Avengers: Age of Ultron was directed and written by Joss Whedon. This was his last Marvel movie, because it was too hard for him to make it with all of the pressure on him. But I think that pressure paid off. Because despite the common opinion that this movie is just ok, but forgettable, I love this movie. It laid out so much of the ground work for Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgmae, the character moments are brilliant, and even the villain is not half bad. It's a fun movie. It's just not one of epic scale and that's alright.
Spoilers ahead for Avengers: Age of Ultron, but also for all of the Marvel movies.
After so many movies in which the Avengers didn't assemble, they finally assemble. Theta protocol in full effect. Yes, that's an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reference as there was an episode that sets up the movie. The Avengers are back. Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye and Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk. They are assembling to attack a Hydra base in Sokovia. Inside the base we have the Loki's Scepter, which the Avengers need to secure. The movie just starts off with pure fun action of watching the Avengers fighting together.
This movie is such an Avengers movie, that I think it is the only Avengers movie which has the theme music of the Avengers over the Marvel logo at the beginning of the movie. But the first thing that we see is the Scepter, which has the Mind Stone in it, which Hydra used in order to experiment on humans. The result is the twins which the post credit scene in Captain America: The Winter Solider promised us. We see Pietro Maximoff who is Quicksilver played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Wanda Maximoff who is The Scarlet Witch played by Elizabeth Olsen holding hands at the beginning of the movie. The not called Mutants are focal point characters.
But not to worry, the Avengers come quickly to make everything more fun. Although the Avengers fight separately at the beginning, expect Black Widow and Hawkeye which fight together, they soon come together. So we quickly get a group shoot of our six Avengers gracing the screen together, kicking ass together. For one split second before they split up again. Then we get the funny joke of Captain America saying "language" after Iron Man said "shit". This makes Captain feel like the 90 year old that he is. I guess Thor just decided to stay on Earth with Jane after Thor: The Dark World. Strucker has a good plan to keep the Avengers at bay, but you know, they are the Avengers. They can't be stopped. The city starts to take fire so Iron Man sends the Iron Legion. Not a great plan. It's just robots telling people to evacuate because the area is unsafe. People are not happy about it. Still, it's an entertaining fight.
Hydra knows that they can't win. They mean to surrender while deleting everything hoping that the Avengers won't find out about everything, but the twins decide that it is time to go public and attack the Avengers themselves. The "you didn't see that coming" line from Quicksilver is really annoying. But he does manage to distract Clint long enough for him to get hurt. Cap calls it, there is an enhanced on the field. I like the term, enhanced. We get a cool callback to the first Avengers movie. When a tank and some soldiers come to attack in close formation, Thor hits Cap's shield deliberately which causes a massive shock wave which knocks all of the soldiers out. They found this out accidently in the Avengers movie when Thor tried to hit Cap and he block the blow with his shield, leveling down half the forest. It's great payoff. Also, when Stark enters the Hydra fortress, I have noticed that he didn't kill anyone. Everyone got really bad knees injuries. Tony gets to the computer and all of the rest of the thugs yield. A good day's work.
When the day is done, you need to go to sleep. Black Widow gives Hulk the lullaby, which causes him to turn back into Bruce Banner. Bruce is not happy with the Hulk being part of the team. In the meantime Stark finds a secret door to the secret part of Hydra. Cap catches Strucker, but Wanda attacks him and runs away. She has some speed of her own here. Something which existed only in this one cool introduction scene of her powers. The Avengers won this battle, but lost the war with Wanda.
Stark is her most significant, unfortunate victim. Stark finds leftovers of Chitauri corpses and technology being used to build robots and he finds the Scepter. Unfortunately for him, Wanda finds him and puts a mean spell on him. He gets a terrifying vision. A giant alien attack on Earth which looks similar to that of Thanos' army in Avengers: Endgame and a mountain of corpses. They include all of the Avengers. Black Widow's position looks suspiciously similar to that of her real death. And we see Cap's shield broken in half, just like it did in Avengers: Endgame, so much foreshadowing in this movie. Stark goes to check Cap's pulse to see if he is really dead, just confirming that Cap is his favorite Avenger. Cap wakes up to tell him that he could have saved them, which he will by sacrificing himself. Stark's face when he sees Rogers dying in his arms is heartbreaking. Wanda sees what Stark saw and she looks shocked. I guess she is happy with that vision because she tells her brother to let Stark keep the Scepter. She has "I am crazy" evil smile look on her face. A truly wonderful villain. Stark doesn't know what hit him.
The Avengers go home. Stark tower is now the Avengers tower, which is their new combined home. They have a nice chat on the Quinjet, but most importantly Stark gets Thor's permission to look over the Scepter for a few days before Thor leaves with it. Before that all so very famous party. Dr. Helen Cho (Claudia Kim) is there to help heal Clint after his injury from the battle. Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders) is there to debrief them. It's funny that when she calls Stark boss he corrects her, saying that Cap is the boss, he just pays for everything, design everything and makes everyone look cooler. Which he totally does. It's also nice how understanding Cap is. Hill tells him that it is crazy that the twins volunteered for Strucker experiments, and he compares that to himself. He also volunteered. He is more understanding then they deserve.
Then Stark and Banner gets to play with his new toy. The gem inside is like a computer. Thinking. And like in the comics, that stones are evil and so is what comes out of it in the end – Ultron. Stark calls Ultron a peace initiative, which he wants to apply to his Iron Legion. So that next time aliens came rolling by, there will be a suit of armor around the world. Peace in their time. I still think Thanos would have won even if Stark's plan worked perfectly. But after some convincing, the Ultron plan gets a green light from Banner.
Then it's party time. Well, first Ultron wakes up. Ultron is voiced by the brilliant James Spader and his really great sexy voice. It's just not a great part. Ultron wakes up on his left. He has a hard time understanding the mission, peace in our time, in a world full of war. I guess he missed the suit of armor around the world part. Humans are not his problem in this plan. It's actually really sad that he killed Jarvis or we rather think that he did. Even though it is just a computer's voice. Then we switch to the party itself. Everyone at the party, even Falcon and War Machine, but the ladies are not there. Natalie Portman probably didn't want to be there and I think that Marvel didn't want to pay enough for Gwyneth Paltrow to be there. As Hill notes, we end up with a lot of testosterone. Sam tells Cap that he is happy chasing leads on their missing person case, I guess that he is talking about Bucky. Cap also invited some World War II veterans who barley survive what Asgardian drink they forced Thor to share with them. Natasha flirting with Bruce is just terrible. I mean they are so wrong for each other. This movie is lucky that Scarlett Johansson is a brilliant actress. Then comes the best part of the party – the after party. The Avengers are all drunk on the coach bricking and then trying to lift Thor's hammer. From some reason Thor says whoever can lift the hammer can be king of Asgard. Stark and Rhodey with their suits try to move it and fail. Captain America manages to slightly move the hammer, a hint for what's to come. Natasha doesn't even want to try. They are all not worthy, but we know that Cap is. The party scene is just great, a bunch of friends bickering and having fun, the Avengers bonding.
But trouble is always around the corner, and in this case Ultron is across the wall. Suddenly, all of the Iron Legion attack under Ultron's command. It is just so terrible how Bruce lands on Natasha's cleavage. I mean it's both offensive and juvenile. The Avengers win, but Ultron escapes to Sokovia, to the Hydra facility there. There he contact the Twins who join him. I didn't really care about their reason for hating the Avengers, I didn't buy it. Ultron manages to convince them that he will save the world and kill the Avengers. They are so naive. Cap is already one step ahead of the game, Ultron said the wanted the Avengers "extinct," but Cap already understands that he is talking about the rest of humanity. In his speech in trying to explain why he created Ultron Stark explains that that up there, the aliens, "that's the endgame". He said the name of the finale Avengers movie in the second movie. It's pretty awesome. Cap says that they will win together, but they weren't together, that's why they lost. It's all spot on predictions for the future.
Then we get our Black Panther set up. Utron killed Strucker. The Avengers try to find out why and come across a face that Stark finds familiar, Andy Serkis's face, Ulysses Klaue. He has a brand in a Wakanda dialect. Yay. It wasn't the best set up, but it was a cool hint. Stark and Rogers immediately get it, Ultron is after vibranium. Serkis is just brilliant, I mean I think he is just so happy to not be in CGI, that he just gives it his best and happiest all. The Twins show up at his office and he recognizes them by their powers. They don't think it's odd that Ultron didn't tell them that he killed Strucker. Klaue only deals with the man in charge so Ultron shows up to talk to him in person. He sell him the vibranium, but then Ultron says something that reminds Klaue of Stark. That upsets Ultron so much that he accidently cuts Klaue's hand off. Ouch. Then the Avengers show up. It's show time. Ultron has some very good points, but it is funny when Ultron makes fun of the villains who explains their evil plan, instead of explaining, he attacks. Much more logical. Unfortunately, he does sort of explain his evil plan to Natasha later when he kidnaps her. We get the reminder that vibranium comes from Wakanda who has a lot more of it than we thought and that Klaue will be a villain in the Black Panther movie. Not a bad introduction, but not brilliant.
Now comes the time of visions during the fight. Utron's fight against Iron Man isn't that interesting. Even Quicksilver is rather boring. He gets taken out when he tries to grab Thor's hammer midflight. That's a damn move. The winner of the most interesting person is the Scarlet Witch. She uses her powers to give everyone terrible visions. A power which she never uses again after this movie. Thor gets a vision of Ragnarok, setting up Thor: Ragnarok. Black Widow gets flashbacks of the red room where she became the Black Widow. She doesn't want to finish her training because she doesn't want to be sterilized. It is such a terrible plotline that there are no words to describe it. Captain America sees a party from the 40's, his era. There he sees Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) telling him it's time for their dance. The dance they never had because he had to sacrifice his life to saves millions. It still haunts him. Then he is standing in an empty hall because that life is gone. Hawkeye manages to disarm the Scarlet Witch so she didn't get a chance to use her powers on him. Unfortunately, Wanda manages to get to Banner. We don't know what he saw, but he goes full Hulk. Iron Man is also not affected because he was busy fighting Ultron. Wanda showed Black Widow and Captain America the horror of their past, and she showed Thor the horror of his future – she is talented.
Then comes a fun part, Iron Man vs Hulk. Or more correctly Iron Man in a Hulkbuster suit vs. a very angry Hulk. Hulk runs into a city and Iron Man is there to stop him with the help of Veronica, a special armor and assistance program designed by Banner and Stark for this kind of situations. It is a very entertaining fight, but a lot of people get hurt. In the end Iron Man manages to knockout the Hulk who turns back to Bruce. All of the Avengers are in rough shape except Hawkeye so he takes the lead.
So yeah, Hawkeye has a personal life. His safe house is his house with his pregnant wife and two kids that only Natasha knows about. Obviously she knows about them because she is his best friend, but that says something about his relationship with the other Avengers whivh isn't all that great. Everyone is super uncomfortable around the kids which is hilarious. Thor leaves immediately to try and figure out what he saw in his vision, while all the rest of the Avengers lay low. Hawkeye's wife says that she thinks that the Avengers do need him despite all of their strengths. I don't know if they do.
Then we learn Ultron's plan. He wants to use the Cradle which regenerates tissues to create a new body for himself. A body which is half human and half vibranium. With the mind stone set in the middle. An interesting concept. What is not interesting is him using Loki's Scepter to control Dr. Helen Cho. We already saw this in the previous Avengers movie, it is old news. Still, it's an interesting plan.
Then we switch back to Barton residence with all kinds of awkward unnecessary scenes. The most terrible one being the Natasha Bruce scene. Unfortunately, your ears did not deceive you, Natasha did compare herself to a monster. It is debatable whether she said it because she can't have children, or because she was a merciless assassin, but that's just bad writing. Not being able to have children, or not wanting to have children doesn't make you a monster. It doesn't make this terrible relationship seem any better or believable. It just awkward and terrible. I am glad it was over after this movie. Clint and his wife are also kind of awkward. Luckily she did call him Hawkeye, which is cute. His family seemed totally unnecessary here, especially given that he has a hearing impairment in the comics which would be something a lot cooler to explore than a wife and kids. Although his family gave the snap such an emotional depth to the event and the character that in hindsight it's hard to complain. Luckily not everything that happens in this house is boring.
You know what isn't boring, the set up for Captain America: Civil War. Rogers is not happy with Stark. Stark tells Rogers that he doesn't trust a person without a dark side, and Rogers says that Stark hasn't seen it yet. I am not sure that what we will see is darker. Rogers is just good at repressing painful memories, it doesn't make them less painful. But, like in Civil War they both make good points and don't reach an agreement.
Their bickering has to come to an end. Fury have arrived, because obviously Hill still updates him about everything Avengers related. He tells Stark that he is an idiot basically, which he is in this case. But he softens the blow by telling Stark that he cares very much about him. This causes Stark to open up to him about his fear about the end of the world. He was almost correct with his fear. The worst part for Stark is seeing his friends die, but he lived, so in Endgame he did the opposite, he died so they could live. So much feels.
Fury then continues to talk to all of the Avengers. Around a kitchen table. I haven't seen Fury being so homely since he washed dishes with Carol Danvers. He tells them that Ultron is up to something. Also, he is trying to get access to nuclear codes and fails, the Avengers have an unknown friend. Like Cap Fury reminds them that Ultron doesn't just want to kill the Avengers, but the entire world. The Avengers must standup and fight. Also, Bruce figures out the Cradle plan. Now it's time to take some action.
Then we switch the Cho and Ultron. She is surprised that his plan is working. The joke is deserved, vibranium is the most versatile matter on the planet and they use it to make a Frisbee, but it is one heck of a Frisbee. He then breaks the Scepter and puts the mind stone in the new body. Such technological advances just give Rogers a headache. But now he needs a physical link to upload into the body instead of the immediate internet link he used until now. How odd. Now he is almost a person, which means Wanda can read him, and she doesn't see anything good. She sees the end of the world by a meteor. Only now the twins realize that Ultron is crazy. Cho tries to stop Ultron which causes his robots to attack everyone and the twins escape. I guess Ultron didn't think that two evolved human will care about the rest of humanity. That's like a small X-Men easter-egg no?
But now it's time for some killer awesome action. Marvel just loves having great action scene in South Korea (Black Panther is another example) and I'm not complaining. This is fantastic, quipy dialogue and fun action. Black Widow is totally rocking that motorcycle which looks fabulous with that Captain America's shield. It is just hilarious that she says beep beep for people to move out of her way as she is driving illegally. Captain fighting Ultron is great. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver saving lives, stopping a train and unofficially joining the Avengers is also pretty cool. Which means now Scarlet Witch tells Cap not to trust Iron Man, which is not that hard for him to do. Natasha manages to retrieve the Cradle, but she gets kidnapped. I really didn't like that. Black Widow is such a great character and she got butchered in this movie.
The Thor: Ragnarok set up with Thor is just not interesting. I mean sure he sees Ragnarok. But the boring version of it, not the cool one that the movie ended up being. But most importantly he sees the six stones. Now he gets it. Also, he has a Vision of Vision, how nice of him.
Stark and Banner now have Vision's body. Stark explains that he saved Jarvis and now he wants to upload him into the new body. Stark's fear is always pushing him forward. The Avengers show up and of course everyone starts to fight. The fight ends when Thor shows up and overload the Cradle system with power brining Vision to life immediately. Thor just gives them the shortest explanation possible about the stones. Vision then explains that he is just himself, not Ulton nor Jarvis. Vision wants to help the Avengers and they only trust him after he awesomely picks up Mjolnir and serves it to Thor. Vision is worthy.
Then it's time to get ready for the fight. I mean it's time for Captain America to give a great epic speech. Fun trivia fact, Friday is voiced by Jennifer Connelly who is married to Paul Bettany the actor who voiced Jarvis and plays Vision. Cap gives a speech that really effects Quicksilver as he talks about needing to protect the people of Sokovia. Wanda uses her powers to evacuate people, although there are still plenty of people left. They need to save Natasha on top of that and defeat whatever Ultron is planning. It was emotional when Cap said that they don't just need to win, they need to prove Ultron wrong, that they are not what is wrong with the world.
Then the real action starts. Bruce frees Natasha and tells her that he won't fight and she shouldn't either, their fight is over. Is he kidding me? It's almost the end of the world. Luckily she throws him in the pit and Hulk steps out. After a terrible kiss which I prefer to delete from my mind. Also Ultron makes his move. Tons of robots show up in the middle of the evacuation and he reveals the core that will turn Sokovia into a meteor, lifting the ground up while keeping it together, only so it will fall from a significant altitude and destroy the world. But the Avengers also have a plan. Vision erases Ultron from the internet. I guess he would be really useful in a fight against Skynet. But this just causes Ultron to activate the core. I bet Cap has an even bigger headache now with so much new technology.
So the big fight commences. It is soooo good. I know people don't usually find this movie really great, but come on. Fighting robots is awesome. "Incoming already came in" is brilliant. The Wanda-Clint dynamic is good. She panics and complains that this is all her fault, but Clint is right, at this point it doesn't matter whose fault it is. Fighting is his job as an Avengers, if she walks out the door, she is an Avenger too. It's just brilliant. When she walks out the door, she is such a badass. Thor shows up to create more quips. Ultron really shouldn't try and take him on. Also, Black Widow fighting with Cap's shield with Cap is just so freaking awesome, even if it's just for a minute. So much awesomeness.
But fighting won't help save everyone, they are still flying on a meteor. Stark finds a way to blow up the city, but there are still people on it. Cap is not willing to hear about it. Black Widow says that they need to make the choice to save everyone down there, it is a hard compromise, but she is all about compromise. Plus she tells his that they will stay on the rock and die with the people, a noble death, but she will get a much more noble death then this. Now it's time for S.H.I.E.L.D. to save the day as Fury shows up with a helicarrier which will allow to safely evacuate all the people from the rock and then blow it up. Now the plan is perfect. Rhodey's War Machine also shows up to help, because he is a government dude, he is part of their team. The joy of seeing that helicarrier is pretty amazing, I got the feels and so did the characters. I mean you can see the relief and joy on their face. The Avengers can't work alone, they do need and organization behind them, this is perfect.
Ultron isn't happy about this the evacuation. He goes after Thor, but Thor has a new bff, Vision. Vision hits Ultron with Mjolnir, it's so much fun to see someone else with the hammer. But, notice that unlike Cap, Vision can't summon lightning. Then Iron Man perfects his plan, which I guess Ultron notices because his robots are heading for the core. But as Iron Man says, Avengers, it's time to work for a living and time to converge in one place. Also, Black Widow calls him shellhead, which is a common nickname for Iron Man in the comics so that's cool. Thor should know that you should never ask "is that the best you can do?". Ultron sends another giant wave of robots after the Avengers. But now they are all assembled so time for more amazing group shoots of all of them fighting together. It's just super fan to watch. My only complaint is that this fight is just too short. Also, what the hell is Ultron made of that a blast from the mind stone, lightening from Mjolnir and Iron Man's blasts can barely harm him? But, in the end Ultron realizes that he can't win against the Avengers and tries to take himself and his robots out of Sokovia-meteor while causing maximum damage.
Now the Avengers must also evacuate from the rock and kill all of Ultron's minions and Ultron himself. Well, Cap will kill whatever robots are left and the rest of the Avengers need to leave, except for Thor and Iron Man who need to blows up this rock. Scarlet Witch volunteers to stay behind to protect the core and Quicksilver will help get the rest of the people off the floating island. Scarlet Witch really did take Hawkeye's speech into heart, her job is now being an Avengers. Also, since Hawkeye vouches for her, no one questions this decision. We just see a questioning look in Black Widows eyes and Hawkeye's small nod. It's an interesting dynamic in this new Avengers team.
But all good things must come to an end, including this lineup of the Avengers. Again, Iron Man is prepared to die, but he created this mess so he better be ready to die to fix it. Black Widow tries to lullaby Hulk back to Banner, but Ultron shoots him from an airplane so it doesn't work. Ultron shoots everyone he can find. Hawkeye who was just getting a kid who was left behind is prepared to die to save him. But Quicksilver intervenes and dies instead. I guess he felt the need to be a hero, or make amends for his part in creating and helping Ultron. Scarlet Witch automatically feels her twin brother's death and her powers explode from her as she screams in anguish. It is very emotional. To all the people who complained that Quicksilver's death was cheap and didn't represent the high risk, thank you, this is the reason that half of the original Avengers died in the end of Endgame, for the high risk, and meaningful sacrifice. The Hulk takes Black Widow to safely, steals the Quinjet from Ultron and disappears into Sakaar. Plus Thor and Iron Man leave at the end of the movie. The Avengers get a different lineup at the end of this movie.
But there is some good in the ending. Scarlet Witch explains that she feels like she just died as she literally pulls Ultron's heart out. Even as he manage to drop the city and turn it into a meteor, Iron Man and Thor manage to vaporize it before it comes near the ground. They also both survive. So they won. As the low price of one dead member. Which no one cares about, seriously, his sister doesn't seem to even mourn in the next movie. Plus, X-Men's Quicksilver was better so no one cares. Hawkeye's new kid has "Pietro" as a middle name that is name, which is the most caring we see. Vision saves Scarlet Witch from the crashing city, setting up their steamy romance that is taken straight from the pages of the comics. Vision also kills the last body of Ultron after a very interesting exchange between them. The Age of Ultron was just a few days that created a lot of havoc and came to an end.
Then we get the setup for the future. Stark tower is no longer Avengers tower, they have a new compound now. Which I guess Stark is paying for. Fury is not very optimistic as he tells Black Widow that trouble will always come around. Then Thor, Iron Man and Captain America have a farewell conversation. I mean that Cap and Stark biker about why Vision isn't actually worthy. Thor says he has to leave to figure out why four of the infinity stones have poped up in the last few years, reality stone, mind stone, space stone and power stone. But how does he know about the power stone as it was in Guardians of the Galaxy? and we know that he cares more about stopping Ragnarok than the stones. Stark surprisingly decides to leave the Avengers, maybe he feels it's time to tap out because of all of the mess that he created. Stark considers going in the way of Hawkeye and build Pepper a farm, the simple life. He tells Cap that one day he will get there, but Cap feels that he is a different person now. But actually he isn't, he will get there with Peggy. The simple life that he missed. For now the Avengers compound is his home. Then Captain America and Black Widow show us the new member of the Avengers team: War Machine, Vision, Falcon and Scarlet Witch. The movie ends with Captain America says "Avengers" and you can see that his mouth is in the shape of an "A" that he is going to say assemble, but the movie cuts. Saving this special phrase, which is not special in the comics, for the last movie. Captain America and Black Widow always remain and always have each other's backs as they remain the only members from the original team. It's not really an impressive ending. We know that the lineup for the next Avengers movie is much more impressive than this.
The mid-credit scene is Thanos stealing the infinity gauntlet from Asgard and saying that he will do it himself. Get the stones himself. The promise that took forever to come true. It seems so unimpressive back then, but we now know how impressive Thanos really is. There is no post credit scene here as Whedon didn't think he can out do the post-credit scene from the first Avengers movie and he might be right.
The thing that bothered me the most about the movie is that Pietro Maximoff and Wanda Maximoff volunteered to be part of Hydra. In the comics they are Magneto's children. Magneto is a Jewish holocaust survivor. Now his kids are suddenly Nazis? That is such an offensive change. I'm glad it is never mentioned again. I'm also surprised, but also not surprised that no one was angry at this change.
At the time, people were disappointed with this movie and now I just don't see it. There are so many amazing references in this movie that come true in the next movies that I don’t care how hard it was to put them here, it was worth it. Giving Hawkeye a family was worth it. The action in this movie is really brilliant. I just love it. The characters are great. The way they interact with each other is great. The one liners and the quips are great. The script is pretty good. The villain wasn't bad. There are so many cool moments that foreshadow what is to come in the next movies that it is just brilliant. It was a really fun and good movie. Much better then I remembered it. I can't believe it made less money as the box office then the first Avengers movie. Although at the end of the day it's good that Whedon left after this movie. It's just not as larger than life as the next two Avengers movies. It's still a fun movie though.
Please follow me and upvote my posts to help yourself stay up to date with everything that is nerdy and awesome.
Sharing will also be most appreciated.
See you in my next post.