Avengers: Age of Ultron

***Avengers: Age of Ultron***is a 2015 superhero team-up film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team The Avengers, and a sequel to/crossover between *Iron Man 3*, *Ant-Man & the Wasp*, *Thor: Ancient Winters*, *Captain America: The Winter Soldier*, and *The Avengers*. It was directed and written by Joss Whedon. It is the twelfth installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Paul Rudd, Evangelline Lilly, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Elizabeth Olsen, Don Cheadle, Anthony Mackie, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Samuel L. Jackson, and James Spader. It was released on May 1, 2015 and grossed $1.405 billion on a $365.5 million budget. It ran 141 minutes and received generally positive reviews.

## Plot

In 2025, society is in ruins. Thousands of robotic soldiers patrol each city, while the planet is ruled by Ultron, the ultimate intelligance robot. A rebellion consisting of Hank Pym, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Sam Wilson, and Maria Hill in Central Park decide to intiate their plan to save reality. In 2015, the Avengers (Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Pym, Janet van Dyne, Banner, Romanoff, Barton, and Wanda Maximoff) have been going around for the last year destroying each of the remaining Hydra bases and restoring them to S.H.I.E.L.D. control. In the time they've spent together, Romanoff and Barton have developed a relationship, while Pym and van Dyne's marriage has been strained, particularly due to their daughter being kidnapped, with Pym spending each minut developing ways of bringing her back. They raid the final Hydra base and take out Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, the head of Hydra. Maria Hill, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. takes it over and declares a move in for the next day. The Avengers have a party to celebrate the destruction of Hydra and Hill's impending announcement of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s return.

Stark, Pym, and Banner have also been developing an artifical intelligance on the side. Calling it Ultron, they have created a "last line of defense" in case the Avengers are defeated. However, Pym begins to notice it gaining a mind of its own, before they have even launched the project. During the party, Ultron activates itself in a semi-functional body and attacks the team after the party. They nearly stop him, though he overpowers them and escapes. Ultron returns to the Hydra base in Russia and kills the few S.H.I.E.L.D. officers there, before using the leftover resources to begin building an army. The Avengers attempt to figure out a plan to stop Ultron. Suddenly, a portal opens and older versions of Romanoff and Barton appear. They reveal to the team that in their timeline the Avengers failed to stop Ultron, who became powerful enough to create an entire new being in a robotic body that Ultron put his consciousness into. Ultron was then too powerful for anyone to handle and took over the world, the surviving heroes retreating underground. Over the past decade, they have been building a time machine, which they finally completed. They reveal that Ultron in 2025 has used his current body as a way to connect himself to every point in time, so if he is ever overthrown, he can go back to a previous time and invade there. However, it gives them the oppurtunity to kill Ultron at any point in time, which would destroy Ultron in every point in time.

The Avengers plus the future Romanoff and Barton come up with a plan to find Ultron before he becomes too powerful and deactivate him. After Hill gets notified that the Russian base has been overtaken by Ultron, the Avengers go there and fight Ultron. However, his army take the Avengers on, allowing Ultron to escape. A fight breaks out into Moscow, which causes the city much destruction, which is blamed on the Avengers. When a S.H.I.E.L.D. logo is spotted on a team helping the Avengers, Hill's plans to ease the world into the new S.H.I.E.L.D. are destroyed, forcing her to abruptly reveal it to the world. The Avengers, with their future counterparts, take refuge in Fury's quiet farmhouse in Southern United States. There, they realize that the only way to stop Ultron is to destroy the synthetic body before he can create it. They decide to travel to the future to discover where Ultron gets it. In 2025, future Romanoff, Barton, Wilson, and Hill, along with 2015 Stark, Rogers, and Pym sneak into Ultron's base of operations. Wilson is killed on the way in, while Barton sacrifices himself to get them into Ultron's room. There, they discover that in 2015, Ultron goes to Banner, who creates it for him. Returning to Central Park, Romanoff and Hill confront Banner.

In 2015, the Avengers decide to recruit Betty Ross, Banner's former girlfriend who has one of the smartest minds in the world, while Thor goes off on his own quest to find the Well of Secrets. Banner find Ross in Brooklyn, but discovers Ultron has gotten to her first. Ultron forces Banner to build him the synthetic body or else he will kill Ross. Banner reluctantly begins building the body. In 2025, Banner is revealed to be carrying the guilt, as he thought the Avengers could take on Ultron, while Thor never returned from his quest to find the Well of Secrets. Stark, Rogers, and Pym race back to 2015, where they discover Banner has already left. In Brooklyn, the Avengers find Banner, Ross, and Ultron before the body is completed. Ultron escapes with Ross in tow, leaving Banner angered. However, Stark and Banner take the body secretly to build for themselves. Thor, in the Well, is given a vision of the past, present, and future. He learns that at the beginning of time, six "stones" were created, encompassing Space, Time, Soul, Reality, Power, and Mind. Thor also sees Banner building the body, and in the future, Ultron has destroyed the world. While grouped together, the body is found in the lab, which turns the Avengers against each other. Ultimately, they decide to give the body a mind of its own, using the powerful gem found in the Russian Hydra base. Thor returns and, striking the body with his hammer, gives life to the body, which he calls "Vision", due to the gem in Vision's forehead, being the Mind Stone.

The Avengers realize that with Vision on their side, Ultron is powerless. However, Romanoff and Barton return from 2025, revealing that they only made things worse. Due to Ultron still having Ross, he forced her to create several more of Vision, and now Ultron has used them to not take over the world, but destroy it completely, leaving only a few survivors, including themselves due to their time-jumping. The Avengers then debate over whether or not they should destroy Vision now to prevent the future, or use him to their advantage. Thor, van Dyne, Stark, Banner, and Rogers take Vision with them while leaving, though Pym, Maximoff, Romanoff, and Barton discover he is gone and go after them. Fury calls in Hill, who realizes a battle is on the way. The two Avengers factions confront each other in the streets of New York. Fighting over each other, Vision discovers Ultron and Ross in Stark Enterprises. After a fight, Ross is set free, and Vision and Ultron take a final battle. The Avengers group together once they realize Ultron is being overpowered. However, his army comes to the city, forcing another battle. Vision manages to depower Ultron and destroys him. All of his army is disabled as well, though the damage to New York is immense.

In his Hulk form, Banner realizes he has created much damage, both as the Hulk and Banner, and leaves Earth in a S.H.I.E.L.D. jet. Though no more future versions of themselves appear in 2015, the Avengers choose to believe they saved it. Stark decides to retire as Iron Man to live a life with Pepper Potts, while Pym decides to focus on saving Hope Pym full-time. Thor returns to Asgard, leaving Rogers, van Dyne, Romanoff, Barton, and Maximoff to train the new Avengers, consisting of James Rhodes, Wilson, and Vision.

In a mid-credits scene, Thanos is notified that another Infinity Stone has been located on Earth. In a post-credits scene, the United Nations reviews footage of the Avengers' various destruction throughout their battles. General Thunderbolt Ross proposes the Superhuman-Registration Act.

## Cast

* Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
* Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
* Chris Hemsworth as Thor
* Paul Rudd as Hank Pym/Ant-Man
* Evangelline Lilly as Janet van Dyne/Wasp
* Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk
* Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
* Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
* Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
* Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine
* Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon
* Paul Bettany as Vision
* Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill
* Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
* James Spader as Ultron