To start off, this is not saying that Marvel is doing a bad job; they have plenty of great material that they have brought to the silver screen that has been full of laughs, drama, and action. Right now, they are in a great place with Avengers: Infinity War (2018) in production to bring together an entire universe of characters we’ve had nothing but adoration for. This article is written as an attempt to fix a highly anticipated film that ended up just being decent. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) was highly anticipated due to its star power and also the iconic cold villain that was showcased in a variety of great-looking trailers. The final product ended up being difficult to understand because of a re-edited final cut missing a great deal of material (when did Stark come up with Ultron?), overloaded with characters, and containing a villain that was well-acted, but too emotional for a artificial intelligence gone wrong. Besides that, the film itself was a sight to behold, a fun ride, and full of some great comedic moments; this version hopes to keeps those elements while giving the trailers justice.
The film starts off with Tony Stark still investigating SHIELD’s files that he broke into during The Avengers (2012). In a file, he discovers the subject of Ultron which secretly breaks the dormant AI from its slumber from within SHIELD’s databases and infects Stark’s systems. The AI begins to slowly infect Stark’s suits, but remain hidden until the time is right to strike. Cue the opening credits.
The same battle with Baron Strucker’s forces occurs and the scepter is obtained by the Avengers in the battle which gets Ultron’s attention. While the Avengers party their night away, Ultron starts digging into the scepter and realizes it can use it to create its own artificial life. It uses the scepter’s power to create his own team of Avengers, to get its revenge on SHIELD and begin a process to take over the safeguarding of the planet. One at a time, each Avenger is slowly taken down and replaced by a duplicate and put into a machine that gives them an artificial reality.
Ultron uses Helen Cho’s machine to make its team seem life-like, but Stark figures it out before a portion of the team including Banner, Natasha, and Thor are already replaced. Stark discovers a video from his father that details his work with Hank Pym on the ‘Ultron’ project. The AI gained sentience and realized the flaw in human nature that would impede on its directive of planetary protection; disobedience. The AI is sealed deep within SHIELD’s database against its will and curses its creators by crippling Pym from an explosion, which ends his Ant-Man career.
Stark travels to find Pym at Pym Tech and tells him of Ultron which nearly gives him a heart-attack. Stark asks for a way to stop the AI in which Pym leads him to a secret room full of old memorabilia and Easter eggs. Pym supplies Stark with a virus that has to be plugged into Ultron directly to defeat him. A blast enters the office giving view to the Vision who is created as a combination of the Avengers he has in custody. Stark escapes in time, but Pym is taken hostage.
Stark further investigates SHIELD’s files further and finds a file on the Maximoff twins; he finds the twins from Strucker’s experiments, frees them, and brings them in to help plan an assault on Ultron’s lair (Avenger’s HQ). Stark finds Ultron torturing Pym with nightmares of his past heroics and mistakes. Stark uses Wanda to try to free the Avengers (which she enters their dreams) and Pietro to assist in buying her time. Stark and Pietro fight off the clones for a time while slowly, but surely, most of the Avengers come back to beat their doppelgangers.
The team prepares for a fight against Ultron, but are halted by the Vision who runs through most of the heroes at ease, except for Hulk. Hulk holds back Vision giving the team the chance to strike at Ultron leading to a one on seven fight, but Ultron emerges nearly victorious from his studies of the Avengers fight patterns. Stark attempts to plug into Ultron, but Vision sacrifices itself and is plugged in instead. The virus reprograms Vision, who takes on Ultron and nearly destroys itself in the process. Ultron’s body is destroyed. The Avengers shake hands with Vision’s body taken into custody, Pym back at work studying a secret project, and a new team of Avengers in game.
A post-credit scene shows Ultron traveling off-world to which he discovers Thanos and the Red Skull discussing the takeover of the Earth with the Infinity Gauntlet lying on a map.
Enjoy the day.
