Age of Ultron: What can we expect?

Yup, I’m going to put a big, fat SPOILER ALERT right here in paragraph one for anyone who was daring to even think about leaving a comment complaining that I’ve ruined the film for them, because this article contains spoilers about most of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and potentially Age of Ultron too. Because today, I’m taking a look at what we know so far about the upcoming Marvel release Age of Ultron. Directed by geek wunderkind Joss Whedon and featuring James Spader as the voice of the titular robot, Age of Ultron marks the second time all the Avengers have gotten together for one movie- and hey, it didn’t turn out so badly last time. So let’s take a look at what we know so far about the movie (which is released 28th April in the UK, and May 1st in America), and what fans think it will bring to the MCU…

Someone’s Going to Die

Joss Whedon, king of killing off all those characters that you secretly loved and will mourn for the rest of your days, has heavily hinted that there’s going to be a big loss to the Avengers team in Age of Ultron. Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, he said “We don’t just rule it out across the board, but neither is the mission statement ‘Who can we kill?’ We try to build the story organically and go, ‘How hard can we make it on these people?’ You go to the movies to see people you love suffer-that’s why you go to the movies.” And with that slightly grim summation of the cinematic experience for you, surely we have to speculate a bit on who might be biting the dust in the Age of Ultron movie.

It’s not safe to assume that anyone with a franchise is safe.  Captain America, who might have a replacement in the form of Bucky Barnes (or the Winter Solider). And, rather more to the point, it’s been pointed out that the comic books follow an arc where Thor dies, sparking a divide between the Avengers, and ends up coming back as cyborg Ragnarok- and have you seen the titles of the next couple of Avengers movies? While it would be a kind of cruel screw-you to Jeremy Renner if they finished off Hawkeye after they hideously underused him in the first Avengers Assemble movie, and Black Widow is a fan favourite and signed on for scores of movies to come. So, if we look outside the Avengers, I would place my bets on Maria Hill biting the dust in Age of Ultron- she’s just important enough to make an impact, but not so important that she’ll derail any of the upcoming plotlines (for Captain America: Civil War and Thor: Ragnarok).

They’ll Be Cameos Aplenty

Hey, what’s the point of building a cinematic universe if you’re not going to give it a little nod every now and then? While Spiderman and Doctor Strange are confirmed not to be appearing in the movie (which is probably a good thing, and will give them time to develop at their own pace in their own movies), a couple of last-minute cameos were announced earlier this month. One of them came in the form of Julie Delpy, who’ll be playing Black Widow’s instructor, while the role of Linda Cardellini has been kept a little bit more hush-hush. With the Scarlet Witch (played by the inimitably good Elizabeth Olsen) able to get into people’s heads (no, not the way Tom Hiddlestone did as Loki to a thousand tweenage girls in Avengers Assemble) and bring forward people from their past, so there’s a chance Cardellini might be a flashback for one of our main heroes. There’s been some speculation about Cardellini, who recently starred in the excellent Netflix drama Bloodline, playing Captain Marvel, but in a film already almost overstuffed with superheroes, it might be better that she’s more human. Oh, and Anthony Mackie’s back, for all you Falcon fans out there.

What about Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch?

One of the most intriguing parts about Age of Ultron is the introduction of twins Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, twins and posessors of some of the most powerful forces in the Avengers universe. If you saw the awesome Evan Peters cameo as Quicksilver in Days of Future Past, you’ll know that his gimmick is that he can go fast- really, really fast. She’s more complex, a telekinetic who can get inside people’s heads and get a hold of their darkest fears.

In an interview with iAmRogue, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays Pietro, spoke about acquiring the role: “The thing for me was for [Whedon], ‘Why add any more super heroes to this thing?’ He said, ‘No, there are these two characters that I want to bring in to like f**k with the Avengers and not be just an add on.’ He told me a little bit about the writing and I said that the only reason I would want to do it is if it is a character that can still stand out.” And while we don’t know much about the characters so far, anyone willing to “f**k with” the Avengers is fine by me.

We do know that they’re canonically mutants, as they are in the X-Men series, and that they’ll arrive to start work at Ultron before causing some huge problems for the Avengers with their unpredictable powers. While the trailer seems to indicate that they’ll eventually wind up siding with our heroes, we don’t know how or why that crossover happens-but it should make for some awesome (if overcrowded) battle sequences. We caught a glimpse of them as children at the end of The Winter Soldier, and they’re one of Joss Whedon’s favourite parts of the movie- so these kids could be the secret weapons, both of the Avengers and the Avengers movie.

So, what do you want to see in Age of Ultron? Do you have any crazy plot theories you want to share? And who do you think- if anyone- is going to bite the dust?