Trailer Trashin’: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes are Back in Avengers: Age of Ultron

It’s an embarrassment of riches for fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), dear readers. Hot on the heels of last week’s examination of the Ant-Man teaser trailer, this week’s Trailer Trashin’ looks at what will probably be the biggest movie of summer 2015, Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Premise: With S.H.I.E.L.D. destroyed and the Avengers needing a hiatus from stopping threats, Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.) attempts to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program with Ultron (James Spader), a self-aware, self-teaching, artificial intelligence. But the plan backfires when Ultron decides that humans are the real enemy and sets out to eradicate them from the Earth, and it is up to Iron Man, Steve Rogers/Captain America (Chris Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Clint Barton/Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), along with support from Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and Maria Hill (Cobie Smulders), to stop him from carrying out his plans. Along the way, the Avengers encounter the powerful twins Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), as well as the android Vision (Paul Bettany).

My take: Back around Halloween last year, we got our first look at one of the most anticipated films of 2015, Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. The trailer combined apocalyptic imagery with a slow, ominous cover of “I’ve Got No Strings” from Disney’s Pinocchio (1940), and showed that there were dark times ahead for our beloved team of superheroes. With less than five months to go until the film’s release, we’ve finally gotten another look at what’s coming. This is the second trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron, and it’s only added to my excitement for the film.

All the main heroes from the first The Avengers are back for Age of Ultron – Iron Man, Thor, The Hulk, Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Nick Fury. We know them, we love them, and I won’t spend more time on them, except to say I’m glad to see them all back. The more I see and hear of James Spader as Ultron, the more impressed I am. The voice Spader is using is wonderfully creepy, and perfectly complements the various forms of the robot super-villain. We also see a bit more of the Maximoff twins – Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver and Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch. I’ve been looking forward to these two for quite a while, and I can’t wait to see what they can do with their powers.

I really like the story stuff that’s being laid out here. Yes, “the second film of the trilogy is the dark one” is a well-worn trope, but it’s also a good one. It’s clear that Tony Stark, and to a lesser extent Bruce Banner, is responsible for the creation of Ultron, which is sure to cause a rift between him and the rest of the team. Ultron says “I’m gonna tear you apart from the inside,” and with the shots of Thor choking Tony and Iron Man and Hulk fighting, it’s clear that isn’t just an idle threat. And given that Marvel is going to release Captain America: Civil War in May 2016, I think it’s safe to assume that, even if the Avengers do come together again to defeat Ultron, all their issues with each other will not be worked out by the time the credits roll.

As you would expect from the sequel to The Avengers, it looks like the action here is going to be off the chain. We’ve got the Avengers evacuating people after some kind of disaster or attack. We’ve got Hawkeye in a forest with explosions going off around him. We’ve got Ultron’s robot minions flying around, causing havoc, and tangling with Captain America. But of course, the big highlight so far is the clash between Hulk and Iron Man in his “Hulkbuster” armor in the middle of a crowded city. As much as I’m sure it’ll be tough to watch Tony and Bruce go from being best buds to trading blows, its sure going to be exciting when they do throw down.

There’s also some stuff in this trailer that raises some big questions, especially for people who aren’t familiar with the comics. We’ve known for a while that Marvel has big plans for bringing the African superhero Black Panther into the MCU, with the character being introduced in Captain America: Civil War next year and getting his own solo film in 2017. And it’s clear that they’re setting up some elements of the character’s world here. About 33 seconds into the trailer, there’s a shot of what looks like a black woman with a shaved head disrobing in front of a pool inside a cavern. While there are a number of bald women in the Marvel universe, it seems most likely that this woman is a member of the Dora Milaje, Black Panther’s all-female team of bodyguards. At the 54 second mark, we get a good shot of Andy Serkis’ character, who was also shown in the first trailer. While Marvel hasn’t confirmed anything, many believe that Serkis is playing Ulysses Klaw, the brilliant physicist who becomes the arch-enemy of Black Panther. From 38 to 41 seconds, we see a younger-looking Black Widow, who then has an unidentified female hand grab her face and force her down onto a gurney, followed by a gloved hand picking something up from a tray of nasty-looking surgical instruments. Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige has said that we’ll get some of Black Widow’s back-story in this film, so it’s safe to assume that these shots come from that. And about 1 minute and 3 seconds in, there’s a shot of Thor with electricity or energy coursing over his body. Given the environment he’s in, and the fact that the woman behind him is dressed like something from a Frank Frazetta painting, it looks like Thor gets back up to Asgard at some point in the story.

As you can tell, I am ridiculously excited for this movie. I’ve been in love with the MCU ever since it started back in 2008, and I look forward to its new films every year. The Avengers was a great movie, and it set a very high bar for subsequent Marvel films. But if this sequel lives up to the promise of its trailers, it could very well reach or maybe even surpass that bar. When the beginning of May rolls around, there’s no doubt that I’ll be checking out Avengers: Age of Ultron at my local theater.

ANTICIPATION: I’ve got no strings…to hold my excitement down!

P.S. This past week, I finally got out to see two of this year’s big Oscar nominees, The Imitation Game and Birdman. They’re both excellent films, and I would recommend them to all of you, dear readers.