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[HiResDes]

Vox has become my favorite news publication by far right now and they just put out this really well-written article detailing the pitfalls and weaknesses of Age of Ultron and other recent superhero flicks.

"The worst thing about Avengers: Age of Ultron is Ultron"

Here's the meat of his argument against Age of Ultron, but I'd definitely recommend reading the full thing, it's not too long:

Ultron deserved better

Age of Ultron ends with death. Vision, in his fresh pink skin, finds the last member of Ultron's robot army hobbling in the Sokovian mountains. This crippled machine is the last embodiment of Ultron's consciousness, and if it dies, Ultron dies. Vision and Ultron talk about humans, our flaws, our beauty. And the screen is then bathed in a bright yellow, the hue of the Infinity Stone lodged in Vision's forehead. It is implied that Vision destroys the robot (in a really beautiful way).

It's a great scene. But it also betrays the spirit of Ultron in the comic books.

The character's one constant in the source material, aside from his rampant daddy issues, is his ability to always evolve and return stronger than ever. He trades up to new bodies. He receives adamantium upgrades. In the Age of Ultron arc, he even manages to take over the world:

And when he is seemingly defeated, as he is in Avengers No. 57, he gets an elegiac, Ozymandian finish:

That doesn't happen in the movie, which goes pretty quickly from his birth to his dream of wiping out the world to his death.

If Age of Ultron is the last we see of Ultron, it will add another entry to the list of Marvel villains who barely transcend the title of "plot device" — a disappointment for a villain of Ultron's stature. It would also spell the end of James Spader's wonderful turn as Ultron's voice and personality. Spader gives the movie its crackle, stealing scenes with the dark timbre in his vocals and subtle inflections when the mood lightened into humor.

You'd have to go back to Tom Hiddleston's Loki to find a villain this charismatic. And that's a problem.



...I think the writer pretty much nails why I personally have been going through a bit of comic movie fatigure, they've just gotten overly formulaic and the way the villains are used is a big culprit of their redundancy.

 

[NotLiquid]

We didn't actually see him die though

 

[Zeyphersan]

Any death not on screen is not a real death

 

[Courage]

Yeah, I can't even remember the last time I've seen a good villain in a superhero movie. Joker in TDK I guess?

 

[E the Shaggy]

He could always come back, even if Vision did really kill him.

Heck, he's probably the easiest character to bring back, you don't even really need Spader.

 

[kirblar]

Fan-spec/possible major spoiler for Avengers 3:

Spoiler

He ain't dead. Ultron says "I will not kill him." then says "I will destroy him." The differing verbiage has to be intentional.

And he fits into a pattern- 4 villains (Red Skull, The Elf Guy, Ronan, now Ultron) so far have been "destroyed" with the Infinity Stones, but none of their deaths have been shown "directly" on camera.) Given this, having them all pop out in Avengers 3 seems very likely.

 

[Pai Pai Master]

Probably the dumbest complaint ever - for a character like Ultron his "death" scene was left wide open.

We don't need every single fucking thing spelled out for us.

 

[liquidtmd]

I agree with the problems of Ultron himself, with my personal beef surrounding his introduction and setup in the movie rather than his demise, but this:

You'd have to go back to Tom Hiddleston's Loki to find a villain this charismatic. And that's a problem.

is funny in that, ignoring his other appearances in MCU, was in the movie preceding the one he's critiquing.

 

[xxracerxx]

Ultron ain't dead, bro.

 

[richiek]

We didn't actually see him die though

Exactly, it's possible that

Spoiler

Vision imprisoned him inside the Mind Stone.

 

[ultron87]

Vision, treasuring life in all forms, but not wanting Ultron to continue to threaten mankind, obviously transported him off to space.

 

[Betty]

We didn't actually see him die though

.

And the fact that Vision specifically said he didn't want to kill him, only that he must be stopped.

 

[Mr-Joker]

It's a Marvel comic book movie, now unless your name is Uncle Ben or Gwen Stacy no-one stays dead forever.

Ultron isn't dead considering we saw it off screen and the nature of Ultron himself.

 

[Kinyou]

He shouldn't have flown that jet. That looked a bit silly to me. He's a flying robot, just shoot with your robot stuff.

 

[MMarston]

Fan-spec/possible major spoiler for Avengers 3:

Spoiler

He ain't dead. Ultron says "I will not kill him." then says "I will destroy him." The differing verbiage has to be intentional.

And he fits into a pattern- 4 villains (Red Skull, The Elf Guy, Ronan, now Ultron) so far have been "destroyed" with the Infinity Stones, but none of their deaths have been shown "directly" on camera.) Given this, having them all pop out in Avengers 3 seems very likely.

Having that happen is something straight out of Naruto.


And I kinda don't want that.

 

[davepoobond]

Im sure all of the villains are gonna come back in the 3rd avengers where they all have to be defeated again in succession

 

[Blader]

He shouldn't have flown that jet. That looked a bit silly to me. He's a flying robot, just shoot with your robot stuff.

heh, I think this was actually the most comic book-ish thing I've ever seen in one of these movies.

 

[ultron87]

heh, I think this was actually the most comic book-ish thing I've ever seen in one of these movies.

Just setting us up for the Thanos Copter.

 

[Toa TAK]

I'm gonna hold out hope that he didn't actually die. He was easily the best part of the movie and I want more of him.

 

[WadiumArcadium]

Is a new thread really required for what you think the worst part of the film is? It's not like OT doesn't have several Avengers threads at the moment anyway.

 

[Ganzlinger]

I doubt Ultron is dead. And I really liked him in this movie.

 

[Trojita]

I had a problem with Ultron being general weaksauce.

In the comics he knows all their weaknesses to a surgical degree. He's been show to fuck up all present Avengers in 5 seconds. We didn't get any of that mastermind AI in the movie.

 

[infiniteloop]

Fan-spec/possible major spoiler for Avengers 3:

Spoiler

Given this, having them all pop out in Avengers 3 seems very likely.

Good luck getting

Spoiler

Eccleston

to come back.

 

[Game4life]

I dont think we will ever get a good Marvel villain any time. Unless priorities change.

 

[HiResDes]

Is a new thread really required for what you think the worst part of the film is? It's not like OT doesn't have several Avengers threads at the moment anyway.

It's about the article. I guess I could have posted this in the OT, my apologies.

 

[Salvadora]

Fan-spec/possible major spoiler for Avengers 3:

Spoiler

He ain't dead. Ultron says "I will not kill him." then says "I will destroy him." The differing verbiage has to be intentional.

And he fits into a pattern- 4 villains (Red Skull, The Elf Guy, Ronan, now Ultron) so far have been "destroyed" with the Infinity Stones, but none of their deaths have been shown "directly" on camera.) Given this, having them all pop out in Avengers 3 seems very likely.

The only mildly interesting villain of that bunch is Ultron.

Like, who on earth is going to care if "the Elf guy" pops up again?

No one.

 

[Slayven]

Ultron never dies. Remeber the Ultron that crashed into the Helicarrier? Could have uploaded a copy of himself then all those clone bodies all around the world? Somebody will be dumb enough to try to read the hard drives

 

[wenis]

Just setting us up for the Thanos Copter.

Yes! We are all in for a treat!

 

[rexor0717]

I loved everything about Ultron. I really hope he comes back in some aspect. Maybe Vision reabsorbed his consciousness.

 

[kirblar]

Good luck getting

Spoiler

Eccleston

to come back.

Not as though you'd notice a difference.

 

[infiniteloop]

Not as though you'd notice a difference.

lol true

 

[liquidtmd]

Not as though you'd notice a difference.

Sadly very true and I've loved Chris since his Cracker days.

 

[boclfon479]

We didn't actually see him die though

Exactly. For all we know he could have left a body hidden and out of the battle in case it didn't go his way.

 

[DeathoftheEndless]

Im sure all of the villains are gonna come back in the 3rd avengers where they all have to be defeated again in succession

Damn, it likes a Capcom game.

 

[brandonh83]

It's a great scene. But it also betrays the spirit of Ultron in the comic books.

"It's great but it's not like the comic so bad" Yeah, kind of expected this when I clicked on the thread.

 

[Santiako]

Fan-spec/possible major spoiler for Avengers 3:

Spoiler

He ain't dead. Ultron says "I will not kill him." then says "I will destroy him." The differing verbiage has to be intentional.

And he fits into a pattern- 4 villains (Red Skull, The Elf Guy, Ronan, now Ultron) so far have been "destroyed" with the Infinity Stones, but none of their deaths have been shown "directly" on camera.) Given this, having them all pop out in Avengers 3 seems very likely.

Thor 2 spoiler:

Spoiler

? Malekith was crushed to death by his ship

.

 

[liquidtmd]

Damn, it likes a Capcom game.

Nah they're all going to be fucked over from a business perspective and never mentioned again, like a Konami game

 

[Slayven]

"It's great but it's not like the comic so bad" Yeah, kind of expected this when I clicked on the thread.

Sad part was Ultron was a pretty good adaption from the comic.

 

[exYle]

Fan-spec/possible major spoiler for Avengers 3:

Spoiler

He ain't dead. Ultron says "I will not kill him." then says "I will destroy him." The differing verbiage has to be intentional.

And he fits into a pattern- 4 villains (Red Skull, The Elf Guy, Ronan, now Ultron) so far have been "destroyed" with the Infinity Stones, but none of their deaths have been shown "directly" on camera.) Given this, having them all pop out in Avengers 3 seems very likely.

Thor 2, Ultron, possible Infinity War spoilers:

Spoiler

While this is plausible and an interesting theory, Malekith cannot come back. He was not killed by the Aether - he was crushed by his ship.

 

[Toxi]

For a movie called Age of Ultron, there was a lot of plot that had little to do with Ultron.

 

[GuitarAtomik]

I'd get this complaint if Ultron wasn't the EASIEST villain to bring back from "death". Say he had a backup partition stowed away separate from his network as contingency. Done.

 

[HiResDes]

"It's great but it's not like the comic so bad" Yeah, kind of expected this when I clicked on the thread.

Yeah I disagreed with him about that, but I definitely feel like there's not enough time devoted to establishing the villain's motives, background, and relationship with the heroes.

 

[brandonh83]

Sad part was Ultron was a pretty good adaption from the comic.

With these comic movies you have people so passionate that when they deviate whether large or small it always stirs the pot. I thought the way Mandarin was handled in Iron Man 3 was fantastic and hilarious, but man the bitching.

Yeah I disagreed with him about that, but I definitely feel like there's not enough time devoted to establishing the villain's motives, background, and relationship with the heroes.

To me it was just simply unconventional, not necessarily a bad thing. It wasn't your traditional villain establishment because Tony created him; I saw Ultron as a facsimile of Stark. He doesn't have a background because he was just created, but then again I would argue that his background was that Tony was trying to create something that would do their work for them and it backfired.

So while Ultron doesn't have some sad past or whatever, I thought it was still an interesting way to make a villain, and it led to a lot of ire within the team. Ultron wasn't a deep character with a history or daddy issues, but rather an idea.

 

[Slayven]

With these comic movies you have people so passionate that when they deviate whether large or small it always stirs the pot. I thought the way Mandarin was handled in Iron Man 3 was fantastic and hilarious, but man the bitching.

What happens when you are on top, everyone take shots at you. Valid and otherwise

 

[To Far Away Times]

Age of Ultron was a good movie. But there's something about it, I dunno, I was just kind of indifferent towards it. It's entertainment for 2 hours but something I'd never really want to watch again.

Maybe I've just seen too many super hero movies now.

 

[George Oscar Bluth II]

He probably backed himself up somewhere pre-Sokovia. He ain't dead. Believe.

 

[Fury451]

While he probably isn't dead, that's a good article that sums up some of my issues with squandering him as the villain.

Ultron did deserve better, as a villain and as a formidable for to the Avengers. We deserved a better class of Ultron. Spader deserved a better script.

Even if he's backed up somewhere though, it will be a long time (if ever) before we see him again.

 

[Slayven]

Ultron always finds a way, Hank Pym had to build an antivirus program into reality itself to stop him last time, and he still found a way.

 

[Game4life]

What happens when you are on top, everyone take shots at you. Valid and otherwise

Top of what? You think Ultron will cease to be terrible villain in the movie if it earned less?

 

[DeaconKnowledge]

Ultron was the worst part of the movie, yes. He was too charismatic, and way too compromising.