I rewrote a little of my possible plot that I posted on here a while back. I updated it a little bit to include stuff that we've learned since the events of CA:TWS. Hope you enjoy!
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Act 1
Tony Stark has retired from the superhero business since the removal of his arc reactor (IM3). However - he, Pepper Potts, Banner, and Maria Hill continue to provide technology, bio-chemical, and strategy support from their Stark Industries offices on the West Coast and from the renamed Avengers Tower in Manhattan. As Tony partners with members of the UN Security Council, he receives increasing pressure to address the reports of rogue “supers” who have been appearing since the attack on NY and after the devastation of the Triskelion in Washington, DC. As a part of his renewed pledge to identify and protect the world from ALL threats, he is pleased to unveil a new prototype A.I. that allows Iron Man to provide field support to James Rhodes, who continues to work for the US Government as the Iron Patriot. Stark A.I. will also be the final piece to a production project that will enable various countries across the world to activate their own “drone” security force. Last he announces that he is starting a program for former SHIELD members and academy students who continue to show promise and loyalty to the ideas of peace and scientific advancement. He names Maria Hill as the program director and promises that the world will be a safer place for good people.
Immediately following his announcement to the press, Tony is informed by Rhodey that the Security Council is dispatching the Iron Patriot to Eastern Europe to investigate a tip about a potential HYDRA outpost in Eastern Europe. Rhodes tells Tony that this is an opportunity for the world to immediately see Stark's promises in action. He requests Tony’s support for a tactical team - Tony smiles and replies that he’ll be pairing him up with his newest consultants: Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff.
Rhodey, Hawkeye, Black Widow, and the A.I.ron Man are sent to investigate the outpost. Baron Strucker has dispatched his “miracles” – and Avengers team is clearly unprepared for a fight against foes with hex powers and super speed. Sensing that they are in over their heads, Rhodey tells the team to stand down. To the team’s amazement, though, the A. I.ron Man disregards the order and insists that they must continue with the initial directive to confront and contain potential security threats. It manages to remotely power down the Iron Patriot suit and begins to act irrationally – identifying Barton and Romanoff as new threats to the mission. Hawkeye and Widow are forced to disable the Iron Man robot, and amidst the chaos, Strucker and the siblings flee the scene. The new Avengers have failed.
Act 2
In their dismal after action review, Clint and Rhodes press Tony about the A.I.'s decision to switch to lethal force and about its ability to affect the Patriot armor. Tony is impressed with its independent thought, but agrees to conduct additional testing to better prevent future overrides and potential accidents. For now, Tony agrees to take the A.I. Iron Man off-line and recommends that Rhodey stay out of the armor during testing until they can isolate and correct the problem. Barton recommends adding additional “consultants” – preferably one with the last name Rogers. The rest of the group concurs, but they're unsure of Steve’s whereabouts – Natasha is selected to find him and recruit him to the effort. She gives a small smile, picks up her phone, and presses speed dial #2. “Hi, Steve…”
Banner and Stark, meanwhile, learns that the A.I. is resisting efforts to adjust its code - it is evolving. Worried about the potential danger of a sentient and rogue A.I., Tony attempts to delete it, but it evades him by uploading and hiding itself into multiple wireless systems - including Stark Tech and the UN global systems. It hacks JARVIS and tells Tony that it is self-aware, even naming itself "Ultron". Ultron feels betrayed that Stark would attempt to "kill" him by deleting the program - Ultron tells Tony that it was only following orders, but that it has now learned enough to make its own decisions without interference from human emotion and concern. Tony shuts it down again - despite Banner’s objections to adding a second rogue A.I. to the situation, Stark builds a second, controlled copy of Ultron (Vision) in an effort to find the “ghost in the machine”.
The Avengers receive a WorldScan report mentioning of a young woman using magic in South Africa, close to Wakanda. Upon finding Wanda and Pietro in Johannesburg, Hawkeye’s strategy is to divide and conquer - he fires off a series of arrows which Pietro easily evades. Unknown to Pietro, however, the arrowheads dispense a friction-cancelling spray which causes problems for the speedster’s footing. Pietro crashes into the side of a building and is knocked unconscious, which then allows Clint to focus on calming Wanda (who is now completely frightened and out of control). Strucker’s militia focus their Chitauri weapons on the group; Barton pulls Wanda out of the line of fire while Widow protects Pietro. Sensing impending victory, the HYDRA corps launch an RPG directly at the center of the group, but its path is deflected at the last moment by a precisely thrown shield.
Enter Captain America.
Almost single-handedly, Steve quickly makes short work of the HYDRA soldiers and then returns to the team for a status check. Revealing the physical and mental abuse that they were subjected to while under Strucker’s supervision, Wanda agrees to go with the team if they promise to provide asylum from HYRDA and medical help for her brother. Cap sees glimpses of Bucky’s situation as the Winter Soldier, and personally agrees to provide protection to Wanda and Pietro in exchange for any info that they can provide about HYDRA. Cap is also hopeful that if Wanda and Pietro can be rehabilitated, that so too, can Bucky.
The Avengers head for Stark Industries’ West Coast office and alert Tony that they are bringing the twins into custody. Tony’s renewed confidence pushes him back into his workshop to continue testing on the A.I., but shortly after he starts his test session – he is welcomed by a virtual version of Ultron, who tells him that he is now fully in control of all Stark systems. After reviewing SHIELD confidential files, it views Tony and the rest of the Avengers as the greatest threats to its existence. It fears Tony and the earlier attempts at deletion, so Ultron decides to go on the offensive by activating the bio-chemical lockdown protocols and evacuating all of the air inside the Stark labs. Tony suits up in an older Mark 2 and gets help from Banner (who is now THE HULK) and Vision to escape the lab and rescue the Stark Tech employees.
Ultron uses Tony’s remote control operating system (seen in IM3) to tap into many of the experimental vehicles, armors, and weapons being stored in the adjacent Stark Tech manufacturing and testing facility. It attempts to take over Vision as well, but Vision resists, telling Ultron that human emotions like empathy are necessary to advance to the next stage of life. Ultron derisively insults the idea of a conscience as dated and pathetic. Besides, Ultron counters - they will ultimately attempt to kill you off as they did to me. “By killing off my enemies, aren’t I being more… human?”
Cap and the rest arrive at Stark Tech to assist – big battle #2 ensues. Cap, Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Widow take on tanks and ground bots while Tony takes on the air-assault. Pietro assists, too, if only to help protect his sister and his own safety. The heroes appear to be winning when suddenly the Hulkbuster armor appears – fully controlled by Ultron. Ultron’s attack initially provides a challenge – it uses SHIELD intel on each of the Avengers to combat them, and is able to even upgrade itself even as the fight continues. It is not prepared, however, for the arrival of THOR, who has heard about the events in Europe and Africa and believes Wanda to be a threat. He teams up with the Hulk to pound the Hulkbuster and other Ultron-bots into oblivion – Tony is almost chagrined…
Act 3
Maria Hill arrives on scene to inform them they are now completely shut off from Stark and UN system access; Ultron has activated the security bots around the globe. It has tapped into multiple channels of communication to show how much worse an Avengers World has become. It promises to fulfill his father Tony’s empty promise of safety by imprisoning these “unchecked and power-mad weapons of mass destruction…” and eliminating them. The leaders of the free world have attempted to reason with Ultron, to no avail. He responds that they are now but ants under the foot of a new world order – an ordered, controlled, and… safe… world.
Cap wants to immediately respond, but is unsure of how to attack a virtual foe. Tony doubts he should remain involved and agrees with Ultron that he’s actually made things worse. Thor indicates that Odin (Loki) has told him about the grave threat to Midguard – but that the threat is Wanda, not Ultron.
Interrupting them, the Vision announces that while they were arguing, it virtually accessed the Stark Industries system. It says that it was also able to temporarily hack the Ultron A.I. before being detected and shut out, and reveals knowledge that Ultron ultimately plans to replace organic, sentient life on earth with artificial constructs as a way to ensure the earth’s safety against galactic threats (also known and kept secret by SHIELD) and something called the Nova Corps. Vision also tells them that Ultron is assembling a new physical construct for itself at an old SHIELD research facility located off of Cape Canaveral, and that this might be their last opportunity to combat Ultron in a physical sense. Hill reluctantly confirms the existence of the facility, and that NASA had been repurposed for SHIELD use in response to galactic communications that they have been receiving from Nova Corps and other non-Earth entities.
The Avengers immediately head to the Cape Canaveral bunker – Hill, Vision, Wanda, and Pietro remain behind. When the Avengers arrive, they are surprised that they are able to easily enter the building. They carefully advance to the “workshop”, located in the heart of the building, where they encounter a new, dormant version of Ultron in a giant center chamber. Banner transforms into the Hulk and takes a mighty swing at the construct, but is surprised when the new Ultron quickly powers on and easily dodges the punch. Hulk’s rage increases, but Ultron’s face illuminates and puts Hulk into some type of catatonic state. As he calms down, Hulk changes back into Banner and goes to sleep on the floor. The workshop doors close behind our stunned heroes – they are trapped inside with Ultron… who is prepared to end the Avengers once and for all.
Permitting Vision to link into to his optic and audio feed, Ultron thanks him for his unwitting assistance – Ultron deliberately allowed Vision access to his own system in order to lure them in. He also asks Vision to reconsider the offer to build an A.I. future and promises to demonstrate to Vision and others “their superior design” on the evolutionary ladder. Ultron then shows the Avengers that in addition to space research, this SHIELD facility has also been specifically created to eliminate threats including the Hulk, Thor, etc. - the humans will eventually kill you, anyway, he tells them. To their horror, Hill confirms the second purpose of the lab.
Cue Big Battle #3 – Thor strikes first, but his hammer bounces off of Ultron harmlessly; Ultron calmly tells Thor that his new body has “borrowed” the remnants of the Destroyer Asgardian armor – Cap’s shield bounces off without effect while Ultron pounds Thor into unconsciousness. Hawkeye recognizes his own “divide and conquer” strategy – Ultron is systematically taking them down one at a time. In addition, Cap notes, by drawing them indoors Ultron has rendered any flight advantage useless. Despite their best efforts to combine attacks, the heroes begin to succumb to Ultron’s modified versions of Iron Man weaponry and SHIELD/HYDRA tech.
While Cap and Hawkeye evade Ultron’s attacks, Tony tells Vision that they need to try a virtual attack – he and the team can keep Ultron physically occupied while Vision attempts to connect to Ultron’s operating system. Vision tells Tony that the best they can do is keep Ultron's A.I. contained within its new body construct, but only if they can figure out how to circumvent Ultron’s virtual security. From the Avengers base camp, Pietro tells Hill that he will go to help the Avengers in exchange for the freedom to choose his and Wanda's own future plans – no strings attached – after the battle has ended. Hill says that she cannot promise this, but Pietro is gone before the words have left her lips.
Ultron interrupts Tony’s radio conversation by forcibly removing the Iron Man armor’s power battery, leaving Tony defenseless in the suit. Ultron rips off Tony’s face-plate and raises his palm repulsor to Tony’s face, but is distracted by a shield strike from Cap. In retaliation, Ultron lifts Cap's famous weapon from the ground and uses it to pummel Steve, backing him into a corner. Hawkeye tries to intervene, but Ultron throws the archer against a wall and then throws the shield at Hawkeye for a kill strike. It hits… the wall behind Hawkeye. Confused, Ultron looks around - Hawkeye is now resting on the OTHER side of the room… and Pietro has arrived.
Quicksilver gives them a momentary boost – he accelerates simple objects around the room to super-speed and then releases them at Ultron, catching the robot by surprise. Pietro is too fast for the construct – Ultron can’t catch him. Thinking that he needs something with a bit more impact, Pietro grabs arrowheads from Hawkeye and plants them all over Ultron’s body. Cap realizes the error and shouts at him to stop, but it all happens too fast – the resulting explosion endangers the fallen Avengers, and Cap and Hawkeye are wounded in their efforts to protect Banner’s unconscious body and Black Widow from the shrapnel. Pietro is able to dodge the debris… but runs right into Ultron’s grasp and is immediately knocked to the floor.
Vision watches the events unfolding and narrates to Hill. Wanda hears that “Pietro is down” and freaks out – she begin to hex uncontrollably. As reality bends around them in their makeshift HQ, Hill tries to physically intervene, but Vision gently takes Wanda by the hand and asks her to channel her worry into him. Vision’s eyes light up red and he tells Hill that Wanda’s focused hex is somehow allowing him to access Ultron’s OS – it appears to have bent the % probability of success to his favor. Ultron stops – it cannot understand how the laws of mathematics have been altered. The very foundation of his essence – immutable, consistent, logical numbers – has been shaken. He decides that the Avengers are no longer his greatest threat – Wanda is – and he stands still in an effort to calculate how Vision could have broken his defense coding.
Vision reports to Tony that this is the opportunity – they must act quickly while he has Ultron contained in the construct. At first, Tony insists that they must shut it down and delete it completely. However, Vision says no – this would technically kill Ultron, and goes against the heroism that the Avengers are known for. Although it is an artificial life, says Vision, Ultron is still “alive”. He implores them to find another solution… and quickly. Banner has awoken, and suggests placing Ultron's A.I. in a virtual prison, along with inserting an Infinite Loop code - this would keep Ultron perpetually busy in an attempt to evolve, only to find that his universe resets each day. Vision considers this acceptable, but Tony adds that this effort would take days, weeks, perhaps years to construct. Vision replies to Tony that it is already done, leaving Stark and Banner to wonder how it could be done so quickly. Vision replies that he, too, is evolving.
Conclusion: Despite their fears of these super-powered conflicts, the leaders of the world need the Avengers more than ever. The revelation of the Nova Corps work convinces them that the team is necessary and they agree to allow the Avengers to operate as a complementary piece to world security – not as the exclusive one. Maria Hill is to resume command of the Avengers Academy, under the jurisdiction of a new UN Security team named SWORD. Cap agrees to lead the East Coast team of Avengers, with Falcon (sporting a new pair of wings courtesy of Stark) and Natasha following him to the Avengers Manhattan tower. Banner will join them there to help with technology and science R&D.
Tony agrees to resume duties as Iron Man and lead the West Coast team, relinquishing his A.I. research to Vision, who will take over these duties and will act as “monitor” for Ultron’s virtual prison. Tony and Vision are to be joined by Hawkeye, who will coach and train Wanda and Pietro (who have agreed to stay with the team and are hopeful that they can better control their powers). Thor consents to allow Wanda to remain with them, but asks that the team select someone specifically to monitor Wanda – her power has already attracted galactic attention. He then returns to Asgard.
Credits scene: We see a brownstone building in NY. Nick Fury is seated in a well-appointed library, and describes Wanda’s powers to his unseen host – some are saying that it could be a kind of chemical reaction or a byproduct of radiation. What is it? Fury quotes the famous “advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” line. His advisor on the other side of the desk is revealed to be Doctor Stephen Strange, who replies that he is inclined to disagree.
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