Outside of a few leaked set photos, the folks over at Marvel have done a pretty good job of keeping things quiet about Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now, with San Diego Comic Con just a few weeks away, that silence has been broken (one assumes to build anticipation for whatever they plan to reveal).
Next week’s Comic Con-themed issue of Entertainment Weekly features an Avengers 2 cover with the first image of the film’s version of Ultron (who… looks a lot like Ultron) as well as his robot army.
The magazine briefly describes the plot – and Ultron
For better or worse…Tony Stark has devised a plan that won’t require him to put on the Iron Man suit anymore, and should allow Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk to get some much needed R&R as well. His solution is Ultron, self-aware, self-teaching, artificial intelligence designed to help assess threats, and direct Stark’s Iron Legion of drones to battle evildoers instead.
The only problem? Ultron lacks the human touch, and his superior intellect quickly determines that life on Earth would go a lot smoother if he just got rid of Public Enemy No. 1: Human beings.
It’s not exactly the most original motivation for a villain, but it often leads to interesting stories nonetheless.
IGN spoke with Marvel’s Kevin Feige and asked him about Stark Avengers Tower.
“Last time we saw Stark Tower, from The Avengers, it had gotten beat up a little bit thanks to Hulk and thanks to Loki and the Chituari, and Pepper and Tony were standing over a table looking at plans” he explained. “That’s where we pulled out and all the letters had fallen away except the ‘A’ in Stark. So what they were doing was retro-fitting for The Avengers. And that’s what we see in this next film.
“S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone – for people who are following along. S.H.I.E.L.D. was disbanded and brought down at the end of The Winter Soldier because it turned out to not be the best organisation ever. So Tony’s bank-rolling The Avengers now. And he’s bank-rolling their headquarters. So it’s now Avengers Tower.
“Tony designed it so in addition to a hanger for a brand-new Quinjet, laboratories, places where he can build and store his Iron Man suits, there are I believe two bars. Beautiful multiple space living rooms which are perfect for parties and social gatherings. But it’s a primary location in the film this time around.”
He also spoke a bit about the Hulkbuster armor we’ve seen floating around the internet.
“There are a lot of scenes that you should be getting excited about” he explained. “That is certainly one of them. I think I said a long time ago when Joss [Whedon] first did his six-page or 10-page outline for Avengers, there was a lot of work and the movie’s adapted quite a bit since then, but there were like six or seven signature things just in that. I said ‘Joss, even if we don’t do anything else. Just do these seven things, that’s enough for the movie. Now let’s get to work and put it all together.’ Those things are in the movie and are amazing, of which that sequence is one.”
What’s interesting is that the EW article points out that this version of Ultron isn’t so much a robot as a program that’s capable of jumping into various upgraded forms. Who want to place an early bet that that isn’t Tony fighting the Hulk?
In the meantime, while you’re figuring out your wager, check out these stills and behind-the-scenes shots, courtesy of EW.
H/T to Coming Soon, Screen Crush, IGN and Entertainment Weekly
