The Avengers: Age of Ultron

A shining star in an ever-expanding universe.

The Avengers was met with such euphoria because it felt like, in places, the Marvel Cinematic Universe would suffer a Spider-Man 3 style extinction level event before then. Lest we forget their most recognisable property, The Incredible Hulk, underperformed early on; leaving the studio to rely on untested properties such as Captain America and Thor to carve out their vision. Their timing was impeccable, though, as superhero films transcended into the mainstream – riding a wave of popularity arguably stronger now than when Iron Man and friends finally smashed New York to smithereens three years ago.

Phase 2 of Marvel’s universe has been about consolidation. Iron Man 3 and Thor 2 played it safe by entertaining but never being critical to the canon, while Guardians of the Galaxy tried newer, weirder concepts without committing to them (hence their lack of involvement in Age of Ultron). Only Captain America: The Winter Soldier held cataclysmic consequences as it revealed the organisation responsible for assembling the Avengers team, SHIELD, was corrupt all along. Marvel have planted many seeds for future world-changing showdowns, but they’ve always referred to the events/aftermath of New York in case box offices receipts suggested a needed retreat to familiar territory.

Age of Ultron seems like the first time Marvel have total confidence in moving forward. In this film, the team are already together battling Hydra forces. They retrieve the spectre previously possessed by Loki, which Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) views as a chance to resurrect a dormant peacekeeping program known as Ultron; its aim to protect the world from extraterrestrial forces. Ultron (voiced by James Spader) comes alive and interprets implanted scenes of war and death in its matrix as the fault of The Avengers. It assumes a robotic body and vows to destroy them before, once acclimatising itself to Earth and its residents, deciding the world would be a better place without mankind.

The Avengers team become increasingly dysfunctional. Iron Man and Captain America (Chris Evans) have opposite beliefs in using technology to protect Earth, disagreements between Iron Man and Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) boil over into destroying City #43, and also Iron Man… well, he generally pisses everyone off thanks to his radio-friendly megalomania. Elsewhere, Hulk and Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) skirt around a possible relationship but neither are comfortable sharing their damaged souls, and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) obsesses over a lightning-drenched vision of Asgard’s doom. The glue keeping the group together turns out to be Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), whose normality and background devoid of childhood traumas or god-defying scientific experiments explains why he’ll probably never have a film of his own.

Age of Ultron is a different monster to its predecessor. The Avengers was a fun, fanboy piece, giving us the scenes of Iron Man and Thor exchanging one-liners and Hulk and Loki going toe-to-toe we had clamoured for since the universe formed. The warmth towards the film was based more on the novelty factor than its jokey tone and slapstick violence that made it the $1 billion version of It’s A Knockout. Age of Ultron loses this advantage as nobody was ever salivating over C-listers Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) fighting the Avengers team, even if their additions are welcome. Director Joss Whedon realises this and sets the film out from the start as yet another Marvel superhero adventure – hoping the substance of the plot carries it through. He takes a darker approach too, limiting the humour to fleeting moments, and delivering generous amounts of blood and dead bodies (for a 12A, anyway).

The film overall plays out like a transitional piece, a chapter in a bigger novel. Think of it as a less desperate version of Iron Man 2; whereas the latter made you worry if Marvel could handle something the size of The Avengers, you’ll leave the cinema after this looking forward to Civil War and Infinity War. I accused Child 44 of thinking too much about future instalments instead of impressing audiences in the now, but the key difference is Marvel (like the Fast and Furious series) waited until it established a fanbase before they threw in mythology-defining curveballs.

Plus it helps Age of Ultron works immensely as a self-contained film, one whose characterisation and plot outshines its older brother. The script scratches deeper into the obscurer characters. Hawkeye and Black Widow have scenes of emotional gravitas that explain their enigmatic personas. Hulk doesn’t fare as well because an angry green meathead being in touch with his feelings will never work, no matter how hard Hollywood tries, but he induces the inner thoughts of those around him (even Tony Stark is unguarded when he talks to Bruce Banner). Meanwhile, Ultron, for all the usual ‘destroy the world’ shtick, is the first villain in the Marvel Universe since Red Skull to give a genuine sense of threat. His actions are extreme to the point where you wonder if our heroes will make it out alive. But, given the eleven other films coming up, it’s not a spoiler to say they’ll be fine.

Age of Ultron might not be a geeky cultural milestone or as fun as The Avengers, but Joss Whedon crafts a sequel that still finds spectacle and heart in what amounts to a small but shining star in the wider Marvel universe. Bring on phase 3, as long as a certain ant doesn’t ruin the picnic.