Age of Ultron Your worries/concerns with Age of Ultron

[BigThor]

They can easily avoid that by having The Avengers defeat all of Ultron's drones before facing him.

 

[MbJ]

The film is NOT going to start without explained how The Avengers reassembled.

You can bank on it.

Actually I think it's pretty likely they start with the battle against HYDRA and then explain what happened on the way back.

Hit the ground running and all.

 

[hoy-small-fry]

While I don't have that many worries, my main gripe would be mmm damn Hoy-small-fry, your avvie is nice...

t:t:t:

Got to love Bobbi

On the contrary, I think making Stark the creator of Ultron in the MCU and not Pym is one of the best decisions they could've ever made. It is the culmination of several major plot details laid down from previous movies and the pay-off is much better and bigger than just to include a character unknown to the audience for the sake of keeping up with the villain's comic origins.

You win +1 internet. Agree 100%, Stark creating Ultron makes perfect sense

 

[ctsketch]

The film is NOT going to start without explained how The Avengers reassembled.

You can bank on it.

Whedon already stated the movie starts like the Godfather Sequal...Insitu

 

[Doc Samson]

On the contrary, I think making Stark the creator of Ultron in the MCU and not Pym is one of the best decisions they could've ever made. It is the culmination of several major plot details laid down from previous movies and the pay-off is much better and bigger than just to include a character unknown to the audience for the sake of keeping up with the villain's comic origins.

When I first saw Iron Man 3, I was really dissatisfied with it, and particularly the ending; I though "Okay, now it feels like IM he doesn't even want to do this anymore. He doesn't even need to be in the suit, so why doesn't he just create a bunch of armors like he did in this movie, have JARVIS take control of them like he did, and just take a break on the couch with all the Avengers while an army of robots just to their work for them? Man, they really ****ed this up..."

It's something I mentioned on these forums way back when IM3 was released, you can look me up. To my surprise, when I saw the premise and the trailers for this movie, it seemed like they're heading exactly in this direction. Tony Stark wants to make an AI-controlled robots to take over their duties as peace-keepers. Basically exactly what I was wondering when I saw IM3 and thought that was a bad idea - because here they're gonna show us EXACTLY how bad it is. Which I think is ****ing awesome, and just a natural progression over previous movies.

Not only that, but Ultron will retain the interesting connection he has with his creator, which in these movies is someone the audiences already know, thus making the emotional impact much stronger, kinda like how Thor had this connection with the villain of the first Avengers movie. Also, it will culminate in JARVIS basically transcending into the Vision - something I think is ****ing brilliant, and since it involves characters that have been around since the first ever MCU movie (Stark and JARVIS), it makes for a much more satisfying payoff, and adds to the complexity of the "creator-creation" motif, something that's crucial for the character of Ultron.

Fans are acting like it's the worst thing in the world that maybe Hank Pym is not the the creator of Ultron, but I'd rather see a fresh and new take on the character's origin that is much more in tune with previous movies in the universe and a much more satisfying culmination, than have something just for the sake of being faithful to the comic books. Maybe it's Marvel's fault that they didn't introduce Ant-Man earlier, but given how the situation unfolded I think they handled it perfectly by changing this aspect of the story into something that's much better established at this point and makes perfect sense.

Excellent post. I wasn't disagreeing with Stark being the face of the MCU, I actually said in my original post that it made sense. I do also like that he's the creator of Ultron and Jarvis leading to Vision.

However, I also can acknowledge how fans may start to get tired with the IM character for those very same reasons. I think it was smart, it wasn't necessary though. Particularly if they're still gonna introduce Ant-man and those characters anyway. Yes, it ties into IM3 and Stark's new outlook on life, but he still could've been involved with creating a robotic army without directly creating Ultron itself. Or he could've been involved alongside Banner and Pym. Or just Pym. All I'm suggesting is that the more you incorporate Stark into these films in a lead capacity, it's inevitable that some might feel the weight of diminishing returns.

 

[BigThor]

Whedon already stated the movie starts like the Godfather Sequal...Insitu

How did The Godfather sequel start?

I don't quite remember, it's been a longgggg time.

 

[ctsketch]

How did The godfather sequel start?

I don't quite remember, it's been a longgggg time.

pretty much in the middle of everything..without any explanation of segway. the Avengers will be already together...a force that has been fighting together..they never really "disbanded" after A2...they were just kinda doing their own things.... Tony and Banner kept in contact. Thor was on Asgard (now back on earth) Widow, Cap and Hawkeye were shield but now that's gone. they dont really need a reason to be hanging out at the tower together

 

[BigThor]

Sounds terrible.....

 

[ctsketch]

Why is it terrible? The Hydra threat was exposed in TWS...and like Nick said the Avengers would return when they need them to.....you want to spend 10 minutes on "Let's get the band back together!" when they were never...not together in the first place?

 

[BigThor]

Why is it terrible? The Hydra threat was exposed in TWS...and like Nick said the Avengers would return when they need them to.....you want to spend 10 minutes on "Let's get the band back together!" when they were never...not together in the first place?

Yep sure do

 

[ctsketch]

hmmm... Maybe they could do it through exposition....unless Whedon changed his mind about that kind of opening

 

[BigThor]

I would at least like to see Stark & Cap get everyone together and debrief them before the mission.

 

[speno94]

I just thought, isn't Stark just doing what Justin Hammer was trying to do in Iron Man 2. Hammer was making drones for the Army, Marine, Air Force and Navy and Tony is make peace keeping robots for that can assist Avengers and take their duty?

 

[Ghostcrow13]

I just thought, isn't Stark just doing what Justin Hammer was trying to do in Iron Man 2. Hammer was making drones for the Army, Marine, Air Force and Navy and Tony is make peace keeping robots for that can assist Avengers and take their duty?

Well was there something inherently wrong with Hammers idea?

The problem was they were made and controlled by Vanko.

 

[BigThor]

Except that Stark is doing it to try and protect mankind, while Hammer did it just for self gain and to one up Stark.

 

[Mike Murdock]

- I wish Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were already Inhumans and infused with the Terrigen Crystal/mist rather than volunteering to HYDRA to be experimented on and become enhanced from Loki’s sceptre. I hope their origin isn't too convoluted.

See, my fear is the exact opposite. I'm worried they'll be made to be Inhumans and thus making Inhumans seem more like mutants. I don't want people to be going into an Inhumans movie saying "so they're basically mutants, right?" My hope is they leave the source of their powers vague. If they say the sceptre gave them powers, though, they can always retcon it to say they had latent powers if they wanted to (ideally if they ever get back the right to use mutants).

Aw shucks, wouldn't ruin the movie for me, but I kinda prefer the idea of Black Widow with Hawkeye.

No, no, no. Clearly Black Widow should be with Matt Murdock. Hawkeye can go with Bobbi Morse.

 

[Khonshu]

I'm a little worried about run-time. How are they gonna cram all this stuff in?

 

[HelloImBen]

Good thread. I share a lot of the same concerns and hopes you do. In regards to the final battle, how would you do it different? I would also like a change up from the whole city wide end battle but it looks like they are going that route anyway unfortunately. I also don't expect to much of hydra either other than maybe the first 20 minutes.

Here is my real concern tho. I'm worried there are too much characters for everyone to get their due outside of the flashy action moment. I mean...looking at this thing, there is so much to accomplish.

ON TOP OF THAT, there are the twins. They need there own little subplot of why they volunteered for Hydra. What there problem is with the avengers, and there whole redemption in joining the team.

THe list is still going as there is also the Vision. While he doesnt necessarily need to be developed all in one movie and this can just be his intro, it still needs to be handled with care. The way Paul Bettany talks about the role, it does seem quite meaty and emotional...so maybe he is getting more screentime than expected.
.

I'm guessing a lot of people are going to be surprised with how little Vision is actually in the film. While I bet he plays a VERY important role, I also believe he won't appear until Act 3 of the film .

Doesn't make the rest of your post less relevant. A couple of cast members are just going to have surprisingly small roles in terms of screentime. I think Renner and Bettany are good bets. Also haven't heard much about Thor .

 

[The Guard]

I just can't get into it so far.

The trailers are a lot of "people looking vaguely troubled". There's not been much of substance so far.

And their "look, everyone! A robot that has no one controlling it" marketing campaign seems a little tired and generic to me. The only thing that really intrigues me so far is the idea of the team facing serious public backlash/conflict.

 

[BigThor]

I just can't get into it so far.

The trailers are a lot of "people looking vaguely troubled". There's not been much of substance so far.

And their "look, everyone! A robot that has no one controlling it" marketing campaign seems a little tired and generic to me. The only thing that really intrigues me so far is the idea of the team facing serious public backlash/conflict.

But that's exactly what Ultron is though, what more do you want?

 

[DoubleO88]

I hope it doesn't do an Iron Man 3 and give us an awesome trailer then give us a film that looks like it should be a sketch on comedy central.

 

[hoy-small-fry]

I hope it doesn't do an Iron Man 3 and give us an awesome trailer then give us a film that looks like it should be a sketch on comedy central.

Spoiler

Ultron is actually an actor

 

[Son of Coul]

I'm not going to cry that the sky is falling or anything, but based on trailers/things I've read, I feel safe expressing my current trepidations:

-Stark creating drones after seeming to learn it's already a bad idea in IM3 (no "man behind the armor" leading to things like JARVIS's auto-targeting; him learning that the suits are essentially nothing without him, etc). This makes me feel there can be some regression in character that would be odd to see after a whole movie exploring the idea.

-Cap getting nerfed again - mostly in power. There is yet to be any evidence to support this, but it's still on the table that they shot lots of action scenes before seeing TWS's action cut together and realizing how far they can push him while still putting him through the grinder. I was going to also say I'm hoping he comes off a bit less like a weenie when squaring off with Stark, but the clip shown definitely appears to correct that. It's good that they know that sometimes it's actually cool to be good, too.

-Black Widow backpedaling her sense of humor & TWS character breakthroughs. Obviously at this point it's clear I love TWS, and one of the things that I dug was how they rounded her out and made her... well, fun to watch. A1 was a massive improvement over IM2 in making her into an actual character, but it was still a familiar archetype that didn't feel very authentic, and as a result, not as engaging to watch, despite some fun scenes with her (Loki interrogation, for example). Giving her a slick sense of humor that fits her personality worked wonders and should continue. I just worry we'll go back to the occasional "tough girl snarks", rather than TWS's more laid-back approach.

-Bruce losing control over Hulk all over again. I understand that he can never truly control it, since when it snaps on its own (Helicarrier), it's pissed and unpredictable, and when he unleashes it willingly, it's the "Good Hulk", but if we see him go back to TIH stages of lying around in shambles every Hulk-out, it'll feel like we've just stripped the fun out of the character that was finally instilled in A1. So I'm hoping for deeper psychological shenanigans, rather than some convoluted silliness to make an excuse for a Hulkbuster scene.

So there goes my main concerns -- all about character regressions I guess. Ignoring Phase 2 developments, as well as A1 ones, would be the major sin in my eyes. Here are the rest:

-Black Widow and Banner dating. It's basically all but confirmed at this point, and... this is a really, really odd pairing to me. Nothing I've seen between the characters has suggested the seeds of a potential friendship, let alone romance. Even just knowing the characters on their own based on their personalities; a relationship doesn't ring true to me. It almost feels like a Mary Sue move, like "I relate to Banner -- he should totally get the hot chick, even though we're really adversarial and awkward with each other!" I guess if anyone can pull it off, though, Whedon could.

-Ultron Drones. I don't think I need to say much else. Everyone's hoping for not Chitauri 2.0 (or Hammer Drones 2.0, or Sakaarans 2.0, or Extremis soldiers 2.0, or HYDRA 2.0, etc.) cannon fodder situation, but I think it's safe to say it's coming. The main saving grace of this one could be that Ultron lives within each body, therefore forcing each character to essentially be fighting Ultron himself, which is an interesting take on it.

-Trying to widen the scope despite previous claims. Whedon's stock answer for interview questions regarding the sequel's scope was always "I wouldn't go bigger. I'd make it smaller, more personal." I thought this was really cool and fresh way to approach a sequel to a major blockbuster. But now we have this:

“It is bigger,” admits Whedon. “The cast is bigger, the scope is bigger. We have more to work with. Not that we're trying to spend more--in fact, we're trying to avoid bloat wherever possible. But with this [movie], we're on a broader canvas. We're in more countries. We have a bigger world to work with, and a bigger world for them just to be in. Once they exist as a team, we have to deal with what everybody thinks about that, and what that means to the world. It's not as simple as it was.”

This isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it's very common to have things change in movies from even an almost-final draft to a shooting draft, but it makes me wonder whether they'll be riding that line of overstuffing things. Whedon admitted to it being a challenge working the twins into the movie with Ultron being the main story, but we've also got Wakanda with Ulysses Klaw and [BLACKOUT]Heimdall and Loki[/BLACKOUT] and all these other things in there.

These are just some observations that have given me pause. I hope I'm wrong about them of course, and I'm sure I will be for at least most, but just some things that have come to mind based on the marketing and interviews released thus far.

 

[Sterling Archer]

I wish that the announcement of the future slate had come after Age of Ultron. I feel like we already know so much of what's coming that this movie has already happened.

 

[warhorse78]

I just can't get into it so far.

The trailers are a lot of "people looking vaguely troubled". There's not been much of substance so far.

And their "look, everyone! A robot that has no one controlling it" marketing campaign seems a little tired and generic to me. The only thing that really intrigues me so far is the idea of the team facing serious public backlash/conflict.

I agree with this. I am not a comic book reader, but more of the casual film fan, and I am trying to scratch my head around why is this mere robot such a threat? And it doesn't help that I came back from the theaters where they showed two trailers dealing with robots that can think for themselves