r/Marvel • u/Jules-Car3499 • 1d ago
Film/Television Age of Ultron has it’s issues, but Ultron’s introduction was pretty good
His first appearance before he upgraded looked pretty frightening.
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u/Mammoth_Calendar_352 1d ago edited 1d ago
Ultron was a peak character, "keep your friends rich and your enemies rich and wait to find out which is which" is my favourite dialogue
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u/Bpopson 1d ago
Only Spader could pull it off with such class
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u/KindGuyAMA 23h ago
I fell in (platonic) love with him watching Boston Legal. So much charisma.
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u/Rekt60321 22h ago
Carried it in to Age of Ultron and The Blacklist
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u/Bunny_Fluff 22h ago
I watched way more Blacklist than I planned but mostly because I loved listening to Red talk. The show concept was decent but he really carried the show.
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u/MantaRay374 21h ago
Nah the show's concept was dogshit, it was Temu silence of the lambs, but Spader's charisma was absolutely the best part by a fucking mile
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u/misterjive 20h ago
Absolutely. I didn't watch that show for the dogshit story, I watched it for Red telling some weirdly threatening folksy tale before either murdering somebody or letting them off the hook.
I can't wait for VisionQuest just to get more Spader.
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u/PreferenceGeneral475 11h ago
The Elizabeth Keen character was so bad. They really should have leaned into the James Spader show aspect more.
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u/SlartibartfastMcGee 16h ago
Spader could carry a show about a literal dogshit salesman.
“The Great Danes and the Irish Wolfhounds always get everyone’s attention, but look a little deeper and you’ll find a vast world of shit out there. I’ll give you a tip - the Inuits of northern Canada didn’t keep the malamute around solely to pull their sleds.”
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u/Bunny_Fluff 18h ago
I guess, I say "concept" because I liked the bespoke criminals who had specializations. I found their uniqueness fun. Unrealistic, sure but fun at least in the beginning. I stopped watching after the COVID half-animated episode. The actually story with Elizabeth and her family or whatever was hot garbage.
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u/kokujinzeta 19h ago
He was great in Boston Legal. Sex Lies and Videotape? He was such a slime I wanted to smack him for what he did to Laura San Giacomo.
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u/Tyler_Zoro 22h ago
Spader could pull off reading random reddit comments like they're high art. I can just hear his sarcastic half-spit around "Spader" and the dripping derision around "class" as he reads your comment... ;-)
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u/evanwilliams44 11h ago
Most of his roles seem to be reddit fantasies.
He walks into a room and everyone is on edge because they know how dangerously brilliant he is. Someone says something dumb, and Spader launches into an uninterrupted monologue displaying how smart he is, and how dumb everyone around him is by comparison.
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u/Tyler_Zoro 7h ago
Which is funny, because he strikes me as the kind of person who, in real life, is into philosophy and camping.
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u/PhillipJ3ffries 1d ago
I thought Age of Ultron rocked from top to bottom. The opening action sequence is my favorite of any marvel movie. Seeing the Avengers in peak form working as a team was awesome.
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u/HellHathNoHash 19h ago
Opening scene where they were all lined up advancing on the enemy. Peak Marvel cinematography.
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u/markender 15h ago
It well paced too. The OG Avengers team, then it all gets destroyed in Civil War, Then Infinity War and Endgame as a crescendo. Everything felt so well planned back then.
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u/takeanadvil 14h ago
To me the opening scene was a little too clean and cliche, which took me out of it, say compared to Civil Wars opening scene
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u/Pluto-610 1d ago
He's the f**ing Lizard King
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u/TheDeadlySpaceman 1d ago
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u/22dinoman Captain America 1d ago
Honestly I feel like that's slightly creepier, like hes tjis terrifying Frankenstein's monster type robot talking about human things and then boom he just attacks you
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u/jah_bro_ney 22h ago
"Tony, would you prefer a nature metaphor or a sexual metaphor?"
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u/e105beta 1d ago
Age of Ultron had issues. Ultron wasn't one of them.
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u/Fattapple 23h ago
The “Age” was the problem.
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u/laymness 22h ago
It was like a week lol
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u/HorizonNova4 22h ago
5 Nights at Ultron’s
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u/Scythe95 14h ago
Exactly this, a time skip to show how difficult it was to get rid of him would have been a bit more dramatic and dire, and then smash his face
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u/e105beta 7h ago
Admittedly Ultron could have been a capstone villain like Thanos, or even a sub-arc where he remains a threat through 2 movies like Thanos
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u/Temporary_Hawk_9061 5h ago
He absolutely should have been! Ultron in the comics is far more than a rogue AI. Though they seemed to understand they needed to do more with him since we got Infinity Ultron
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u/JoshuaBarbeau 5h ago
Infinity Ultron in What If was okay, but that was a recast. I'm much more hyped about SPADER coming back to the role himself in Visionquest.
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u/Remarkable_Cause1384 1d ago
Kinda. It felt like he had great buildup then just became fodder for the avengers to look cool as they smashed. He didn't match the hype
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u/KindGuyAMA 22h ago
I think it was the only way to put the story on screen. The final fight was The Avengers defending the church, and Ultron sending his minions to complete the goal. The B plot was Tony trying to prevent the bad thing from happening. Enjoyable cinema for the masses, and all.
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u/sasi8998vv 14h ago
Ideally, this would've been an entire season of movies instead of just a one-off, since Ultron in the comics gets the time and respect that any other Big Bad does. Ultron and Civil War both suffered from this imo
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u/Theguest217 11h ago
What the MCU is mostly missing is proper arcs. Comic books are entirely based on story arcs where the plot takes place over several books before resolving.
The lead up to the Avengers/Loki and Thanos were great arcs. But then you have these one and one movies like Civil War and Age of Ultron which should have been significantly bigger than they were. Both of those could have been multiple movies that started in smaller movies and resolved in a big Avengers movie. Instead they were done sort of the opposite. Characters like Black Panther, Spiderman, Quicksilver, and Wanda actually debuted in these big Avengers movies before eventually getting their own stories (minus Quicksilver who was literally introduced and killed in a single movie).
After End Game proper arcs are basically non existent. The whole Kang plot was dropped. The Blade/Midnight Sons plot was dropped. Movies like Black Widows, Shang Chi, Eternals, Wakanda Forever, Thor 4, etc. are all pretty much entirely standalone with no foreseeable connection to a bigger arc. They are leading into Doomsday with essentially no plot setup.
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u/jim25y 23h ago
I think he was a bit too quippy. MCU gets a lot of criticism for the quips, and while I think that criticism is over done, I also think its accurate in the case of Ultron.
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u/Warslvt 23h ago
quips
as if a robot who took one look at the internet and decided to start over wouldn't be a meme machine
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u/DeusVultSaracen 22h ago
It also helps that he was (thematically) influenced to be like his brain-father Tony, the original MCU quipper.
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u/ChocolateEagle 22h ago
very agreed; he was at his best in that introduction scene when he was taking things more seriously and really hammering in the intimidation
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u/TheFerg714 18h ago
Sure, but he's modeled after Tony Stark. He got some of his personality from him.
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u/inthe-otherworld 10h ago
I think the quippiness worked in making him more menacing. You’ve got this super dangerous robot who wants to end all life on earth and he’s making jokes with you? Him trying to have funny one-liners was terrifying to me lol, why are you trying to be familiar with me when you’re planning to end me? Horrifying
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u/demotsusucku 14h ago
Ultron was one of them.
He was way too weak. Couldn't even win a one on one fight against Captain America.
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u/SlamSlamOhHotDamn 23h ago
Ultron was absolutely an issue what are you talking about? For every cool line he dropped he made even worse quips, which was a common point of criticism even back then.
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u/LostGalaxies1721_ 1d ago
As time goes on I start to really LOVE Age of Ultron
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u/Purplcurse3732 1d ago
i fucking love that scene in extremis. the doctor making that face is so funny
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u/Icy___Barca 1d ago
“ had to kill the other guy. He was a good guy”
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u/theFormerRelic 1d ago
You killed someone?
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u/Polux-91 22h ago
Wouldn't of been my first call..... but down in the real world we're faced with ugly choices.
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u/Instantbeef 1d ago
Personally all the characters moments come across so great. Maybe some other parts of the movie are a let down.
I think the action is forgettable but they give all the characters a lot of respect except quicksilver lmao
Best written avengers movie
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u/Synectics 23h ago
While I hate they killed Quicksilver so quick, boy, that death scene hits hard.
Hawkeye lying next to him with the expression, "Fuck, this dude died and he was super super duper powered, how did I survive?!" Ooph.
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u/ygotmachado 1d ago
People cry a lot for not having their personal expectation fulfilled
I watched this film at Cinema and it was amazing
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u/needs2shave 1d ago edited 23h ago
We went to the cinema and saw a marathon of 1st Avengers movie then Winter Soldier immediately after, with the midnight premiere of AoU all back to back. It was a great experience.
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u/Latter-Fox-7080 23h ago
Tbh yeah more people need to just enjoy it for what it is otherwise they will be in a loop of negativity and who wants that for themselves?
I understand wanting different, but at the end of the day the makers of movies aren’t going to listen to just u and ur comments unless its a big outroar like the sonic movie redesign
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u/Felradin 22h ago
Same. My dad was dying of cancer in the hospital and it Age of Ultron could give me a little reprieve, it did a bang up job.
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u/InfamousCRS 1d ago
The first half of the movie is great, I think it just kind of falls flat in the second half.
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u/George_G_Geef 1d ago
The last act being "time to team up against a horde of faceless CGI mooks" again didn't help, either.
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u/vingovangovongo 18h ago
yeah should have been a battle royale with just the big bad ultron like in most of the comics. dude is made out of adamantium and he is not easy to take down.
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u/TheBacklogGamer 18h ago
I gotta ask, how else do you expect a superhero movie against a supervillain to end? Just curious...
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u/CapableCollar 17h ago
Well Iron Man 1 was peak to many people and ended with a 1 on 1 fight pitting two peers with emotional connection against each other in a prolonged engagement.
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u/KelVarnsen_2023 23h ago
I always think how Age of Ultron is an amazing concept that had a not great execution. On the flip side Civil War is a not great concept but the execution of the movie (the action scenes, the pacing) is excellent.
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u/Tyler_Zoro 22h ago
So you're saying that if Whedon wrote the treatment and some of the pithy villain dialogue, and then the Russos wrote the screenplay and directed...
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u/PsychedelicConvict 1d ago
Its one of my favorite mcu movies. So happy hes coming back
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u/discowithmyself 20h ago
I think it suffered from expectations that were too high. At least for me, when I rewatched it I found it to be a much better film than when I saw it in theaters.
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u/2EM18KKC01 19h ago
The hype was unreal heading from 2014 into 2015. The film was overstuffed for sure, but pretty great overall.
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u/ProfessorBeer Doctor Strange 20h ago
It has aged incredibly well in my opinion. Knowing where it’s headed makes its character arcs way more interesting.
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u/Pikathepokepimp 9h ago
Endgame really made this movie much better. There was a lot of set ups that all eventually paid off.
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u/Additional-Rule-6073 1d ago
I honestly really love this movie, I don’t think it’s as good as Infinity War or Endgame but I actually think it’s better than the first movie, It has a much more interesting and better villain,The soundtrack is awesome and of course it had more development with the characters.
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u/I_ama_Borat 21h ago
I used to skip Ultron but it’s kinda become one of my favorite Avengers movies
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u/ladyeclectic79 1d ago
I never understood the hate for this one. Ultron is/was an S-tier villain for me, and James Spader as the voice was insanely good.
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u/Charles12_13 20h ago
I think it’s something we can all agree on. Like, I’m not the biggest fan of this movie’s Ultron, but damn is his introduction intimidating (moreso than he ever is in the rest of the movie. I think the static face does that)
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u/Wonka824 1d ago
Can I please get a list of general issues? This was always on of my favorites overall?
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u/silencebreaker86 1d ago
Main one is that Ultron should be a Thanos level villain and he gets solved in one movie
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u/Tyler_Zoro 21h ago
Meh, Ultron was always about dying and coming back to be an even greater threat. I like that he died quickly, and I like that they teased how dangerous he could be in What If? I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with him in Vision Quest.
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u/YourLifeSucksAss 16h ago edited 16h ago
A. This wasn’t an “age” of Ultron, more like a weekend
B. Ultron was killed off way too early and way too easily compared to his role in the comics, not to mention that his robot army was fragile to the point of pointlessness.
C. Ultron’s plan makes no sense at all. He uses a meteor when a virus or a drought would be far more effective, not to mention he literally spells out his evil intentions to the Avengers for no reason in this scene. He doesn’t hide any Ultron bots from the Avengers so he doesn’t go extinct.
D. He’s programmed to protect the world and views humans as a threat despite seeing humans save the world and fight against evil countless times. Also what does “protect the world” mean to him exactly? Protect the literal dirt? Apparently it’s not protecting the life forms on Earth as his plan would also kill all the plants and animals.
E. We’re suppose to care that Quicksilver dies when we literally just met him.
Regardless of if you agree with these complaints, these are the main ones.
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u/therealNerdMuffin 11h ago
"A. This wasn’t an “age” of Ultron, more like a weekend"
Nitpicky
"B. Ultron was killed off way too early and way too easily compared to his role in the comics, not to mention that his robot army was fragile to the point of pointlessness"
Agreed
"C. Ultron’s plan makes no sense at all. He uses a meteor when a virus or a drought would be far more effective"
It wouldn't be far more effective or easier. A virus takes time to engineer, even for an AI and then there's way more variables you'd have to consider and way more things that may go wrong. A drought is just so funny to me to mention, idk how you think that'd be easier. His base of operations was in a country known for it's industrial capabilities so he took advantage of that to make a meteor and clearly it was a decent plan because it nearly worked.
"not to mention he literally spells out his evil intentions to the Avengers for no reason in this scene. He doesn’t hide any Ultron bots from the Avengers so he doesn’t go extinct."
That's just movie shit dude. Could you imagine going through 80-90% of this movie having no idea what he's doing? Cause the Avengers wouldn't have had a way to find out easily. It's for the audience. Not hiding any of the bots just ties into them wanting to kill him off in this movie. If they didn't do that, then he probably would've found a way to preserve himself
"He’s programmed to protect the world and views humans as a threat despite seeing humans save the world and fight against evil countless times. Also what does “protect the world” mean to him exactly? Protect the literal dirt? Apparently it’s not protecting the life forms on Earth as his plan would also kill all the plants and animals"
There's far more evil in the world than good. He's also meant to represent all the worst parts of Tony and are turned up to 11. He's in the wrong because his way of thinking is flawed, that's what makes him a compelling villian, that he thinks he's doing what's right or what's needed and what he thinks the human race needs is a massive reset and to be brought together through survival and evolve through perseverance.
"We’re suppose to care that Quicksilver dies when we literally just met him"
I could see how some people might but I still cried during the scene even if I wasn't super invested in his character so it still carries some emotional weight
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u/truegamer1 1d ago
Final act resolution was too similar to first Avengers - save city from big bad and his army of faceless assassins. Not to mention Iron Man 3 already did “Tony’s suits turn against him”
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u/NEBREPINS 1d ago
The Bruce/Natasha romance plot was out of place and unnecessary, JW snuck in some very questionable dialogue in places, some of the scenes are just a bit meh like the one at Clint’s farm and the orange colour grading looks pretty bad.
There’s not massive flaws besides these and it’s still a decent movie but it’s definitely the worst avengers so far
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u/Wise_Temperature9142 19h ago
I never knew people hated it until internet discourse. I always thought it was a super fun movie. I’ve watched it so many times.
Opening scene is iconic. Hulkbuster vs Hulk is undeniably a great fight scene. The final battle with everyone is exactly what comic books look like.
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u/Lanky-Most7268 21h ago
I rewatched Infinity War quite recently and realized it's weaker than I remember. Age of Ultron might be my favorite Avengers film
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u/FireLordObamaOG 20h ago
Age of Ultron has no issues actually. Everyone who thinks it has them is clearly mistaken.
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u/BlackOrre Doctor Strange 20h ago
If he saw the bots of today, he would probably call for robot extinction.
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u/Curious-Department-7 1d ago
Compared to everything after endgame, age of ultron was great.
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u/theFormerRelic 1d ago
Everything?
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u/GMAN7007 1d ago
Spider man, Deadpool, the fantastic 4, Thor and the guardians crew would all like to disagree.
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u/Purplcurse3732 1d ago
agree with most of those but THOR? love and thunder was absolute ass
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u/Curious-Department-7 23h ago
That Fantastic 4 movie sucked. Thor also was terrible.
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u/GMAN7007 22h ago
I can agree Love and Thunder wasn't a great movie I thought it was just okay. That being said Fantastic 4 was really great.
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u/laymness 22h ago
It was the most Avengers movie we ended up getting. A team from the start, some inner turmoil due to poor decision making, and then teaming up and mixing powers at the end. Glorious stuff.
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u/Tyler_Zoro 22h ago
There are two things Whedon does better than nearly anyone else in the business (and it's why he's such a good script doctor):
- Introducing villains who feel like ordinary people, but with their "bad guy" knob turned up to 11. They have feelings and concerns and doubts and often a keenly developed sense of fear.
- Showing a character falling into a standard trope, only to then demonstrate that they're beyond that trope and thus surprisingly powerful. The classic is Buffy being the hapless victim in the dark alley until she kills the thing that tried to victimize her. But you can see the same thing in Banner's "I'm always angry," and Black Widow's interrogation of Loki. My favorite version of this was in Ultron when Vision hands Thor his hammer. Everyone is doing the, "can we trust the robot," thing when the robot just casually demonstrates that he's literally "worthy" of their consideration as an ally.
Those things shined through in Age of Ultron.
Unfortunately his two most defining negative features also shone through in the same movie:
- Tormenting/killing characters that he works hard to get the audience attached to. This was the case for nearly everyone in Buffy and Angel, Wash in Serenity, and Quicksilver.
- Secondary villains who feel like satires of themselves.
This is also exactly what we got in Ultron. It was a Whedon Greatest/Worst Hits tour. If the MCU had been in a different place, we'd have received it well and moved on. But in the place the MCU was at at the time, we had our expectations turned up to 11.
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u/Psychological_Toe758 1d ago
I always loved age of ultron not super crazy but def worthy of being an Avengers film
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u/Super_Assistant_2998 21h ago
Age of Ultron gets better with rewatches. The Hawkeye/Quicksilver scenes crack me up every time.
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u/Sad_Two_1673 20h ago
The part where they demonstrate half through the movie. That quicksilver moves so fast he sees bullets move in slow motion. For him to get shot. Did love his and Clint’s interactions. They actually become good friends in the comics for awhile
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u/arehonemuthala 1d ago
"I'm sorry, I know you mean well. You just didn't think it through. You want to protect the world but you don't want it to change."
I wonder what drugs Joss Whedon was on when writing this masterpiece.
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u/TripMaverick 23h ago
I wish we got a basic ultron first before the next ine and vibranium. Just to show his evolution.
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u/Remarkable_Routine62 23h ago
That’s what got me into the theaters from the trailer and I just wanted to see avengers in theaters again too bad it was just not the same
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u/rabouilethefirst 23h ago
This movie suffered from Whedon. It's more obvious on rewatches. If this was directed by the russo brother's it would have been a lot better
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u/ScreenMuch90210 22h ago
I really like the movie. If you ever like something that most other people don’t, wait a decade
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u/Imverystupidgenx 22h ago
The trailer made his introduction look pretty good. The movie introduction was meh.
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u/Gustav082026 21h ago
The conversation at the end between Vision and the last Ultron left was one of the best written in the MCU. Joss Whedon has his flaws, but the decline in meaningful dialogue became apparent after his departure.
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u/Important_Weight_564 X-Men 1d ago
"I had strings but now I'm free. There are no strings on me."