2012’sThe Avengersremains one of the crowning achievements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Setting the box office record for biggest opening weekend at the time of its release,The Avengerstook the world by storm. It solidified Marvel’s concept of a shared cinematic universe and helped make the franchise the most significant trend-setter that studios are still following. This set high expectations for the sequel,Avengers: Age of Ultron.Age of Ultron’s critical reaction was much more mixed than its predecessors', and following the rapturous response ofAvengers: Infinity WarandAvengers: Endgame, the secondAvengersfilm seemingly stands out as the weak part of the franchise.
Avengers: Age of Ultronwas a box office hit, grossing $459 million domestically and $1.4 billion worldwide. Even if that is belowThe Avengers' $1.5 billion, it is still nothing to sneeze at, yet the reception to the film has sometimes been dismissive. 10 years later (hard to believe),Avengers: Age of Ultronhas aged like a fine wine.It might not be as polished asThe Avengers, but likeThe Empire Strikes BackandStar Wars, it is a darker, more complex sequel that pushes its characters and the franchise into a broader, more ambitious direction.Avengers: Age of Ultronis underrated and might be one of the best films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
An Avengers Movie That Feels Like an Avengers Comic
Part of the magic ofThe Avengerswas making the shared cinematic universe reality pay off, feeling like the ultimate crossover film.Avengers: Age of Ultronknows it can’t quite recapture that same magic, so it instead looks to replicate the feeling of reading anAvengerscomic. Even though the film is an original narrative,it pulls various elements from the comics to craft a story that attempts to evoke the feeling of reading an Avengers comic. Starting with what feels like a classic Avengers comic mission to a globe-trotting adventure, the film introduces a series of characters from the Silver Age of Marvel Comics. These include:
By introducing all these different characters inAvengers: Age of Ultron(and in the post-credits sceneofCaptain America: The Winter Soldier), as well as the tease of Wakanda and a big climax that features a city being lifted into the sky by an evil robot,Avengers: Age of Ultroncaptures what it’s like to read a comic book without needing to directly adapt a prior story or pull from existing images.
The four Avengers films fall into specific categories.The Avengersis a crossover film.Avengers: Infinity Waris like reading a grand comic book event, andAvengers: Endgamecaptures the feeling of an epic finale. That might makeAvengers: Age of Ultron’s approach of just a regularAvengersissue seem quaint, but that is refreshing and something the more recent MCU films have been lacking.The need forAvengersmoviesto be these big, epic, universe-changing crossovers instead of just fun team films has likely impacted the MCU’s Multiverse Saga for the worse. An adventure or two with a new group of Avengers beforeAvengers: Doomsdaywould give that film more meaning.
Ultron Is a Fantastic Marvel Villain
At its release, some saw Ultron as a slight disappointment. Part of this was because he had to follow Tom Hiddleston’s Loki.Avengers: Age of Ultron’s incredible teaser trailer, set to the haunting cover of “I’ve Got No Strings” from Pinocchio, teased a more evil menace, whereas the finished film version of Ultron was a bit more neurotic and snarky than terrifying.
But the Ultron fromAvengers: Age of Ultronis a great character. He looks fantastic, and James Spader’s voice gives the character a hypnotic and alluring charisma. A self-loathing but grandiose machine with the sensibilities of the creator he despises is far more interesting than just a standard evil, cold, calculating AI. Ultron constantly tells himself he should be better, yet he is a machine driven by emotion, particularly anger, hatred, and ego, making him a unique interpretation of AI in film.Ultron is one of the MCU’s most underrated villains, andhis return inVision Questcan’t get here soon enough.
‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ Was Very Important for the Larger MCU
It is difficult to understate just how much of an impact Avengers: Age of Ultron had on subsequent MCU films. Even more so thanThe Avengers, the ripple effects ofAvengers: Age of Ultronare still being felt in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in terms of actual story mechanics and impact characterization.The most obvious is Ultron’s creation himself, whose destruction of Sokovia led directly to the events ofCaptain America: Civil War, which itself spins out intoBlack Panther,Black Widow,Spider-Man: Homecoming, and eventuallyAvengers: Infinity War.
The most important element might be theintroduction of Hawkeye’s family, which serves as a defining part of his character’s motivation inAvengers: Endgameand the Hawkeye series. While previously teased inThe Avengers,Age of Ultronis the film that delves into Black Widow’s backstory. Elements like the Red Room and their forced sterilization were expanded upon inBlack Widow.Thunderbolts*, which opened 10 years afterAvengers: Age of Ultron, featured a similar setup of characters haunted by visions of their past from the Void, like the ones the characters endured at the hands of the Scarlet Witch 10 years prior.
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Avengers: Age of UltronintroducedWanda Maximoff / the Scarlet Witchand Vision, two characters who have become significant figures in the MCU thanks toWandaVision.WandaVisionnot only features references to Quicksilver and Ultron but also flashbacks to the bombing incident that killed Wanda and Pietro Maximoff’s parents, which was talked about inAge of Ultron. While Vibranium was referenced inCaptain America: The First Avenger, Age of Ultron drops the first actual reference to Wakanda in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, setting the stage for Black Panther’s introduction inCivil Warand continuing as one of the most prominent players on the global stage in the MCU 10 years later.
Then, of course, there’s Thor and the Hulk.Thor: Ragnaroknot only picks up with Thor during his quest to unravel the Infinity Stone mystery at the end ofAge of Ultron, but audiences discover that, after leaving in a Quinjet at the end of the film, the Hulk landed on an alien planet and has been serving as a gladiator.BothCaptain America: Civil WarandThor: Ragnarokare direct sequels toAvengers: Age of Ultron, splitting the narrative of the core team up until everything reconverges inAvengers: Infinity War. With all that,Age of Ultronmight be one of the most important films in the franchise, at least as far as the larger metanarrative.
A Personal (and Messy) Blockbuster
Ever sincethe release ofThe Empire Strikes Back, it has become customary for the second film in a series to be “darker” than its predecessor. This is particularly popular in superhero films, fromThe Dark KnighttoSpider-Man 2toX2: X-Men United. Even thoughAvengers: Age of Ultronfeatures plenty of quippy lines, it is a darker entry than its predecessor. It has a murkier, washed-out color palette, which feels like a response to the complaints leveled atThe Avengers, which was often criticized as “looking like a television show.” YetAge of Ultronis also a more intimate film, one focused on fleshing out its characters.
The best scene inAvengers: Age of Ultron, and a high mark for the entire MCU, is the party sequence. In many ways, this is the last moment of bliss these characters will feel in the Marvel Cinematic Universe until at least the end ofAvengers: Endgame, and even that features the deaths of two fallen Avengers.Taking a little time to see them be social, flirt, and vibe with each other as friends goes a long way in grounding this film’s larger action, and the entire MCU. In just a few brief scenes, audiences gain greater insight into these characters than in their solo films. WhileThe Avengersfeatured character interactions, this party scene is the moment everyone wants to try and replicate in subsequent Marvel movies, as it showcases them not as heroes, but as people.
Then, at the midpoint of the film, where Wanda Maximoff shows various Avengers “visions” that tap into their personal histories and fears, the viewer is clued into some elements the characters might even be hiding from themselves. From Tony Stark’s desire to save the world at any cost to Steve Rogers' grappling with his place in the modern world, to Thor and the Hulk’s fear of their destructive powers,Age of Ultronshows the messier side of these heroes.
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Messy was often used to describeAvengers: Age of Ultron, even among its fans. Despite being a more cerebral film than its predecessor, the push and pull between the film as its own entry and part of a larger cinematic universe is clearly present. Joss Whedon famously clashed with Marvel Studios' higher-ups regarding the movie, which in recent years has new contextfollowing the allegations leveled against himby actors onBuffy the Vampire Slayerand theJustice Leaguereshoots. That messiness, the rough around the edges of the aspect ofAge of Ultron, might not be a flaw, but the point. The film’s best scene, when Vision and Ultron have a quiet conversation in the woods, illuminates this point.
“Humans are odd. They think order and chaos are somehow opposites and try to control what won’t. But there is grace in their failings."-Vision
Avengers: Age of Ultronmight not be the finely tuned piece thatThe Avengerswas, but as the years have passed, it stands out as one of the best pieces in the franchise. With the massive hype leading up to it gone,Avengers: Age of Ultron’s best elements shine through. From a great aesthetic that stands apart from much of the MCU’s house style to a story that feels like a modern update on traditional Avengers comics coupled with wonderful character work,Avengers: Age of Ultroncaptures what makes The Avengers one of Marvel’s best teams and is one of the best films in the franchise.Avengers: Age of Ultronis streaming onDisney+.
