Speaking to Total Film magazine, director Joss Whedon has dropped some more information on his upcoming superhero sequel, THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON, spelling out some details in terms of villains, crossovers, Hank Pym, staying “grounded,” and the use of the movie’s title as it relates to the comics. First up, Whedon explains that the title of the film (Age of Ultron) is not a direct translation of the comic (nor could it be, as many of the main players in the comic are owned by Fox for their movie counterparts), but merely the use of a cool, fitting title.
“It’s not based on the series. Honestly, we went through a lot of titles – Underoos Of Ultron. None of them landed…Underoos would’ve been better because of the alliteration. But Age of Ultron really stuck. We were like, ‘It’s a book, but we’re still going to use it’.”
In terms of Hank Pym (aka ANT-MAN) being the creator of Ultron and following the exact origins of the robotic villain, as well as the number of characters in the film, Whedon clarified, saying:
“We’re not going to see Pym and all the accoutrements. Ultron is more central to the Avengers as they are. But we will explore the idea of lineage, because he was created by us and we’ve got to own that… Then we have the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver and I think that’s plenty, because Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch did not begin their time as friends of the Avengers, so there’s going to be a lot of, well, conflict.”
The ever-growing rumblings of a crossover with the Fox-owned characters seems to be the talk of the town in terms of fan hope, but Whedon is quick to keep that in check, even if he’s “cool” with the idea, saying:
“That’s not the plan. It would be cool but I think right now I already have a ton of very talented actors in my movie playing a ton of characters, and I’m about to add a few more. So I’m not like, ‘How can we get more licensed characters because I want to kill myself and make a nine-hour movie.’”
For fans that were expecting to see THE AVENGERS square off with the villain Thanos in the sequel (especially after that end-credits sequence in the first film), Whedon doesn’t rule out them eventually squaring off with the purple-skinned titan, but says he was never meant for the sequel.
“We have to stay grounded. It’s part of what makes the Marvel universe click – their relationship to the real world. It’s science-fiction, and Thanos is not out of the mix, but Thanos was never meant to be the next villain. He’s always been the overlord of villainy & darkness.”
Pretty cool stuff. Regardless of all the awesome headed our way in 2015, I am still most excited for this one. As a dyed-in-the-wool Marvel guy it’s where my interest peaks (but don’t think for a second I’m not jazzed to see Superman and Batman in the same movie!). Note that Whedon doesn’t rule out that Pym won’t be seen in the film, just that we won’t see all his “accoutrements” and also says “I’m about to add a few more [characters].” Now that is cause for speculation!
THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON is set to explode on May 1, 2015.