When it comes to movies based on comic books, we know
that the villain always loses. It's a universal fact. However, the path they
take during the film is what makes them appealing to theater going audiences,
and unfortunately so far Marvel was only able strike gold with Loki, who was able to be
a thorn not only on Thor's side, but also on the Avengers. Sentiment aside, the
Red Skull, Alexander Pierce, Ronan, Obadiah Stane, Ivan Vanko, Aldrich Killian,
and Malekith weren't exactly memorable. Each had its own level of success among
fans but they weren't Loki. So who might be the next big villain in the MCU? Well Thanos is still in the shadows, so the responsibility
of the villain brethren falls onto Ultron's string-less shoulders.
Back in April, Empire caught up with Joss Whedon and
ran a full panel of questions regarding the upcoming Avengers: Age of Ultron,
like why start with the Avengers already assembled?
My instinct was, 'Let's just come out of the gate
saying there is an Avengers.' So we can have more time to pick at them and tear
them apart and hurt them and ultimately destroy them. I've been working on a
lot of Ultron scenes, so I’m very anti-Avengers right now.
Whedon also commented the much talked
about pre-credit sequence inspired by the Bond franchise.
There is a pre-credit Bondian
blow-out. The James Bond theme has come up more than a few times, mainly
because the locations are so beautiful and in particular the opening location
is really stunning. There was a moment where there were soldiers and different
kinds of people fighting them, and these guys in winter camo come up on a
castle in one of those mountain resort elevators that goes side-to-side and
looks like a gumball machine, and I was looking at the Italian Alps and the
mist and the castle, and this weird thing rises up, full of soldiers in winter
camo, and everybody was like… [sings the Bond theme].
The director also revealed that he
wanted Ultron has the main villain even before he did the first film.
Before I took the first movie.
For me what was interesting is that he is this angry, and I hired the smoothest
talker in Hollywood to play him. I did it on purpose. I needed a guy who can
give you the Morpheus but then can just LOSE HIS SHIT. Spader’s
really good at that and he’s really good at finding the darkness, but also the
comedy. The comedy is always a huge thing for me. Tom Hiddleston is hilarious.
Hiddleston can turn on a dime, which is my favourite thing. He can be
absolutely apocalyptic and then, ‘Um, point of order?’ Ultron has the same
thing. He is very different, obviously, in his rhythms and his concepts, but
for me it’s a guy who’s that angry and who hates the Avengers that much and is
also a robot and is therefore going to have every issue that a robot’s going to
have with humanity anyway… there’s a lot to play there. For me, he’s an
iconic figure.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is not
what you would call grounded and real, however Whedon confesses that when it
came time to write Ultron's powers they had to dial things down a bit.
The powers in comic books – they’re always like, ‘And
then I can reverse the polarity of your ions!’ – well, we have to ground things
a lot more. With Ultron, we have to make him slightly less omnipotent because
he’d win. Bottom line. Also, having weaknesses and needs and foibles and alliances
and actually caring what people think of him, all these things, are what make
him a character and not just a tidal wave. A movie about a tidal wave can be
great, but it’s different than a conflict between one side and the other.
When Ultron speaks, he has a point. He is really not
on top of the fact that the point he’s making has nothing to do with the fact
that he’s banoonoos. And that he hates the Avengers for bringing him into this
world, and he can’t really articulate that or even understand how much he hates
humanity. He thinks he all that. That guy is very fun to write. He combines all
the iconic stuff. The powers he has are slightly different – he can control
certain things, he’s not just firing repulsors.
Whedon also spoke about the two other additions to the
group, and how their origin will be explained.
They have an origin but it’s largely described.
They’re already good to go by the time we’re up and running. You don’t want to
fall into Spider-Man 3 territory – and I say that as a guy who actually thinks
pretty well of that movie, there’s some great stuff in that movie – but there
comes a point where you’re overloaded with frontstory, backstory, origin story
and it becomes very hard to juggle. My instinct is always, ‘Don’t put in more,
work with what you have.’
But I insisted on putting in more in this movie
because I felt I needed more villains. I needed someone for Ultron to talk to,
and I need more trouble for the Avengers. As powerful as Ultron is, if he
builds more Ultrons, they’re Ultrons. There’s no reason for him to ever to talk
to them because they’re him. ‘I need you to – I KNOW! I AM TOTALLY YOU! I DID
IT EARLIER! I know that because I am also me.’ That’s not a good conversation.
Actually, it sounded pretty good there. I think I’m onto something.
Finally, Whedon
addressed Ultron's paternal change, and the heat he took about it.
Of all the heat I’ve ever taken, not having Hank Pym
was one of the bigger things. But the fact of the matter was, Edgar had him
first and by virtue of what Edgar was doing, there was no way for me to use him
in this. I also thought it was a bridge too far. Ultron needs to be the
brainchild of the Avengers, and in the world of the Avengers and the MCU, Tony
Stark is that guy. Banner has elements of that guy – we don’t really think of
him as being as irresponsible as Tony Stark, but the motherfucker tested gamma
radiation on himself, with really terrible, way-worse-than-Tony-Stark results.
It didn’t make sense to introduce a third scientist, a
third sciencetician, to do that. It was hard for me, because I grew up on the
comics, to dump that, but at the end of the day, it’s a more interesting
relationship between Tony and Ultron if Tony was once like, ‘You know what
would be a really great idea?’ They’re doing what they always do – which is
jump in headfirst, and then go, ‘Sorry, world!’ But you have to make it their
responsibility without just making it their fault.
Source - Empire
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