Geeking Out About Cinema #10: MCU Rewrite | A Better Age of Ultron

Assuming that Age of Ultron was a one time deal with this particular villain onscreen, and considering the source material's many examples of his cataclysmic scope and terror, the MCU's adaptation of the character was undoubtably watered down. We're only treated to very brief moments showing Ultron actually fight off each member of the Avengers posing "somewhat" of a threat which is a major disappointment considering his clear theoretic formidability. The fact that he's obsessed with the concept of evolution encouraged the idea that the film would show off his newly formed body in action beating down our heroes one by one through tension-packed confrontations. Sadly, the enticing visual potential surrounding our heroes' lives being in peril fighting this new threat gets casted off to the side quickly at every turn. 

Instead, much like the Chitauri in the first film, it's all about the army of expendable canon fodder drones being a direct threat at least as far as how it's being visually conveyed onscreen more so than the leader even if Ultron is technically considered the army itself. What got me particularly excited for this sequel, and Ultron on his own, was the idea of Marvel finally giving us a villain that can physically take on the Avengers without the need of an army. I was thinking that the drone army would act as the global destruction event where our side/background heroes such as S.H.I.E.L.D., Falcon, and War Machine would struggle to stop them. We could've seen two different battles happening simultaneously being the apocalyptic robot invasion and the physical battle between Ultron prime and the core superhero ensemble. It just seemed like the ideal scenario to truly challenge our characters with following the previous crossover event with Loki.

What we're essentially given in the movie that we did get were more scenes of Ultron either explaining his ideals and plans to someone, doing a couple of tasks like obtaining vibranium and building his big meteor engine, or talking down to the Avengers every single moment that he's given the time. Although, I very much enjoyed everyone of those things listed, we're still missing the significant moments where this supposedly "obsessed with evolution" being can actually take everyone down with his brand new vibranium body. Just imagine that iconic moment that we could've gotten where Ultron almost destroys the Avengers in battle because of his terrifying determination to become better than our heroes. 

Side Note: The Ultron drones actually looked more menacing than his main design

The solidification of Tony's vision to build the ultimate global security program to end the Avengers need for existing now becoming the nightmare version of that sentiment is a dramatically compelling villain concept. Instead, I left the movie unfortunately remembering primarily Spader's performance and a bunch of expendable drones being torn apart by our heroes like CGI action figures being thrown around. So, despite feeling like Ultron was a better villain than Loki was in terms of being a crossover event antagonist, they both ironically share a very similar issue. That issue being the lack of threat feeling to our heroes. This is one of those situations where I walked into a film hoping for a specific event to take place, and right when the film actually hints at my wishes becoming a reality (nuclear apocalypse and takeover), something much less takes its place. It's a fine line between leaving expectations at the door and a movie not living up to its own potential.

Action aside, another issue that I had with this movie's take on the character is the actual evolution of Ultron. From the promotional footage, I thought they did an excellent job at hyping up our new villain as a constantly evolving entity who is obsessed with being "free" and "perfect". Unfortunately, we hardly spend anytime whatsoever in his actual creation or evolution phases which for me was the whole point of having a character like this in the first place. The movie would've greatly benefited from a few added scenes where Ultron transitions through a few different forms learning to improve from his various battles up until the final act where he becomes, as he sees, "perfection". A new sleek design (much like the official marketing artwork) that can effectively counter each hero's abilities would've been an exceptional spectacle to behold. Alas, the movie opted for a snarky, bulky robot that gets tossed around. 

As for the central idea of Ultron being a failed creation by Tony and Banner who was supposed to be the ultimate superhero for the world, the movie skips pass a tragically missed opportunity here. Imagine if Ultron's birth and villinaous turn actually played out a little more extensively. Instead of just having him come into the world, speed through the internet, and quickly decide on human extinction, why not have him gradually realize humanity's flaws needing extreme measures? Have Ultron be present during a side mission with Tony testing him out on the field in the form of an Iron Legion drone trying to calm down a mob and fighting off some insurgents. Only, Ultron verbally decides on a more visceral and swift solution to the angry mob after getting acid thrown on him by a civilian. This action and reaction nearly causes a mass slaughter by the A.I. program forcing Tony to quickly shut him down out of panic before anything disastrous could happen.

You can show Tony and Banner in the lab the next day being concerned about the program's problematically violent answer treating humanity's complexities like an easy equation to solve by eliminating all variables involved. However, Tony decides to continue forward brushing it off calling it a technological glitch that just needs more tweaking until the program becomes "perfect". Ultron, being switched on during this scene and hearing Tony's statement, responds like a confused child speaking to his parent as to why he doesn't expand his Iron Legion to take up security around every country. Tony can then say something to the effect of "it's just not that simple". This can be your terrifying key moment where Ultron coldly responds "It can be...let me show you" that causes Tony to shut him down out of fear. Now you can cue your party scene in the movie with Ultron switching on and taking over after the Avengers were hanging out. 

Another idea that could've been utilized, and what the movie actually briefly alluded to, was Ultron controlling the world's nuclear codes. Just imagine how dramatically high staked and poetic that situation would've been had Ultron actually set loose the world's very own nuclear weapons on themselves simultaneously forcing the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. in a high pressured situation. The imagery of missiles launching around the globe with people from different nations gazing up at the skies in sheer horror as our heroes frantically rush to every location losing some locations in the process would've really elevated this sequel to new heights for the franchise. Instead, what we got in the actual movie was that Ultron causes a city to float and the Avengers blows it up after relocating mostly everyone to safety. This is what I mean by wasted potential and glaring missed opportunities.  

Also, the now popular scene where he interrupts the Avengers' party was a slight disappointment from my initial thoughts looking at the trailer. It's still a cool moment overall that sets the stage for the threat to come, but nothing compared to what the trailers offered as far as the dialogue arrangement and eerily nerve racking tone. Going by my proposition before for how Ultron could've been showcased, just imagine how even more creepy this scene would've been in the movie had Ultron's speech been closer to the trailers. Calling the Avengers puppets tangled in their own strings highlights the A.I.'s perspective of humanity being stuck in a state of self harm resulting in them not being able to evolve which is where his genocidal solution comes in. Sadly, in the actual scene, Ultron only touched on these ideas and the "puppets" line was really just him pointing out one of Stark's drones. Again...missed opportunities. 

Note: This article was taken from my 2015 Avengers: Age of Ultron review and simply repurposed as a MCU Rewrite entry. It was written years before the What If? series came out on Disney+ giving fans a much better version of Ultron with helped somewhat redeemed the MCU's use of the character. But as much as I loved that iteration in the animated version, I still think they had a very clear oppututnity to make the live action Ultron a terrifying and powerful antagonist that would've stood up on the same pedestal where other universally celebrated villains like The Dark Knight's Joker, Black Panther's Killmonger, and Infinity War's Thanos currently stands on. Just a thought.