Marvel quickly assembled to upload the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer after it was leaked Wednesday. The much anticipated trailer was meant to debut next week on Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Iron Man was literally crushed by the release.
An unmanned Iron Man armor has its head pulverized by Ultron (James Spader), who gives a classic supervillain speech accusing the Avengers of being the real puppets. The evil robot was created for peacekeeping by futurist Tony Stark AKA Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) instead of Hank Pym AKA Ant-Man as in the comic books. Not surprisingly, building a genocidal robot bent on world domination leads to some turmoil between Tony and his teammates including Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who manhandles the mortal. The stressful situation could give the former alcoholic the perfect excuse to turn to the bottle. Disney rejected using the “Demon in a Bottle” storyline wanted by Iron Man 3 director Shane Black and writer Drew Pearce. However, director Joss Whedon promised the latest film would have a darker tone.
“It’s a little bit darker than the other film since Ultron’s in the house,” Whedon said. “It’s got a sci-fi element to it that’s a little bit stronger than the other film. Getting the team together was so rousing. But seriously, keeping the team together is a completely different problem.”
Ultron is able to control other machines including a robot son named the Vision (Paul Bettany), who eventually rebels and joins the Avengers. He also appears to take control of Iron Man’s super-sized Hulkbuster armor to battle the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo). Ultron is no pushover himself. He continually upgrades his body including using adamantium, the same indestructible metal covering Wolverine’s claws and bones. He even defeats Captain America (Chris Evans) who lies defeated with his broken shield, which is composed of a relatively weaker adamantium, vibranium, and uranium alloy.
Magneto’s children Wanda Maximoff AKA Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro Maximoff AKA Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) appear to be working with Ultron, at least initially. The brother and sister have blue and red auras that give them a ying and yang dynamic.
Rounding out the team are Natasha Romanoff AKA Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Clint Barton AKA Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and former Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders).
Marvel also released the Avengers: Age of Ultron poster featuring a robotic version of the Avengers logo.
Avengers: Age of Ultron premieres May 1, 2015.
