Fans at Comic-Con had been camping out since late Friday afternoon in anticipation of Marvel’s annual Hall H presentation, and the studio definitely gave them something to talk about. Nearly the entire cast of Avengers: Age of Ultron assembled onstage (minus a pregnant Scarlett Johansson) to debut the first look at the film, and it was pretty damned impressive.
The clip opened with the Avengers sitting around having a few drinks, and each of them taking turns attempting to lift Thor’s hammer. Tony Stark can’t get it done with his Iron Man gauntlet, nor can Tony and Rhodey (with his War Machine gauntlet) working in tandem. Hawkeye and Banner both try to no avail, but when Cap steps up to the plate, the hammer budges ever so slightly, resulting in a brief expression of panic from the God of Thunder.
Thor jovially informs the group that none of them are worthy, but before anyone can reply a metallic screeching echoes through the room, and a robotic voice asks “How could you be worthy? You’re all killers.” The camera cuts away to reveal a shambling, twisted wreckage of a robot, vaguely resembling one of the Iron Man suits that Tony controlled remotely in Iron Man 3. This is Ultron, and he tells the Avengers “You want to protect the world, but you don’t want to it to change. There’s only one path to peace: your extinction.” Cue a swarm of robots bursting into the room.
What followed was a montage of war and destruction, with an accompanying voiceover from Ultron talking about his vision of a world screaming with mercy and everyone tangled in strings. We get a few shots of the Avengers in action – Cap firing his guns, Thor using his hammer to smash through a tank, Scarlet Witch screaming, and Stark telling Black Widow “this is the end of the path I started us on.”
Music comes in, and it’s a super creepy version of “I’ve Got No Strings,” from Disney’s Pinocchio. We see Stark in the Hulkbuster armor, fighting it out with the big green guy. We get an oh-so-brief look at Quicksilver, Thor grabbing Stark by the throat and lifting him off the ground, and Black Widow touching Hulk’s hand in an attempt to calm him. As the music builds to a crescendo, we see Ultron, now fully repaired and looking incredibly menacing, clenching his fist and saying “There are no strings on me.”
The last shot is Captain America’s shield broken in half, and Tony kneeling over his body. The camera pulls back to reveal the rest of the Avengers lying in the rubble, and Stark looking horrified.
The Avengers: Age of Ultron footage was met with thunderous approval, with Hall H giving the cast a standing ovation. But before things concluded, Robert Downey Jr. announced that Thanos would indeed appear in the film, and Josh Brolin walked out onstage wearing a toy version of the Infinity Gauntlet, holding his fist up high.
The panel was an excellent way to cap off a long day of Comic-Con adventures, and I can’t wait to see more. Avengers: Age of Ultron will hit theaters on May 1, 2015.
avengers: age of ultron comic con 2014 marvel sdcc 2014