10 Harsh Realities Of Rewatching Avengers: Age Of Ultron 11 Years After Its Release

The Marvel Cinematic Universe had a huge hit on its hands with the first Avengers movie, but the follow-up, Avengers: Age of Ultron, was met with critical disappointment. The movie was named after a popular comic book storyline, but it was in name alone, as it never adapted the actual story and only used the main villain. On top of that, there were several changes the MCU had to make to Ultron thanks to differences between the movies and comics, specifically in the area of why Ultron was created and who built him.

Avengers: Age of Ultron was directed by Joss Whedon, who also directed the critically acclaimed first Avengers movie, although that would end Whedon's time with the MCU. The project was reportedly a stressful one for Whedon, and the movie suffered for it. After a tightly paced thrill ride in the first film, this one seemed to struggle at times with pacing, humor, and character motivations. After the first movie had a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score by both the critics and the audience, Avengers: Age of Ultron only had a 75% critics score and an 82% audience rating.

The movie followed an AI named Ultron, whom Tony Stark and Bruce Banner built and programmed to protect the world following the Battle of New York in the first movie. However, Ultron took the directive of protecting the Earth literally and decided that humans were the greatest danger to the planet, so he set out to exterminate all human life. The Avengers had to beat him, while also meeting two young heroes who started out as enemies before becoming allies to stop the monstrous Ultron. In the end, there are many things that don't hold up.

Baron Von Strucker Was Wasted In The Opening

The movie opened with a massive fight showing the Avengers storming a Hydra base, fighting the villains who showed up in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. This was done for two reasons. One was to pay off the post-credit teaser from that movie that showed Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch. The other was to set up a big fight and show how the Avengers were working well as a team in the modern-day MCU.

All this scene accomplished was to show Iron Man teasing Captain America about being too straight-laced, Black Widow and Hulk having something going on, and Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch acting as slight threats. That was it. This is disappointing because the villain here was Baron Strucker, one of Captain America's most iconic villains. The teaser made it look like Hydra would be a big deal, and they were wiped out in a few minutes, with Strucker never having a chance.

Why Did Scarlet Witch & Quicksilver Help The People Who Hurt Them?

The post-credits scene from Captain America: The Winter Soldier showed Baron von Strucker with Loki's scepter, as he held Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch captive, experimenting on the twins. It seemed that he was grooming them to be weapons that Hydra could use in their war to take over the United States. However, this isn't what happened, and that scene was nothing more than a red herring that led nowhere.

Instead, the entire Hydra storyline played out in Winter Soldier and Agents of SHIELD, and by the time Age of Ultron rolled around, it had ended. Neither Quicksilver nor Scarlet Witch helped in the actual battles that mattered. However, when looking back, it makes no sense why they were helping Baron Strucker. Yes, they hated Iron Man, but that wasn't enough to team up with a man who held them captive for years rather than just escaping and going on their own.

Klaw Was Completely Wasted In This Movie

Black Panther showed how incredible a character Klaw was in the MCU. However, he only had a small chance to show his worth in Avengers: Age of Ultron. Andy Serkis, best known as Gollum from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, played Ulysses Klaue, who was running arms for Ultron, helping the robot warrior build his army.

However, he was little more than a side note in the movie. He had a few one-liners and was nothing like what he ended up becoming in Black Panther. By the time he arrived in the second movie, he had become such a fun villain that his death came as a huge disappointment. No one could have seen that coming after his lackluster debut in Age of Ultron.

The Teased Savage Hulk Never Stuck

One of the biggest complaints in the MCU over the past few years has been the progression of the Hulk. While Smart Hulk comes straight from the comics, Hulk is not at his best when he is brainy and delivering funny quips. The MCU needs to bring back the savage Hulk, the big green beast who smashes things while incidentally acting as a hero along the way.

It seems like Spider-Man: Brand New Day will give a nice tease to this version of Hulk, but Avengers: Age of Ultron did it first. Scarlet Witch hexed Hulk and caused him to go on a rampage in the Middle East. Iron Man pulled out his Hulkbuster armor to stop him, but the battle caused massive property damage and showed how great an out-of-control Hulk is. Looking back, this moment really made the next few Hulk appearances all that much worse.

Thor's Journey's Foreshadowing Led To Nothing

There was a big part of Avengers: Age of Ultron where Thor was on a quest with Dr. Selvig, and it was similar to the visions that Iron Man and Captain America faced. Iron Man saw the end of the world thanks to his failures. Cap saw the missed dance with Peggy Carter from his own past. However, Thor was shown what appeared to be Asgard in ruins and the start of Ragnarok. It was horrific and seemed to foreshadow his next big solo movie.

Sure enough, the next Thor movie was Thor: Ragnarok, and it was nothing like what he witnessed in his vision. Instead, Thor: Ragnarok saw Thor fight Surtur, head off for Planet Hulk, and then return to fight his sister Hela before unleashing Surtur on Asgard as Thor fled with the Asgardians for a new home. Yes, Thanos killed many of them, but the Ragnarok that Thor foresaw was nothing like the one that actually happened.

Black Widow & Hulk's Relationship Seemed Forced

If there was one thing that made little sense, and even had some disturbing moments involved, it was Black Widow and Hulk's relationship. The first notice of this was during the opening fight when it turned out that Natasha could calm Hulk when he began to lose control. Holding his hand and calmly speaking to him calmed the savage beast. She even had a quip later when she was teased.

However, there was another moment where Natasha and Banner were bonding, and she referred to herself as a "monster," saying she knows how he feels. She said she was unable to have children, which made her a monster. This was the worst line in the movie and was nothing like Black Widow in any way, equating being human to her ability to have children. In all, nothing about Black Widow and Hulk's relationship worked.

Quicksilver's Death Never Felt Deserved

When Avengers: Age of Ultron introduced Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, it was an exciting moment. However, it was also confusing because Fox also introduced their own version of Quicksilver in the X-Men movies. As a result, it brought about a lot of comparisons, and most critics preferred Evan Peters' portrayal over his MCU counterpart. However, the MCU Quicksilver was a one-and-done.

He was the one who wasn't so sure about their mission, while Wanda was the one holding the most anger within her. Quicksilver died in a hail of bullets to save Hawkeye and some children, and that ended his stay in the MCU. When a hero dies, it should mean something, but this movie had so much going on that almost no one cared about him, so his death meant nothing in the end to anyone but his sister.

Age Of Ultron Makes Civil War Seem Contrived

The entire reason that the Avengers split up in Captain America: Civil War was because of the events from Avengers: Age of Ultron. That makes the entire war seem contrived. In Civil War, Iron Man wanted to create a registration act where all heroes had to sign contracts to work under United Nations oversight to make sure that nothing like Sokovia happened again. Captain America knew he couldn't trust any government and wanted to keep his autonomy.

That makes no sense. The reason Sokovia was almost destroyed was that Iron Man created Ultron, and it was his own creation that almost destroyed the world. Now, Iron Man wants all superheroes reined in because of something he caused. If not for the Avengers, Loki would have conquered Earth in the first movie. The idea that Iron Man almost destroyed the world by his rash actions and then decided he was the morally superior one makes no sense.

The Final Battle Had Too Much CGI To Keep Up With

The final fight between the Avengers and Ultron was a non-stop fight that was almost hard to keep up with. Ultron had dozens, if not hundreds, of Ultron Bots under his control, and the point when the Avengers finally faced off with him saw them battling a non-stop horde of Ultron Bots, and it was clear that this was the main heroes fighting in front of a green screen with relentless action.

This was similar to the first Avengers movie, but at least that split the alien attacks up into different areas and had a lot of people's lives at stake. Here, there were lives at stake, but it was all in an area that had very few changes in the landscape. When Vision finally killed Ultron, it didn't really have much impact either, as everything had already ended by this time. The entire final fight was a letdown compared to every other Avengers movie.

Ultron Never Matched Up To The Comics

The biggest disappointment in Avengers: Age of Ultron was Ultron himself. James Spader is a great actor, but his voice work on Ultron was nothing like what any comic book fan might have expected. Instead of a threatening and menacing robot, he spoke with a laid-back, almost surfer-style delivery, and the fact that he learned many of his lines of dialogue from studying the internet when he came to life was nothing like the comic book Ultron.

While viewers unfamiliar with the comics wouldn't know the difference, it did make Ultron a lot less threatening. Loki was laid back, but he still seemed menacing in the first Avengers movie. Thanos offered a masterclass on what it means to be a villain. However, there was nothing scary about Ultron, and that hurt Avengers: Age of Ultron more than anything else.