Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
By 2015, Marvel’s Cinematic Universe was pretty firmly entrenched in the zeitgeist. After ten successful films, one of which was a crossover of then-unheard of proportions, Marvel was ready to do it again, and brought the team together once more for Avengers: Age of Ultron, which promised to be bigger and better than its predecessor. While some would say it fell flat, I disagree completely; Age of Ultron does everything that The Avengers did, but better.
A few years after the attack on New York, the Avengers have been hunting down the remnants of Hydra that Captain America exposed in The Winter Soldier. While doing so, Stark has been thinking about the attack on Earth over and over again, so much so that it’s led him to believe that the safest route to take is to find a way to put “a suit of armor around the world”. His solution is an AI he calls Ultron, one that will be able react to threats of all kinds and protect humanity. However, Tony makes one of the first mistakes when it comes to AI - he isn’t specific enough.
Soon, Ultron makes the decision that, to protect the Earth, people have to go. He begins to grow beyond Tony’s control, and begins to formulate a plan on how to destroy the Avengers and create a totalitarian world, one where he will always make sure mankind does what’s best for itself. The crew has to stop him before he can bring this plan to fruition.
The biggest improvement this movie The Avengers, to me, is the villain. Don’t get me wrong, I love Loki, and I love what they do with him as the MCU progresses, but he’s only kind of a villain in that movie. He’s more like the villain’s messenger, enabling the true villain’s invasion of Earth. In this film, Ultron is one hell of a presence, brought to life extremely well by James Spader. His raspy, deep, darkly irreverent delivery does well in making Ultron menacing in every way. Even when delivering lines that are, on the surface, pretty damn funny, he still makes your skin crawl.
This menace is equally matched in his threat, as he builds himself a body that’s powerful beyond compare. He doesn’t just rely on himself, however, as he recruits two disenfranchised “enhanced individuals” to his cause. This is where the MCU introduces Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, who are Hydra experiments empowered through Loki’s scepter rather than mutants. Here, they’re also siblings, war orphans of the state of Sokovia who hate Stark with a passion.
This sets the stage for a conflict that’s bigger than just New York, and that shows the greatest scope of the Avenger’s effect on the world at large. This narrative thread is one that gets expanded upon even more as time goes on, but the seeds of it are planted right here. That’s another thing this movie does well: it sets up the coming conflicts fairly well. I know some people felt that Ultron was just a big setup for other films, but I disagree with that notion, as the story being told here stands just fine on its own.
Ultron is an amazing villain, and the implications of Scarlet Witch’s powers in particular are felt in her abuse of the Avenger’s insecurities and fears. This causes a major rift in the group, and also makes it clear that not even Earth’s mightiest heroes are infallible. In fact, their flaws and worries have even greater repercussions than the average person’s. Even the final battle, which is a bit more bog standard, is still a fun, meaningful engagement, as the group pulls it together once more to save the nation of Sokovia from Ultron’s machinations.
All of the returning cast are fantastic, of course, the but the newest additions also knock it out of the park. There’s a special place in my heart for Elizabeth Olsen, who I would see later alongside Jeremy Renner in the impeccable Wind River, and she brings so much to the Scarlet Witch, the depth of which this movie doesn’t even begin to flesh out. I like it that way, though, as the character grows with each installment, rather than stagnating.
We also get Vision, born from the JARVIS, Tony’s AI assistant, and the Mind Stone in Loki’s scepter. Admittedly, we don’t know quite yet that it’s the Mind Stone, but just bear with me on that for now. Regardless, Paul Bettany may not have signed on knowing that he would eventually become one of the more interesting characters in the MCU, but he still brings it all to the table as Vision, and it immediately pays off. He plays the confused, newly-minted personage well, and his uncertainty on what it means to be truly alive is a powerful contrast to Ultron; while Ultron has decided that life is the problem, Vision believes that life is the answer.
Age of Ultron isn’t the best film in the MCU, not even close, but what it is is another fun outing of impressive proportions, and movie that justifies its existence through spectacle, fun, and overall craftsmanship. It’s another good addition to the Marvel cinematic canon, and its themes and consequences go on to be the very bedrock of the MCU’s greatest conflicts.
