James Spader’s Ultron Should Come Back to Life, MCU Fans Say
Avengers Age of Ultron has long been the problem child among Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. Most everyone agrees that the original Avengers, Infinity War and Endgame all deliver, but Age of Ultron tends to leave fans wanting in one way or another.
Now, Marvel fans have a new goal: Bring Ultron himself back because Ultron wasn’t the problem with the movie.
‘Age of Ultron’ is the least of ‘Avengers’ movies
While opinion is subjective, it can often be reflected in the box office of the movies. According to The Numbers, the original Avengers made $1.5 billion worldwide at the box office. Age of Ultron hardly fared poorly, but it was a step down, grossing $1.4 billion worldwide.
But that total pales in comparison to Infinity War and Endgame with $2 billion and $2.8 billion, respectively, the last being the all-time top grosser.
To be sure, Ultron has its boosters. Some fans defend the movie, saying it looks better than its predecessor, and that it contains important clues and building blocks, such as the very subtle hint that Steve Rogers would ultimately be able to lift Mjolnir. At the same time, there are a lot of “howevers” thrown around. Joss Whedon himself admitted the production was difficult, and he hasn’t directed for Marvel since.
There’s nothing anyone can do about Age of Ultron at this point. The movie is the movie, whether one thinks it’s great, bad, or merely good. However, there might be a path forward with Ultron, the villain who was an artificial intelligence that was like the evil version of Jarvis — Tony Stark’s assistant.
Fans like Ultron if not ‘Age of Ultron’
A Reddit thread asked the question, “You get to bring one villain back to life. Who is it?” The very first response is Ultron, although that person added the caveat that Ultron was not technically “alive.” But someone else seconded Ultron and he was one of the most popular choices in the thread, if not the most popular.
“Ultron. It’s literally his thing. You defeat him, think you’re done with him, and he randomly pops back up a few years later with a new body and other upgrades,” one fan said. And another fan came up with a very logical way Ultron could come back.
This is what I want the most and I feel like WandaVision is a great opportunity to do this,” the fan said, referring to the Disney+ series fronted by Elizabeth Olsen’s Wanda and Paul Bettany’s Vision. “I’d love to see Ultron coming back as a fully mas virus who “infects” visions corpse.”
There’s a topic that’s nothing if not timely.
Bringing Ultron back could be done believably
Fittingly enough, Ultron met his end at the hands of his opposite number Vision. But as we have seen so often in superhero stories, death doesn’t have to be permanent.
Sometimes fans take this to extremes, devising ways to bring back the departed heroes including Iron Man and Captain America, no matter how much the actors insist they’re done with the MCU. But that doesn’t mean resurrection is always a stretch.
Indeed, the entire plot of Avengers: Endgame revolved around bringing the dead back to life, with the heroes ultimately returning to fight another day – or another five years later. Did anybody really believe that Spider-Man would stay dead? Or that Black Panther wouldn’t come back after his movie turned out to be an even bigger hit than most expected?
Another fan on the Reddit thread pointed out that Ultron’s return could actually be thematically powerful, saying, “It would be fascinating how he factors in the fact that Tony is no longer around and the whole decimation event that took place. Also, James Spader is too brilliant an actor for just a one-time part in a franchise like this.”
