“Avengers: Age of Ultron,” premiering May 1, introduces four major villains — three of them destined to be Avengers themselves.
In the comics, anyway. What happens in the movie is yet to be seen. But from the avalanche of advance material, it seems that director Joss Whedon will channel the spirit of the comics, if not the specifics.
Ultron
In the comics: Ultron was an artificial intelligence created by Hank Pym, who began his superhero career as Ant-Man. Upon becoming self-aware, Ultron quickly progressed to an adult, whereupon he attacked his “father.” Rendering Pym helpless, Ultron hypnotized the hapless scientist into forgetting the whole scenario and boarding up his lab.
Left to his own devices in the abandoned building, Ultron upgraded himself four times to Ultron-5. All the while, he remained focused on his mission: Destroy the “inferior” human race, starting with Hank Pym. The Avengers defeated Ultron a second time, and seemed to finish the job by decapitating the Living Robot.
But they’d soon learn to their chagrin that killing Ultron was like stopping a computer virus — his consciousness could always escape to another location electronically. He returned in 1969 as Ultron-6, an upgraded version made from the new, unbreakable metal adamantium (the stuff Wolverine’s claws are made of) and gave even Thor a beat-down. Once again he was determined to off his “daddy,” then the rest of the human race. Once again Ultron was seemingly destroyed, this time blown to smithereens.
And that has remained the pattern to this day. The Avengers would seemingly eradicate Ultron, he’d go underground to upgrade himself, and then the battle would resume. Ultron made it up to v.18 before he stopped numbering himself, but he continues to evolve and remains an elusive, constant threat to all humanity.
In the movies: It looks like “Age of Ultron” contains most of what the comics established about the Living Robot. Ultron (James Spader) appears to be an artificial intelligence created by an Avenger, who turns against his “father,” invents The Vision, surrounds himself with supervillains (Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch) and sets out to depopulate the globe. He’s a metal Frankenstein monster who is lethal, a bit child-like and, frankly, more than a little nuts.
The one major difference is that Ultron will be created by Tony “Iron Man” Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) instead of Hank Pym. Given that Pym (Michael Douglas) won’t be introduced until the “Ant-Man” movie on July 17, someone else had to be Ultron’s daddy, and engineer Stark is a better choice than biochemist Pym anyway. Further, it doesn’t radically change anything important.
Quicksilver &The Scarlet Witch
In the comics: The duo was introduced in 1964 “X-Men” comics, as members of Magneto’s Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. They were reluctant members, though, serving only because the Master of Magnetism had saved their lives from a homicidal mob in their native Eastern Europe. Aggressive, abrasive Quicksilver was a super-speedster (not quite “Flash” level, but fast enough), and shy, retiring Wanda could alter probability — in effect, giving her foes bad luck.
But a year later they were fed up with being mutant terrorists, and tried to turn their lives around by petitioning to join the Avengers. Once accepted, they had long careers with Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.
In the movies: Marvel Comics made some missteps in the late 1990s when they were going through bankruptcy, including the sale to Twentieth Century Fox of the movie rights to the X-Men and all related properties. Currently, Fox has the rights to all things mutant — including Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch
So in the comics, they’re being retroactively declared something else, and in the movies, they’ll be something else, thanks to Baron von Strucker’s experiments. Whatever they are, though, they won’t be mutants in Marvel Films.
Otherwise the spirit of the comics is intact, as Pietro (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) will begin as super-powered henchmen (for Ultron instead of Magneto) and then perform a heel-to-hero turn.
The Vision
In the comics: As noted, The Vision was created by Ultron to destroy the Avengers, but had a change of (artificial) heart and joined them instead. He has the power to alter his density, from ghost-like to rock solid. His heroic nature is attributed to the fact that Ultron used the brain patterns of a then-deceased Avenger named Simon Williams (Wonder Man, who has since been resurrected).
In the movies: Marvel Films has been keeping their cards close to their chest regarding the synthezoid, but it’s probably no coincidence that the actor playing him (Paul Bettany) is also the voice of the long-dead Edwin Jarvis, now an artificial intelligence running Iron Man’s armor. Methinks Jarvis will live again, after a fashion.
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