Avengers: Age of Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron is a 2015 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics superhero team the Avengers, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to 2012's *The Avengers* and the eleventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). The film was written and directed by Joss Whedon and features an ensemble cast that includes Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Stellan Skarsgård, James Spader, and Samuel L. Jackson. In the film, the Avengers fight Ultron, an artificial intelligence obsessed with causing human extinction.

## Plot

In the Eastern European country of Sokovia, the Avengers—Tony Stark, Steve Rogers, Thor, Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton—raid a Hydra facility commanded by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who has been experimenting on humans using the scepter previously wielded by Loki. They encounter two of Strucker's test subjects—twins Pietro Maximoff, who has superhuman speed, and Wanda Maximoff, who has telepathic and telekinetic abilities—and apprehend Strucker, while Stark retrieves Loki's scepter.

Stark and Banner discover an artificial intelligence within the scepter's gem, and secretly decide to use it to complete Stark's "Ultron" global defense program. The unexpectedly sentient Ultron, believing he must eradicate humanity to save Earth, eliminates Stark's A.I. J.A.R.V.I.S. and attacks the Avengers at their headquarters. Escaping with the scepter, Ultron uses the resources in Strucker's Sokovia base to upgrade his rudimentary body and build an army of robot drones. Having killed Strucker, he recruits the Maximoffs, who hold Stark responsible for their parents' deaths by his company's weapons, and goes to the base of arms dealer Ulysses Klaue in Johannesburg to obtain Wakandan vibranium. The Avengers attack Ultron and the Maximoffs, but Wanda subdues them with haunting visions, causing the Hulk (Banner) to rampage until Stark stops him with his anti-Hulk armor.[N 1]

A worldwide backlash over the resulting destruction, and the fears Wanda's hallucinations incited, send the team into hiding at a safe house. Thor departs to consult with Dr. Erik Selvig on the apocalyptic future he saw in his hallucination, while Nick Fury arrives and encourages the team to form a plan to stop Ultron. In Seoul, Ultron uses Loki's scepter to enslave the team's friend Dr. Helen Cho. They use her synthetic-tissue technology, vibranium, and the scepter's gem to craft a new body. As Ultron uploads himself into the body, Wanda is able to read his mind; discovering his plan for human extinction, the Maximoffs turn against Ultron. Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton find Ultron and retrieve the synthetic body, but Ultron captures Romanoff.

The Avengers fight amongst themselves when Stark secretly uploads J.A.R.V.I.S.—who is still operational after hiding from Ultron inside the Internet—into the synthetic body. Thor returns to help activate the body, explaining that the gem on its brow—one of the six Infinity Stones, the most powerful objects in existence—was part of his vision. This "Vision" and the Maximoffs accompany the Avengers to Sokovia, where Ultron has used the remaining vibranium to build a machine to lift a large part of the capital city skyward, intending to crash it into the ground to cause global extinction. Banner rescues Romanoff, who awakens the Hulk for the battle. The Avengers fight Ultron's army while Fury arrives in a Helicarrier with Maria Hill, James Rhodes and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to evacuate civilians. Pietro dies when he shields Barton from gunfire, and a vengeful Wanda abandons her post to destroy Ultron's primary body, which allows one of his drones to activate the machine. The city plummets, but Stark and Thor overload the machine and shatter the landmass. In the aftermath, the Hulk, unwilling to endanger Romanoff by being with her, departs in a Quinjet, while the Vision confronts and seemingly destroys Ultron's last remaining body.

Later, with the Avengers having established a new base run by Fury, Hill, Cho, and Selvig, Thor returns to Asgard to learn more about the forces he suspects have manipulated recent events. As Stark leaves and Barton retires, Rogers and Romanoff prepare to train new Avengers: Rhodes, the Vision, Sam Wilson, and Wanda.

In a mid-credits scene, Thanos, dissatisfied by the failures of his pawns, dons a gauntlet and vows to retrieve the Infinity Stones himself.

## Cast

* Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man
* Chris Hemsworth as Thor
* Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk
* Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America
* Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow
* Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton/Hawkeye
* Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine
* Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver
* Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch
* Paul Bettany as Vision/J.A.R.V.I.S.
* Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill
* Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon
* Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter
* Idris Elba as Heimdall
* Linda Cardellini as Laura Barton
* Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig
* Claudia Kim as Helen Cho
* Thomas Kretschmann as Wolfgang von Strucker
* James Spader as Ultron
* Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury
* Andy Serkis as Ulysses Klaue
* Julie Delpy as Madame B.
* Stan Lee as Stan the Man
* Henry Goodman as Doctor List
* Dominique Provost-Chalkley as Zrinka
* Isaac Andrews as Costel
* Ben Sakamoto as Cooper Barton
* Imogen Poynton & Isabella Poynton as Lila Barton
* Aaron Himelstein as Cameron Klein
* Kerry Condon as Friday
* Jaiden Stafford as Nathaniel Barton
* Bentley Kalu as Klaue's Mercenary
* Josh Brolin as Thanos (uncredited)

## Sequels

Avengers: Age of Ultron was followed by two sequels: Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Two additional sequels Avengers: The Kang Dynasty and Avengers: Secret Wars are scheduled for 2025 and 2026 respectively.

## Trivia

* This is the eleventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
* This is the fourth highest grossing film of 2015.
* This is the lowest grossing Avengers film.
* This is the second film in the Avengers series
* This is one of the few MCU films to reach 1 Billion worldwide the others were The Avengers, Iron Man 3, Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man: Far From Home and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
* James Spader was Joss Whedon's only choice for the role of Ultron, because of his "hypnotic voice that can be eerily calm and compelling, while also being very human and humorous."
* Elizabeth Olsen, Samuel L. Jackson, and Josh Brolin appeared in Oldboy (2013).
* In the comics, Ultron was created by Dr. Hank Pym (Ant-Man). In this film, Ultron is a dormant project developed by Tony Stark, while Pym gets his own separate story in Ant-Man (2015).
* James Spader uses his natural speaking voice for Ultron. The voice was then processed to give it a more metallic, machine-like quality.
* Joss Whedon has said that he wanted Spider-Man and Captain Marvel to appear in the final sequence, but they were unable to include them in the movie due to timing and rights issues.
* The trailer was viewed thirty-four million times on YouTube in the first twenty-four hours after it was released. This broke the record that was previously held by Iron Man 3 (2013).
* Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson consulted each other before accepting the roles of Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver. The two became friends while filming Godzilla (2014), and as soon as they found out that both had offers, they called each other to check if the other was doing it before signing on.
* In Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: The Dirty Half Dozen (2015), it is Agent Coulson (Clark Gregg) who breaks into a H.Y.D.R.A. base and locates Loki's (Tom Hiddleston's) scepter. He then contacts Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), so she can let The Avengers know to go to Sokovia and retrieve it, as they do in the beginning of this movie.
* Lou Ferrigno contributed to the voice of The Incredible Hulk in this movie. He has played The Incredible Hulk in almost every live-action version since 1978. He played The Incredible Hulk in The Incredible Hulk (1977), and its subsequent three television movies, and he voiced The Incredible Hulk in The Incredible Hulk (2008), in which he also played a security guard. He also played a security guard in Hulk (2003). He has also voiced The Incredible Hulk in various animated productions.
* When Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson learned that their roles Wanda and Pietro Maximoff would be based on their "Marvel Ultimates" version, they both read and studied every single issue in order to prepare for the role.
* This is not the first villainous role in a Marvel-based film for Thomas Kretschmann, as he has previously played a villain in Blade II (2002).
* Unlike some of the comic books, Scarlet Witch doesn't wear a red suit.
* Paul Bettany (The Vision) is good friends with Stellan Skarsgård (Dr. Erik Selvig). In fact, Bettany and his wife Jennifer Connelly named their firstborn child "Stellan", after Skarsgård.
* The prelude to this film is on the mid-credits scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
* This is the first (and so far only) time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that Thor appears in a movie without Loki. Tom Hiddleston did film a scene, reprising Loki, but it was ultimately cut from the final version, as Joss Whedon felt it "didn't play" well with the film as a whole.
* Elizabeth Olsen worked with a dance choreographer to make her movements more graceful for action sequences.
* In the comics, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are born mutants. In this movie, they got their powers due to experimentation of H.Y.D.R.A. on them. This change has to do with the fact that Twentieth Century Fox holds the rights to the X-Men film franchise and the whole mutant concept. Therefore, this change was intended to disassociate the film from the X-Men film franchise to avoid legal issues.
* At some point, The Abomination (the villain from The Incredible Hulk (2008)) was going to be an antagonist in the film, or secondary villain, and Tim Roth would have reprised his role from that film. However, The Abomination was written out of the film.
* This film has the most visual effects shots for any Marvel movie to date, with over three thousand. Previously, Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) held the record with two thousand seven hundred fifty shots.
* This film marks the first Marvel Cinematic Universe appearance of Tony Stark without Pepper Potts, with the exception of his cameo role in The Incredible Hulk (2008). It is also the only Iron Man or Avengers film that does not feature Pepper Potts.
* Elizabeth Olsen stated in an interview that she is happy that her character's outfit is not accurate to the comic book, as it would be inappropriate for combat.
* In Avengers Assemble (2012), Banner is shown becoming The Incredible Hulk, but is never shown reverting back to Banner. In this movie, Banner is never shown becoming The Incredible Hulk, but is shown reverting back to Banner.
* Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen worked back-to-back, first playing husband and wife in Godzilla (2014), and now brother and sister in this film.
* Neither Quicksilver, nor Scarlet Witch, are called by their superhero names in this movie. They are referred to as "the Enhanced", "the Twins", or their full names Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. However, Tony Stark calls Wanda a "witch" during his fight with The Incredible Hulk.
* Klaue is seen wearing a necklace with a claw. The comics state he got that from murdering T'Chaka, the King of Wakanda, and the current Black Panther (2018) T'Challa's father.
* Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019) were announced before the release of this film.
* Robert Downey Jr., Jeremy Renner, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, and Scarlett Johansson were called in three months before the release of the film to do several re-shoots.
* The Incredible Hulk doesn't speak a single word in this movie, unlike his other appearances in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
* This film has additional music composed by Danny Elfman. This was Elfman's fifth superhero venture after Tim Burton's Batman Movies, The Flash (1990), Sam Raimi's Spider-Man Movies, and Ang Lee's Hulk (2003).
* Andy Serkis considers his role a cameo rather than an actual part in the movie.
* All of the main, original Avengers in this movie are manipulated in some way by Scarlet Witch, with the exception of Hawkeye. Incidentally, Hawkeye was the only member of The Avengers to be under the mind control of Loki in Avengers Assemble (2012).
* The sound effect used for Vision (Paul Bettany) using his Infinity Stone is the same sound used for Rey's (Daisy Ridley's) blaster in Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (2015). The sound for both movies was done by Skywalker Sound.
* One of the highest grossing opening days ever for any film, hitting around eighty-five million dollars in its first day.
* Saoirse Ronan was considered to play Wanda Maximoff (Scarlet Witch).
* The title card doesn't appear until twelve minutes into the movie.
* Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Anthony Mackie (The Falcon) appeared in The Hurt Locker (2008).
* Thor and The Incredible Hulk are not seen again until Thor: Ragnarok (2017).
* The first two Avengers movies have a mid credits scenes about Thanos, in some way expressing his anger towards Earth and the human race. This sets up Avengers: Infinity War (2018).
* This is Andy Serkis' second comic-book movie, after working on The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn (2011).
* This is Aaron Taylor-Johnson's fourth comic book movie, after Kick-Ass (2010), Kick-Ass 2 (2013), and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
* Lindsay Lohan auditioned for the role of Wanda Maximoff.
* The first Marvel movie soundtrack to have two composers.
* This is the second movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to have the villain's name in the title, the first one being Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014).
* This is the third Robert Downey Jr. movie to feature music composed by Danny Elfman. The others being Back to School (1986) and Weird Science (1985).
* This is the only Avengers film to not be composed by Alan Silversti.