May 1, 2015 Link Less than 24 hours after Marvel Studios and writer/director Joss Whedon revealed at Comic-Con International that the "Avengers" sequel is called "Avengers: Age of Ultron," we already know two key details about the film: The story isn't based on the Marvel Comics miniseries of the same name, and the introduction of the sentient robot won't involve an appearance by Hank Pym. ComicBookMovie reports that in a live interview that aired on Marvel.com, Whedon clarified that the sequel has nothing to do with "Age of Ultron," by Brian Michael Bendis, Bryan Hitch and Carolos Pacheco. Instead, it's an origin story for the classic Avengers villain. "Well, because there was a book called 'Age of Ultron' quite recently, a lot of people have assumed that is what we're doing, but that is not the case," the filmmaker is quoted as saying. "We're doing our own version of the origin story for Ultron. In the origin story, there was Hank Pym, so a lot of people assumed that he will be in the mix. He's not. We're basically taking the things from the comics for the movies that we need and can use. A lot of stuff has to fall by the wayside." Whedon expanded on the omission of Pym to io9.com, saying, "We don't have to have him. It works very simply — this is Marvel cinema, not Marvel comics. One thing [Marvel Studios President] Kevin Feige has a genius for is knowing what to hold onto and what to let go of. You can invoke the feeling you had and play with the characters you love and remain true to the needs of the film." So, if Pym doesn't create Ultron in the sequel, then who do we blame? "We're crafting our own version of it where his origin comes more directly from the Avengers we already know about," he's quoted as saying in the Marvel interview. "It's a little bit darker than the other film because Ultron is in the house. There's a science fiction theme that wasn't there in the other one. Ultron is definitely something that evolves, so we're going to get together a couple of different iterations. Nothing can be translated exactly as it was from the comics; particularly Ultron." The filmmaker also delivered some news about "Age of Ultron" that should make Hawkeye fans -- not to mention actor Jeremy Renner -- very happy. "It's very much a global Avengers film," Whedon said. "A lot of the movie has to do with their place not just in America, but the world. Part of the fun for me, definitely this time around, is writing Hawkeye. He did get possessed pretty early by a bad guy and had to walk around all scowly for most of the movie so now it's nice to actually have the character there and see him interact with the other guys." The announcement of "Avengers" sequel's title last night sent the upcoming Marvel Comics collection of "Age of Ultron" rocketing up the Amazon.com bestseller list, from No. 63,699 to, as of the time of this article, No. 339. It should be interesting to see what affect Whedon's most recent comments have. <HR> UPDATE 10/22/2014: Teaser trailer...
So... why did they show Thanos at the end of the first avenger... then have Ultron for the second movie..?
On the scale of characters that can translate from comics to film without appearing cheesy, technology heroes like Iron Man would be at the easy extreme of things, while Ant Man's growth/shrinking is at the other end. It.is such an overdone staple of the silly 1950's sci-fi films that it would be almost impossible to pull off without bringing to mind that outdated camp. Joss Wheadon is certainly smarter and more savvy than me, so I imagine he sees the same and made a tactical decision.
Thanos will be in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie and continue to appear in other movies. I assume Avengers 2, but I'm not sure if he's a secondary villain or they're just developing his character and saving him for Avengers 3. The Ultron news is very cool in that it's completely out of left field but at the same time kind of a letdown because I was pumped for Thanos.
Well, obviously Ultron is the main bad guy right? I feel like they're going to use Thanos in Guardians of the Galaxy. They have to, no? I mean...if they're just going to say oh btw Gamora is Thanos' daughter...what are they going to do just show the 2 second clip of his face from avengers? (They of course could very well do that)
honestly, I think Ant-Man is one of the cheesiest comic characters ever. I'm glad they wont be featuring him
Ant-Man the hero might be really cheesy. But, Hank Pym is one of the most detailed characters in the Marvel Universe. He causes so many conflicting emotions because his character has a lot of depth. Also, they could have just used his Yellow Jacket persona.
This only makes sense with Nolan. What has whedon done to deserve such a blind following? Firefly was a good show, but nothing special like its crazy cult fans make it out to be. It can be a pretty boring when you get over the quirky lines of humor. Serenity is great imo. Reaches the full potential that the tv series couldn't reach. Avengers is basically superheroes replacing the characters of firefly with the same one liner humor thrown around constantly. It gets old. Its a cheesy kids movie. Part 2 will be no different.
