Let's talk about that.
I certainly don't pretend to be an expert about the Marvel universe, in fact, most of my information comes from Caleb (http://www.kayleberty.com). Before reading about Ultron, all I knew was that he was a big, bad robot. After I read about Ultron, all I know is that he's a big, bad robot. **Mild spoilers ahead if you're staying away from this type of stuff.** Basically, Tony Stark (Iron Man) built Ultron to give the Avengers a break from saving the day all the time (we'll get to how ridiculous this is in a minute, but bare with me). Ulton's job is to asses and use Tony's droids to destroy possible attacks. Ultron then concludes that human beings are the issue therefore they should be destroyed wherein the problem lies.
My first thoughts after reading this were "Why." Why is another robot bad-guy a good idea? I think Joss Whedon is brilliant and I trust him to make it work and yes I completely understand that Ultron is already an established villain. BUT, really? A robot that decides to destroy human beings? It just reminds me a little too much of that Shia Labeouf movie Eagle Eye. I love that Whedon is playing with the concept of humanity being the fundamental problem, which seems like a "Duh" revelation (because without us, what problems could occur?) but not everyone sees human nature as evil. The only question I have though, is if the Avengers plan to save us from robots, will they address the need to save us from ourselves? Will the conclusion be "Oh no, humans really are great, we are courageous, wonderful beings?" Because that would be a cop-out. Obviously I don't condone mass genocide but that needs to be addressed. I suppose we'll see where that leads.
I guess I'll just have to wait until 2015 and vent some more about the movie. While I'm at it: Marvel, we want a crossover. I know you're worried about money but a couple Avengers show up in Spidey 3, Spidey shows up at the end of the Avengers and chaos that will make you even richer will ensue. Promise.
Last thing before I go, if you're still reading, hi and thank you. Go read Christine's blog http://glassonionblog.blogspot.com because it's awesome, it's got any category you would want to read about and she actually uses her labels. Comment below with any opinions, disagreements, or criticisms and whether or not you're looking forward to Age of Ultron.
Thank you so much for the name drop. I am honored and I've made peace with the fact that as long as Almost Royal exists, my blog will always be second best.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent post filled with passion, wit, insight, and joy. You articulate your reaction to Age of Ultron very well. It's the 11th movie in the MCU and fatigue is inevitable. People are starting to get burned out so the pressure is on.
With the rise of HYDRA, it seems consistent that Tony would build Ultron as a supercomputer to detect threats. It sets up a scenario where the world is at stake. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver are a product of HYDRA, given powers through alien energy. I think that Thanos will be involved in an interesting way, maybe even the dark elves. If earth is weak it is vulnerable to attack. Marvel has a few tricks up its sleeve so I'm looking forward to this one.
And as cool as a Spidey crossover would be, Sony isn't going to let Disney use the character anytime soon. The movie rights to Spider-Man are worth 3 to 4 billion dollars.
Thank YOU for your comments and on-demand answers to my constant questions :)
DeleteI thought that Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver had powers/their mutations from birth since they are Magneto's kids. Either way I'm really interested to see the Avengers face mutations like Scarlet Witch's chaos magic.
And I know there won't be a crossover, but a girl can dream.
You're right about Quick and Scarlet. They are mutants and Magneto's kids but Disney isn't allowed to mention any X-Men stuff. But those characters are also longtime Avengers so they can still be used in the MCU. In the Winter Soldier post-credit scene we see agents of HYDRA experimenting with alien technology (like the tesseract) on people. They mention that the "twins" DNA has responded positively to the testing making them powerful and mentally unbalanced.
DeleteFun article! Although I had to kind of skim over some parts, because I hate spoilers. ;)
ReplyDeleteWho knows? The movie could be a big disappointment. Talented people who have been previously successful make big mistakes all the time. I had very low expectations for The Avengers, because I think crossovers tend to be cheap, silly stunts - I feared an expensive "Superfriends" episode, frankly - so I was delightfully surprised, but it wasn't perfect (The Hulk tries to kill everyone in one scene, then helps them beat up the bad guys in the next, because "I'm always angry". Like, that explains nothing!) I suppose you could say that Ultron was created because, even if all the Avengers are working 24/7, they can't be everywhere all the time, dealing with every single problem or threat that arises. A better question would be, why would Tony Stark decide to explode all of his very expensive, very cool robot suits that saved him and his girlfriend's lives and helped him put down a global threat? Because...there's no more bad guys? Ever? (I had SO many BIG problems with that movie!)
Thank you for reading and commenting!! Hopefully the warning about spoilers helped :)
DeleteI completely agree about that line at the end of the Avengers, it doesn't explain anything about how the Hulk can suddenly control his anger issues. And no explanation was given about how the Hulk can decipher who is "good" and who is "bad" in the mists of his rage. If it was in the name of "character development" it certainly did nothing for me.
Your conclusion of why Ultron was created makes much more sense than what Entertainment Weekly made it seem like. If he is meant to be an asset to the Avengers, it's slightly more understandable. It's when he's meant to replace them that I begin to have a problem.
Oh, Iron Man 3. That poor trilogy was a sinking ship after the first one. There are too many problems with that movie to count. My main one was similar to yours: how could Tony, and genius, destroy that one thing (or few things, I suppose) that would protect him and his loved ones? It's not like just because he wanted to stop being Iron Man his enemies will stop attacking, I'm pretty sure that's not how it works.
Don't judge the movie yet! It is still a year away. But as long as we are contemplating the very very little we know about this movie, I agree with you. I really dislike reusing villains (though this happens often--think, Loki, or Fantastic 4). The only time I thought it was going to work was in Nolan's batman series, but then Heath Ledger passed away and that idea died with him.
ReplyDeleteI think Marvel has a lot of material at it's fingertips and the story is going to be much more interesting than just Ultron. We are going to start getting into the rise of Hydra and there is some good character development for all the Avengers following their latest solo films.
But truth be told, I'm more excited about Guardians of the Galaxy than another Avengers movie. If no one ever made a sequel to anything, I think I'd be ok with that.
Lastly, THANK YOU FOR THE SHOUT OUT! xoxo