Age Of Ultron Main Theme

[Rita Seliba]

Subsequentiterations of Ultron were self-created, each one getting stronger, smarter, and more bent on fulfilling two main desires: survival and bringing peace and order to the universe. The unfortunate part for us humans is that Ultron would like to bring peace and order by eliminating all other intelligent life in the universe. The main theme in Age of Ultron is this fictional conflict between biological beings and artificial intelligence (with a mean streak). But how fictional is it?

The answers are found in scientific research related to the fields of machine learning, artificial intelligence, and artificial life. These are fields that continue to expand at a ridiculous, if not superhuman, pace.

And though arcade games may seem trivial, the takeaway here really had nothing to do with games per se. The relevance is that an AI system could adapt its skills to situations for which its programmer had never prepared it. The AI was effectively learning how to apply skills in a new way, basically thinking on its own. Which is relevant in considering the possibility of an AI going rogue.

The sequel was announced in May 2012 after the successful release of The Avengers, with Whedon set to return as writer and director in August. Whedon updated Ultron's origin for the film to involve the MCU's Avengers team and introduced the characters Pietro (Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff (Olsen), to whom Marvel shared the rights with 20th Century Fox. Casting began in June 2013 with Downey re-signing. Second unit filming began in February 2014 in South Africa, with principal photography taking place between March and August, primarily at Shepperton Studios in Surrey, England. Additional footage was filmed in Italy, South Korea, Bangladesh, the state of New York, and around England. With an estimated net production budget of $365 million, the film is one of the most expensive films ever made.

Stark and Banner discover an artificial intelligence within the scepter's gem and secretly use it to complete Stark's "Ultron" global defense program. The unexpectedly sentient Ultron, believing he must eradicate humanity to save Earth, eliminates Stark's AI J.A.R.V.I.S. and attacks the Avengers at their headquarters. Escaping with the scepter, Ultron uses the resources in Strucker's Sokovia base to upgrade his rudimentary body and build an army of robot drones. Having killed Strucker, he recruits the Maximoffs, who hold Stark responsible for their parents' deaths by his company's weapons and goes to the base of arms dealer Ulysses Klaue in Johannesburg to get vibranium. The Avengers attack Ultron and the Maximoffs, but Wanda subdues them with haunting visions, causing Banner to turn into the Hulk and rampage until Stark stops him with his anti-Hulk armor.[a]

Thor returns to help activate the body, based on his vision that the gem on its brow is the Mind Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones, the most powerful objects in existence. This "Vision" earns their trust by being worthy of lifting Thor's hammer, Mjlnir. Vision and the Maximoffs go with the Avengers to Sokovia, where Ultron has used the remaining vibranium to build a machine to lift a large part of the capital city skyward, intending to crash it into the ground to cause global extinction. Banner rescues Romanoff, who awakens the Hulk for the battle. The Avengers fight Ultron's army while Fury arrives in a Helicarrier with Maria Hill, James Rhodes, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to evacuate civilians.

Pietro dies when he shields Barton from gunfire, and a vengeful Wanda abandons her post to destroy Ultron's primary body, which allows one of his drones to activate the machine. The city plummets, but Stark and Thor overload the machine and shatter the landmass. In the aftermath, the Hulk, unwilling to endanger Romanoff by being with her, departs in a Quinjet, while Vision confronts and destroys Ultron's last remaining body. Later, with the Avengers having established a new base run by Fury, Hill, Cho, and Selvig, Thor returns to Asgard to learn more about the forces he suspects have manipulated recent events. As Stark leaves and Barton retires, Rogers and Romanoff prepare to train new Avengers: Rhodes, Vision, Sam Wilson, and Wanda.

Thomas Kretschmann and Henry Goodman reprise their roles as Baron Wolfgang von Strucker and Dr. List,[76][77] Hydra leaders who specialize in human experimentation, advanced robotics, and artificial intelligence from Captain America: The Winter Soldier.[65] Claudia Kim portrays Helen Cho, a world-renowned geneticist who helps the Avengers from her office in Seoul;[65][78] Andy Serkis portrays Ulysses Klaue, a South-African black-market arms dealer, smuggler and gangster who is a former acquaintance from Stark's weapons-dealing days;[79][65][80] and Julie Delpy appears as Madame B., who mentored Black Widow into becoming an assassin.[81] Kerry Condon voices the artificial intelligence F.R.I.D.A.Y., a replacement for J.A.R.V.I.S.,[82] while Spader also voices Stark's Iron Legion droids.[83] Josh Brolin makes an uncredited appearance during the mid-credits scene as Thanos, reprising his role from Guardians of the Galaxy (2014).[84] Avengers co-creator Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance in the film as a military veteran who attends the Avengers' victory party.[85] Tom Hiddleston was to reprise his role of Loki, but his scenes did not make the theatrical cut of the film.[86]

"I have to make my movie assuming that people will only have seen the first one, or possibly not even seen the first one. I can't assume that everybody went to see Thor [The Dark World], Captain America [The Winter Soldier], and Iron Man [3] in-between. I have to go from one movie to the next and be true to what's happened, but not be slavish to it [...] The model I'm always trying to build from, my guiding star, is The Godfather Part II where a ton has happened in-between and it's a very different movie [from The Godfather], but you don't need any information: it's there in the film."

In October 2011, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said the studio was beginning to look at their Phase Two films, which would start with Iron Man 3 and would culminate in a second Avengers film.[88] In March 2012, Joss Whedon, director of the first film, stated that he would want a sequel to be more small, personal, and painful; that is "not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time", and with a theme full of originality to itself.[89] Despite the production of the film becoming increasingly wider in scope, Feige maintained that this was not their intention, always looking to see where the team wanted to take the characters, over how to make it bigger than The Avengers.[90]

At the premiere of The Avengers, Feige said the studio had an option for Whedon to return as director.[91] In May 2012, after the successful release of the first film, the Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger announced a sequel was in development.[92] Most of the film's cast members were under contract to potentially appear in the sequel; however, Robert Downey Jr. was not, as his four-picture deal with Marvel expired after Iron Man 3.[93]

At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Whedon said he was undecided about directing.[94] However, in August 2012, Iger announced that Whedon would return to write and direct the sequel and develop the Marvel television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., for ABC.[95] Later in the month, Disney set a May 1, 2015, release date.[96] Whedon said his return for a sequel "wasn't a tough decision"; he thought it was "not going to happen", but realized he "desperately wanted to say more about these characters" when he started considering it.[97] Whedon said that they intended for the film's production to not be as rushed as the first one.[98]

Feige revealed that Captain Marvel, who starred in her own MCU film in 2019, appeared in an early draft of the screenplay, but was removed since the character had not yet been cast, saying, "It didn't feel like the time. We didn't want to introduce her fully formed flying in a costume before you knew who she was or how she came to be."[101] Whedon went so far as to shoot visual effects plates for Captain Marvel to fly into Avengers Headquarters at the end of the film; those shots were reused; however, for Scarlet Witch instead.[102] Feige also revealed that an early draft of the script had Hulk's Quinjet detected near Saturn at the end of the film, but it was finally decided to keep it Earth-based and leave his fate ambiguous in order to dispel rumors that a film based on the "Planet Hulk" comic storyline was in development, which Marvel Studios had no plans to adapt at the time. Marvel would later decide to adapt "Planet Hulk" for the film Thor: Ragnarok (2017), in which the Hulk is retroactively revealed to have left Earth after the events of Age of Ultron.[103]

At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Whedon announced the film would be subtitled Age of Ultron.[110] Despite the subtitle, the film is not based on the 2013 comic book miniseries Age of Ultron. Feige explained that they simply liked the title Age of Ultron but the plot was taken from decades of Avengers story arcs.[111] Whedon added that Ultron's origin would differ from his comics roots, and that Hank Pym would not be involved with Ultron's creation. Whedon disclosed that Edgar Wright had rights to the character first through his inclusion in Ant-Man, which was already in development. He also thought that Ultron needed to be conceived through the Avengers and since they already had Tony Stark and Bruce Banner on the team, it would not make sense to bring in a third scientist.[112] Whedon also said the film would have a darker tone due to Ultron's involvement.[113]

The title of the film came as a surprise to many fans who were expecting Thanos, the mastermind behind the events of the first film, to be the main villain in the sequel, with Whedon saying, "Thanos was never meant to be the next villain. He's always been the overlord of villainy and darkness."[114] Commenting on finding the right balance between technology- and fantasy-based heroes in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Feige explained that Iron Man is a technology-based hero, and his films are always based on those; Thor is a fantasy-based hero introduced in the 2011 film of the same name, which also introduces Asgard, a fantastical realm in "the more reality-based MCU"; and finally, Ultron is "clearly [...] come[s] out of technology," using tools that established in the franchise to construct Age of Ultron storyline.[115]

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