‘The Avengers 2′: Joss Whedon Reveals How Ultron Differs From the Comics
Ever since the title 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron' was revealed by Marvel and Joss Whedon at Comic-Con 2013 last month, there's been a lot of talk of how this epic villain will be handled for his big-screen translation. Now it seems we've gotten some (vague) answers from Whedon himself, who opened up about the difference between comic book Ultron and movie Ultron.
In the comics, Ultron is almost godlike in his abilities -- created by scientist Hank Pym (aka Ant-Man), Ultron is a robot who becomes self-aware and who can do just about anything. He's got superhuman strength and speed, he can fly, he has weapons, he can control minds and put heroes into comas, etc. The list is endless. But what do you do with someone like Ultron, who can wipe out the Avengers in the blink of an eye? You kind of need there to be more of a fight.
In an interview with EW, Whedon explained how Ultron will be a little different in the film:
I knew right away what I wanted to do with him. He’s always trying to destroy the Avengers, goddamn it, he’s got a bee in his bonnet. He’s not a happy guy, which means he’s an interesting guy. He’s got pain. And the way that manifests is not going to be standard robot stuff. So we’ll take away some of those powers because at some point everybody becomes magic, and I already have someone [a new character, Scarlet Witch] who’s a witch.
Sounds reasonable -- you need to give your main baddie some dimension and depth or else he's just a giant, soulless robot destroying the entire world for no reason, and we'd like an 'Avengers' sequel that lasts longer than five minutes.