being better. Hank Pym is a screw up, but he doesn't want to be. Introducing a character like that into the MCU would be awesome, and when they do it, I'm hoping it works out well. But looking at the more immediate concern - how will the lack of Hank Pym effect Ultron, and his introduction into the MCU?
One of the most popular theories right now, based on a few comments made by Joss Whedon, is that Tony Stark will create Ultron. While this very well may not be the case when the movie comes out, lets assume for a minute that it is. What does that mean for the MCU?
It means that THIS guy screwed up. Not Pym. Stark. I don't know if you've seen the last couple of movies that have featured Iron Man, but he doesn't. screw. up. Sure, he may get beaten around a bit every now and then, but who hasn't? Tony Stark knows what to do. He doesn't just create programs with their own sentience and NOT know that they'll go off to destroy the world. That's not his thing. We know this from the movies we've seen him in that have already established him as the genius billionaire playboy philanthropist who doesn't screw up. You know who does screw up though? Hank Pym. If you introduce me to a character who I can see is brilliant, but also screws up, then I could believe that he'd create an Ultron. I'd buy into that. But Stark is a winner, and winners don't make Ultrons.
But Ultron has to be created, and in order for him to be a threat we actually care about, he has to be created by someone we actually care about. I hate movies or stories about robots taking over. Most of the time you'll just have this unexplained army of mechs that just destroy everything. What makes Ultron different is the fact that he hits so much closer to home. He belongs to Pym. So when Ultron takes over, its not just a bunch of soulless machines we don't care about - its showing us what happens when heroes, and in this case, fathers, fail. That's the kind of stuff that makes you care. Loki is an interesting villain in the context of Thor. Sure, Gods of Mischief are cool, but when they're also the brother of the Thunder God we've been rooting for, that makes it all the more interesting.
What I'm trying to say is that Ultron won't be a villain we actually care about unless he comes from a hero who we actually care about. And considering all that Ultron represents, Tony Stark or Bruce Banner or any of the other brilliant figures in the Marvel Universe cannot be that hero. Without Pym, there is no point in caring about Ultron.