This week's Entertainment Weekly will be the magazine's annual Summer Movie Preview which means the biggest blockbuster of the year, AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, graces the cover. But, in typical Marvel fashion, they are going big with four collectible covers that combine into the image above (click it to get an extra large version).
The image may not offer anything spectacularly new but it does give us a new clear look at Paul Bettany as Vision. There is definitely some Photoshop magic going on here but it is still heads and tails better than the official poster for the movie. We also have confirmation that the film will feature a romance between Black Widow and Hulk, something teased since production began and hinted at in the trailers, as well as these new plot details about how Ultron comes to be.
Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann), a new villain from HYDRA, which infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. long ago and raided its most powerful technologies, has been using Loki’s scepter for human experimentation, which bestowed the siblings with powers of magic (Scarlet Witch) and speed (Quicksilver). But the bad baron piques the interest of Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark for other reasons. “Von Strucker was working on a lot of stuff, including robotics,” says Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige. “Tony realizes, ‘[Those robotics] might be able to help me get over the hump of some of the AI stuff I’ve been working on.’ ”
Stark’s invention, Ultron, is born from the marriage of both men’s technologies. Alas, adolescence is a bitch, and Ultron goes rogue, shreds Stark’s other artificial-intelligence program, J.A.R.V.I.S., and gives rise to his own awesome creation: the synthezoid known as the Vision (played by Paul Bettany, who previously voiced J.A.R.V.I.S.).
This movie looks absolutely insane and you have to credit Marvel Studios for being able to not only keep footage of Vision under wraps as a special treat when the film opens but also hiding appearances from cast-members including Julie Delpy and Linda Cardellini. I would say it is a safe assumption that there is little chance of getting more excited to see this movie than we are right now.
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON opens May 1st.