The Marvel Cinematic Universe may truck in spectacle, but its true strength lies entirely with the murderer’s row of beloved characters and character-actors that fill out the various rosters. Working off of decades of brilliant work by some of the unsung geniuses of modern Western culture, Joss Whedon and his corporate overlords have fashioned a universe fit to burst with beautifully flawed heroes, villains, and lost souls in between.
With Age of Ultron currently earning every bit of money there is to make, it made sense to break this juggernaut down by looking at how it treats those characters. So, without further ado, here is the official and binding report card for the characters in Age of Ultron.
(Spoilers are your own damn problem from this point on.)
TONY STARK/IRON MAN as played by Robert Downey Jr.: B+
Tony’s arc is a bit of a mess by this point. The end of Iron Man Three saw him throw away his suit and destroy all his drones, making it a little odd when he pops up in the opening seconds of Ultron… wearing a suit and ordering around a bunch of drones. Takes the sting out of Shane Black’s work a bit. You can probably No-Prize that nonsense away, but it still comes across as Whedon deciding he’d rather ignore a previous film’s problematic endpoint than spend time trying to write around it (he pulled a similar “Fuck it” with Thor’s conclusion in the first The Avengers). I can’t fault Whedon for not wanting to waste a fairly packed running time, but it does ding the cohesive universe that they are trying to construct when a character’s entire arc in one film is negated at the start of the next.
That’s a bit of a problem for Shell-head throughout this movie. The other Avengers forgive Stark very quickly for creating a genocidal killbot. There’s some initial anger, but after that they all seem to chalk it up to “shit happens” and Tony goes back to being the wisecracking ace he always was. It’s particularly aggravating in the final scene. You would expect this movie to at least sort of tee up the upcoming Civil War, but Whedon decides to end his tenure with this team with the Big Three on very friendly terms.
The movie does take steps to move Tony toward an antagonistic position, something the next phase will presumably run with. Whedon takes pains to show how Ultron’s rampage is the direct result of the same “I fix things” mentality that has defined the Iron Man films. With no shortage of well-written quips and RDJ’s impeccable timing, Iron Man is in fine form here, and nicely poised for what’s to come. It simply feels like Ultron backs off the most interesting choices in favor of tying up its own story with a too-neat bow.
NATASHA ROMANOFF/BLACK WIDOW as played by Scarlett Johansson: A-
If there was one character that truly flourished under Joss Whedon taking the reins of the MCU, it was Black Widow. Portrayed as little more than an especially well-formed fuckdoll in the second Iron Man movie, Widow has developed into the most nuanced character and performance in the whole of the MCU. There’s reason everyone walked out of both Avengers and Winter Soldier clambering for a standalone movie. Contracts probably ensure that that won’t happen (fucking contracts, man) but that doesn’t keep either character or actress from claiming giant swaths of the movie away from the boys.
Johansson has really grown into this character, to the point that she can communicate decades of pain and emotional torment in the simplest of line reads and the slightest of expressions. Ultron digs into its heroes’ dark sides, courtesy of Scarlet Witch, and Black Widow’s soul probably runs darkest. The filmmakers are still playing somewhat coy with the details of her backstory, but we get our best look at it yet in Ultron, and it is an ugly fucking sight. Johansson doesn’t run from that darkness, but folds it into her portrayal of Black Widow as a woman who is impossibly poised in action, but a turbulent storm during the calm. It makes her attraction to Bruce Banner that much more believable, and makes the final moments of that relationship hurt all the more (this is Joss Whedon, though. After what he did to Fred and Tara, you just can’t trust this fucking guy).
Points are docked for a third act that leaves Natasha taken prisoner, though some points are returned for Natasha being the one to instigate her own rescue. All in all a very nice showcase for Johansson, who may shortly be too busy running her own franchises to be playing second fiddle in this one.
STEVE ROGERS/CAPTAIN AMERICA as played by Chris Evans: C+
Evans was the de facto protagonist of the first The Avengers, and Winter Soldier was the nexus around which the entirety of Phase Two has spun. That’s the film that fed directly into Ultron’s start, and the ending certainly poses Steve Rogers as the central figure for the earthbound MCU going into Phase Three. Subsequently, Cap’s near irrelevance to Ultron feels all the more frustrating.
Even as Cap is front and center for almost every single major action sequence, for the first time it feels like the character’s innate squareness puts him on the backburner. Of course, Captain America’s function is to always be the unwavering force of decency around which the cosmic craziness can spin, but First Avenger, The Avengers, and Winter Soldier all allowed Evans the space to find dynamic character beats to play; Ultron is simply too busy. While every other member of the team gets to rend their shirts over some matter of emotional anguish, Steve Rogers mostly spends the movie clenching his jaw at what uncooperative jackasses his teammates are being (what with their rending of all the shirts). Part of that is the previous three films all developing narratives which featured Captain America as a fish out of water or man out of time, whereas he’s perfectly settled in in Ultron. Evans’ best work comes once again courtesy of being paired off with Hayley Atwell, but the well of that tragic relationship might finally be running dry.
They make up for lack of Cap character with Cap action, and it’s good stuff. Whedon seems determined to one-up the shield-fu the Russo Bros. brought to Winter Soldier, and there are endless action gags involving that thing (then again, the very best use of the shield comes courtesy of a scene where it is Black Widow, not Captain America, wielding it. Kind of a metaphor for their whole relationship, really).
Extra points are docked due to Chris Evans’ Captain America being maybe my favorite portrayal of a superhero in film to date. I love this character, and I love this guy as this character. Having him relegated to frustrated straight man (and stalling out his series’ arc while laying pipe for Thor’s (more on that soon) seems to signify Whedon throwing up his hands with regard to this character. Just as Joss could not for the life of him ever write a happy, functional adult man for Buffy Summers to date (remember Riley? Fuck Riley) he seems to have hit a wall with Cap.
BRUCE BANNER/THE HULK as played by Mark Ruffalo: A
Joss Whedon cracked The Hulk. What two standalone features struggled mightily to accomplish (and came up lacking) he’s managed to pull off with what amounts to minor subplots in the midst of the larger insanity of the Avengers films. The Hulk is the source of ungodly amounts of fun and destruction, but there’s also a deep and tragic character beneath that fun.
Ruffalo walks that line perfectly, of course. He’s such an easy, lovable presence that you almost can’t see it as he builds to the moments that break your heart. Even as Bruce is more happy and stable than in any of his previous appearances, Ruffalo’s eyes never let you forget that this man is convinced that all this happiness will be shattered for him. That this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy does not dilute the pain.
So we get the extraordinary Hulk vs. Hulkbuster rumble, but we also get the image of Ruffalo cowering in anguish and grief over what his dark side just brought down upon innocents. We get the Hulk powering through waves of robots, but the image we are left with is a creature alone and truly lonely, throwing away love because it cannot conceive of being deserving of it.
In a film that is devoted largely to debating the line between heroes and monsters, between security and chaos, no character embodies that struggle more than Bruce Banner’s battle with the Hulk. While Ultron lacks a few of the first film’s “HOLY SHIT!” moments, it makes up for it with a deeper and richer approach to (most) of the characters. Bruce Banner benefits mightily from this, and hopefully he’ll drift back into the MCU sooner rather than later.
THOR as played by Chris Hemsworth: B
There’ve been some charges that Age of Ultron suffers from middle film syndrome, making it the Iron Man 2 of this point in the MCU’s development. This is largely bullshit, as Ultron tells an epic, sprawling narrative with a beginning, middle, and end that brings (most) of the characters to well-earned moments of closure. That said, there are individual sequences and scenes which do little but gesture towards where the MCU will go next, and Thor is unfortunately saddled with the majority of these scenes.
Like Captain America, Thor’s arc more or less wrapped up in his second film, and he enters Ultron as a stable and happy individual. Seeing as how the action never spreads to his realm or towards his loved ones, he keeps that happiness and stability for most of the runtime. Good for his blood pressure, bad for our drama. Mostly, Thor’s role in the story is to finally alert the other Avengers to the existence of the Infinity Stones, bringing the past three years’ worth of barely-simmering subtextual arcing to the forefront. A necessary step, yes, but one that will not have real import until many years down the line (basically, Thor’s entire plot line in this film is the equivalent of that crappy Thanos scene in Guardians of the Galaxy).
Unlike his compatriot in Chrisness, though, Hemsworth is at least given a lot of fun material to play. He has gradually been revealed to be the single funniest performer in a very funny cast, and at least three of Ultron’s biggest laughs come courtesy of pitch-perfect cutting to Hemsworth silently reacting. The man mountain has comic timing to spare, and Whedon has clearly learned how to perfectly tee up the son of Odin for the maximum humor.
With the Infinity Stones now an active concern for all of the Avengers, and with his next movie titled Ragnarok, it’s a safe bet that the cosmic corner of the MCU is going to be heating up in the next couple movies. With Hemsworth at the head, we are in great hands.
CLINT BARTON/HAWKEYE as played by Jeremy Renner: A
Noticing a trend here? The Big Three are given lots of action and plenty of plot to carry, but the lasting emotional resonance of Ultron lies entirely with characters like Black Widow, Hulk, and Hawkeye. Hawkeye’s presence in The Avengers was a sort of recurring joke, seeing as how nonsensical it was to put a non-powered spy with only bows and arrows at his disposal on the same team as demigods. Whedon side-stepped the matter by sidelining the guy, but that’s the kind of trick you can’t really pull twice.
Instead, Whedon and Renner turn into the skid of Barton’s mundaneness and turn his pointed humanity into the soul of the film. As he did so many times with Xander on Buffy, Whedon reserves his greatest respect for the character who walks among gods and monsters without any protective powers or grand destiny. Barton is fully aware that it is insane for him to be in these situations (which are also insane), but he also understands that he is needed to balance out the craziness and keep the Avengers (and The Avengers) tethered to the human race. As such, the greatest moment of heroism in a movie filled with grand acts of heroics is Hawkeye making the simple choice to step away from safety so he can put himself in harm’s way to save a single life. Renner is fantastic in the film, selling you every bit of Hawkeye’s weary but unwielding soul.
Was Hawkeye originally meant to die? It certainly seemed like the film was building one of the core cast for the ultimate sacrifice, and Hawkeye certainly seemed the most expendable. Most of the film’s third act ramp-up is built around the notion that one of our gang HAS to die, as the odds are simply stacked too high. It would have been a helluva way to go for The Hawk, to have him give his life to save one child, and it would have been an effective capper to his tenure on the team.
Instead, it’s Quicksilver that bites the dust, and Clint Barton gets the rare happy ending, departing the team to return to his (secret) wife and (secret) children. Maybe Joss just got tired of everyone assuming he had a murder-boner for likable people, and I can respect that. But there’s something vaguely unsatisfying about a completely happy ending, and it leaves Barton feeling like a loose end that hasn’t been properly tied. Messy is fine and all, it just felt like the film spent its full running time arcing to Hawkeye’s death only to veer away at the last moment. Hopefully as time passes, Whedon can talk bluntly about why he went the way he did. In the meantime, Renner has carved a piece of this world out for himself, and I’m excited to see him turn up again.
QUICKSILVER as played by Aaron Taylor Johnson and SCARLET WITCH as played by Amanda Olsen: B+
They’re fun. There’s really not a lot to go on with the Twins, and the death of Quicksilver means that the double act is never going to get much play. Johnson and Olsen work very well with each other, dodgy accents aside (also aside: the fact that they last played husband-and-wife together in Godzilla), and Whedon finds neat visual representations for their powers. There’s obviously some visual overlap between Johnson’s Quicksilver and the one that popped up in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but the difference is that Whedon knows how to use the character as a character, not as a one-off gag.
Johnson and Olsen sell you on the Twins’ tragic backstory, they banter well with the rest of the gang, and their journey from angry, unfocused tempests of newly formed powers to full-fledged heroes is nicely played by the pair. That’s why the decision to kill Quicksilver after only one movie seems so odd. Maybe Johnson was a pain in the ass that Marvel decided they didn’t want around, or maybe Whedon felt that he needed someone to die and it might as well be the guy we all just met. But either way, the film didn’t really feel like it was arcing to Quicksilver’s death, nice moment thought it was.
If Whedon felt that one of the Twins needed to die, I’m glad he opted for Johnson. I actually like the guy (he was a fine human protagonist in Godzilla. Whether you thought the movie needed one of those is a whole other thing), but Olsen as Scarlet Witch is clearly the more compelling character and performance. Olsen only has a scant few lines in the film, but she communicates so much with those big, open eyes of her. There is so much horror, heartbreak, but also humor and curiosity in the way she can regard a room, that it suggests untold depths. Fortunately, we’ll have more appearances to plumb those depths.
Bummer about her bro though.
ULTRON as played by James Spader: B
The MCU has sucky villains. Sony and Fox must’ve carried off the whole lot of good bad guys, because the chumps they’ve been rolling out since Iron Man ain’t cutting it. Loki and Red Skull aside, there just aren’t very many characters that I’m anxious to see pop up again. Some because they really only work as a one off (Ben Kingsley, Robert Redford) and some because they flat out suck (Lee Pace, Christopher Eccleston).
Ultron does not really break the mold, but he gets points for the James Spader-ness that tends to occur when you hire James Spader. Spader does a nice job of amplifying all of Tony Stark’s tics to the nth degree, and then robbing them of anything resembling warmth. The technical trick of turning the dude from Boston Legal into a legion of ten-foot tall killer robots is a casual miracle, and Spader is able to make sure his personality renders through the ones and zeroes.
But Ultron still ends up feeling like a blank. He vanishes for giant chunks of the movie and never really solidifies as a personal threat against the Avengers. The first movie had Thor’s love/hate for Loki anchoring the battle, and this one gestures towards a similar relationship between Ultron and Tony. Aside from a few temper tantrums Ultron throws when compared to his ‘father’, that relationship never really has any meat on its bones.
It’s a byproduct of the other heroes being so chill about the ‘created a genocidal killbot’ thing. Because no one is really needling down on Tony about Ultron, there’s no passion or tension between creator and creation. After a certain point, Ultron might as well be some random pissy doo-dad that needs unplugging, not something that came from, and strikes at, the very hearts of our heroes.
There’s enough ambiguity to Ultron’s final showdown with The Vision (and it’s always tough to totally kill a creature with a transitory consciousness) that I can imagine Ultron popping up again in the MCU, and I would not be adverse to that. But he’s underserved by the movie that bears his name, and another in the list of MCU villains that serve their purpose and are then shuffled off.
NICK FURY as played by Samuel L. Jackson: B
It’s Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury. You know what you’re getting by now. Fury as Tony Stark’s stern but loving father figure is not my favorite version of the character (and a come-down from the dynamite, complex role he played in Winter Soldier), but the joy of watching Jackson as this character has not worn off.
THE VISION as played by Paul Bettany: A
Maybe the most ‘comic book’ looking character… ever? The Vision is a bright purple android with a flowing cape and a magic crystal embedded in his face. He speaks in semi-poetic monologues, often while floating, sometimes while punching.
Whedon’s design can often suffer from feeling cluttered and overly-busy (coughcoughCap’sCostumeInTheFirstOnecoughcough) but it totally works. The purple face and the mass of moving pieces remind you constantly of his inhumanity, but then Paul Bettany’s great sad eyes peer out from that nightmare. The Vision hovers right on the border between creepy and endearing, and Bettany hits the sweet spot. The Vision’s alien nature, and the other Avengers’ absolute acceptance of it, serves as the catalyst for the cosmic side of the universe to become fair game. With this motherfucker hanging out with the team like it’s no big deal, all bets are off.
With The Vision, Whedon captures a sense of genuine religious awe. There’s something at once both regal and perverse about the way he moves, the way he talks. The Vision marks the beginning of what will hopefully be a very weird phase for the MCU, and I could not be happier.
THANOS as played by Josh Brolin: Incomplete
Well, at least he gets out of the fucking chair this time.
So there you have it. Age of Ultron. Not a perfect movie, but a damn great one. It juggles a whole lot of characters and a whole lot of plot, and it carries it off pretty damn nicely. The movie appears to have come close to breaking Joss Whedon’s soul, and that’s, you know, that’s not an ideal situation for him. But from that soul-breaking, Whedon created a beautiful, bizarre, idiosyncratic love letter to human monsters and monstrous humans.
Have a nice rest, Mr. Whedon, and we’ll be ready and waiting for the next dream.
And as for the Avengers? They’re in good hands. Bring on Ragnarok, bring on Civil War, bring on heroes from distant lands and heroes from distant galaxies. Bring on infinity. So long as the storytellers remember to keep the humanity clear beneath the pixels, there’s no end to what this universe might be.