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Avengers: Age of Ultron is the 2015 sequel to The Avengers and the eleventh entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. On the eve of their dissolution, the Avengers are confronted by Ultron, a sociopathic artificial intelligence born of the Mind Stone and hellbent on bringing about a human extinction.
Tropes used in Avengers: Age of Ultron include:
- Aborted Arc:
- Thor's vision sets up Thor: Ragnarok as it was before Taika Waititi was hired as that film's director. As such, its serious tone doesn't really go anywhere given Ragnarok's Space Opera vibes.
- Wanda and Pietro seeking revenge on Tony Stark, since he "killed" their parents. There's no real resolution, as they sided with the Avengers when they realized that Ultron is a greater evil, not out of any epiphany about Tony not being a bad guy.
- Adaptation Species Change: In the comics, Wanda and Pietro are mutants. Here they're humans who were enhanced by the energies of the Mind Stone.
- Adaptational Badass:
- Vision is one of the weakest Avengers in the comics. Here he's an Alternate Company Equivalent to Superman and powered by an Infinity Stone.
- The Hulkbuster never won in the comics. And while it's not a Curb Stomp Battle, this one is the clear winner.
- Adaptational Heroism: Though he has the same goals as his comic counterpart, global extinction, Ultron is presented as a much more sympathetic character overall.
- Adaptational Wimp:
- Ultron is still a very powerful villain but his threat level is nowhere near what it was in the comics.
- Baron Strucker. He was one of HYDRA's premier generals in the comics but is nothing more than a Smug Snake here.
- Adapted Out: Hank Pym plays no role in the creation of Ultron.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's not clear exactly what caused Ultron to come online as Tony says that he and Bruce weren't even close to building a proper interface for the new AI. It's implied that the Mind Stone within the Scepter finished Ultron's operating system and brought him to life but it's never made clear. Thor later says Ultron came from the Mind Stone, hinting that it did act as an Amplifier Artifact.
- Ambiguously Evil: Ultron. For all that he desires to Kill All Humans, it's never made clear if he has enough emotional intelligence to fully understand the depravity of his actions, being quite convinced that they'll be enough survivors to rebuild from his Colony Drop.
- Armor-Piercing Question: As Tony furiously asks Steve, isn't the whole point of Avenging that one day, the world will be safe and not need them? What's wrong with automating that process?
- Artifact of Doom: As Thor lampshades, four Infinity Stones emerging in less than a decade cannot be a good thing.
- As the Good Book Says...: Befitting his Dark Messiah tendencies, Ultron makes more than a few Biblical allusions.
- Become a Real Boy: Which allows Tony and Bruce to deduce Ultron's next step. He could easily build himself a body for combat that's far more efficient that the crude humanoid form but he always defaults to the humanoid design.
- Berserk Button: Do not compare Ultron to Tony Stark.
- Bigger Bad: Thanos. Tony's intent behind the Ultron program was to better protect the world against another Chitauri invasion and he tries to complete the AI using the Scepter that Thanos gave to Loki.
- Blood Knight:
- The Cameo: Some random D-Day veteran.
- Colony Drop: Unable to get access to the nuclear launch codes, Ultron decides to just make a meteor and slam it down on the Earth.
- Comic Book Movies Don't Use Codenames: The closest the film gets to uttering "Scarlet Witch" and "Quicksilver" are Tony and Clint, respectively, summarizing the twins as "that little witch" and "quick little bastard".
- Composite Character: The Mind Stone takes the place of Vision's Solar Gem.
- Crazy Prepared: In case anything happened to JARVIS, Tony has multiple backup AIs.
- Create Your Own Villain: Literally. Tony and Bruce create Ultron in their lab.
- Curb Stomp Battle:
- The Avengers vs HYDRA. Even the Mooks know that they're outgunned.
- Wearing only a single repulsor and his chest plate, Tony doesn't even need to look at Cap while Vision is being created.
- Dark Messiah: Ultron views himself as one.
- Darker and Edgier: Not as dark as the trailers suggested but still darker than the first one.
- Deconstruction:
- It may be fun to watch superhero battles from the safety of a cinema, or hear about the Avengers' far-off battles and victories, but for those up close, it's a horrifying experience that creates a ton of property damage.
- Ultron deconstructs both the emotionless AI stereotype and Ridiculously-Human Robots. As he's based on the human mind, he learns by observing and mimicking the behaviour of other human beings, Tony in his case. Tony also notes that, even though Ultron could build himself a body custom built for war, he keeps defaulting to the humanoid form because that's what a human mind is conditioned to think of their body as.
- Destructive Saviour: Something which contributes massively to the Avengers' poor reputation.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Ulysses Klaue shows up as a Vibranium arms dealer, setting him up for Black Panther.
- Easily Forgiven: It takes one conversation for Steve to forgive Wanda and Pietro and welcome them both on the Avengers, despite them trying to kill him yesterday.
- Enemy Mine: Wanda and Pietro's Heel Face Turn is prompted by the fact that they'll die as well if Ultron enacts an extinction level event.
- Everyone Has Standards: Wanda and Pietro signed on to destroy the Avengers. They turn against Ultron when they realize his plan is to destroy all of human society.
- Evil Counterpart: Ultron to Tony Stark.
- Exact Words: Hawkeye doesn't have a girlfriend.
- The Extremist Was Right: Thor's character arc in the film can be summarized as him realizing this about Tony Stark.
- Fighting a Shadow: Destroy one of Ultron's bodies and he'll just download into another.
- Foil: Ultron serves as one to:
- Loki. Loki was a magical based villain who craved his father's (Odin's) attention despite sharing little in common with him and kept changing his goal (banishing Thor, taking over Earth) for the reason of being acknowledged as someone's superior. Ultron is a technology based villain who shares many traits with Tony but doesn't care for his approval and has the same goal (global destruction) but his reasons for it keep changing.
- Captain America. Though he's The Cape and became a symbol for peace, Steve was meant to be a living weapon for the US Army while Ultron was made for peace but chose to bring about chaos. It's why Ultron is so disgusted by Cap.
- Gosh Dang It to Heck: Played for Laughs. After Steve calls out Tony for saying "shit", Tony makes a point to say "For gosh sake" to piss Cap off. After he told everyone else about this, the Avengers all alert Steve whenever some swears.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: As a result of their Destructive Saviour tendencies, the Avengers aren't that well-liked. In the opening battle, the Sokovian citizens are protesting against the Avengers' presence in their country as well as having defaced images of Cap and Iron Man.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: Is Vision able to lift Mjølnir because he's worthy? Or because his artificial nature makes it no different than putting the hammer in an elevator and the elevator still being able to go up? Thor thinks it's magic while Cap and Tony think it's mundane.
- Mind Rape: Wanda's signature move is to subject people to their worst fears.
- Misplaced Retribution: The Maximoff twins hate Tony Stark for designing the weapons that killed their parents and trapped them in rubble for two days. For some reason, this is Tony's fault, not say, the person who fired the missile.
- Mood Swinger: Ultron. That's what happens when you Really Were Born Yesterday.
- Mythology Gag:
- Ultron first meets the Maximoff twins in a church dressed in red, referencing his first comic appearance as the Crimson Cowl.
- Natasha refers to Tony as "Shellhead", a comic nickname for Iron Man in the comics.
- In a deleted scene, Tony insults the Maximoffs by comparing them to Flowers in the Attic, referencing Wanda and Pietro's Brother-Sister Incest from Ultimate Marvel.
- Laura Barton was Clint's wife in Ultimate Marvel. She survives this film though.
- J.O.C.A.S.T.A. is among Tony's spare AIs.
- Before Thor informs it everyone of its true name, everyone refers to the Mind Stone as "the Gem", referencing the Infinity Stones' comic name of "Infinity Gems".
- Near Villain Victory: Ultron manages to lift Sokovia to extinction level and trigger the fall, only being stopped by Thor and Tony at the last second.
- Never Live It Down: In-Universe, no one is going to let Steve forget that he childishly called Tony out for a mild profanity ("Shit"). By the end, he just embraced the mockery.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: How most of the Avengers treat Tony, and to a lesser extent Bruce, for creating Ultron. In his defense, there is just enough ambiguity, thanks to the Mind Stone and Wanda's Mind Rape, as to whether or not Tony actually did create Ultron.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: War Machine's stories certainly impress the civilians. Thor and Tony? Not so much.
- Not So Above It All: Thor tries to seriously talk to Tony and Steve about the Infinity Stones but can't help but crack a smile when they comment on putting Mjølnir in an elevator.
- Not So Different: As Steve lampshades about the Maximoff twins, what kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them for the good of their country? Since America isn't at war, Maria Hill is unimpressed by this reasoning.
- OOC Is Serious Business: As Bruce lampshades, if Thor is agreeing with Tony's extremist measures, it's definitely the end times.
- Orcus on His Throne: Averted. Thanos has gotten off his chair and will be going after the Stones himself.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Many characters question why Ultron doesn't just launch a few nukes to Kill All Humans. As is revealed halfway through the film, he's trying to but JARVIS is blocking him.
- Reality Ensues:
- Given that the Avengers are funded by an American billionaire, and their leader literally drapes himself in the American flag, some Anti-American regions have begun viewing them as symbols of American imperialism.
- The Hulk may have been affected by Wanda's visions but since no one in Johannesburg knew that, Banner receives all the blame.
- As revealed in Captain America: Civil War, all that debris caused by Novi Grad's destruction did fall back to Earth and claimed lives.
- Really Was Born Yesterday:
- Vision quotes this as the reason for being "unbearably naive."
- Though not commented on, Ultron himself. By the end, he's, at most, two days old. Little surprise that he's so immature.
- Red and Black and Evil All Over: Wanda.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: Ultron bemoans that Howard Stark's Vibranium was used to make "a frisbee." In his mind, this is typical of humanity as a whole. As another example, he lampshades that in all the years that SHIELD and Hydra had Loki's sceptre, they never actually thought to open the thing.
- Retcon: The Stinger originally took place in 2015 before Avengers: Infinity War came out and it was declared to have taken place during the events of Thor: Ragnarok.
- Ridiculously-Human Robots: Ultron and Vision.
- Running Gag: Everyone informing Cap that someone else said a "bad language word" after he called out Tony for mildly swearing in the opening.
- Ruritania: Sokovia.
- Sequel Goes Foreign: While the first film did briefly go to India and Germany, it was largely set in the East Coast of the United States. This film is a globe-trotting adventure set primarily in Sokovia, South Africa and South Korea.
- Shout-Out: One of Tony's backup AIs is named "T.A.D.A.S.H.I.".
- Squishy Wizard: The Maximoff twins have great Infinity Stone-enhanced powers. But they're as durable as any human being.
- Takes One to Kill One: When faced with Ultron's Fighting a Shadow abilities and power of using the internet as a backdoor to escape, Tony builds another AI to counter him, to Steve's vocal protest. Fortunately, The Extremist Was Right.
- Tranquil Fury: Bruce Banner says he could choke the life out of Wanda and not change a shade.
- Unknown Rival: Tony doesn't ever seem to learn the specific reason that the Maximoff twins hate him.
- Unskilled but Strong: The Maximoff twins. Their powers certainly make them Outside Context Villains but they're clearly relying on brute strength and the element of surprise to win. When Hawkeye manages to catch Pietro off-guard, the twins are quickly defeated.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Wanda Maximoff. Hellbent on revenge on Tony for a completely imagined slight against her, she Mind Rapes him into creating Ultron. In this film alone, Ultron turns on the Avengers, rips a capital city out of her country and kills her brother. And simply beyond that, the long term fallout of Ultron's actions led to Captain America: Civil War and all of that film's horrible consequences.
- Vagueness Is Coming: After his experience flying through the portal, Tony is convinced that the Chitauri and their master will return. By the end, Thor agrees, noting the emergence of four Infinity Stones in only a few years.
- Villains Act, Heroes React: Something Tony is keenly aware of and tries to avert. Shame then that he's on a team with Steve Rogers.
- You Killed My Father: Wanda and Pietro's grudge against Tony is born out of Stark Industries weaponry claiming their parents' lives. Though why they target him instead of the person who fired the missiles is never explained.
- Your Worst Nightmare:
- Tony fears that another invasion will see Earth conquered and the Avengers dead because he didn't do enough to protect them.
- Black Widow fears that she can never escape her past.
- Thor fears that his irresponsibility and power will spell Asgard's doom.
- Cap fears the war ending and having no one left to fight, leaving him all alone.
- Klaue fears... cuttlefish. He saw a documentary, it was terrifying.