The announcement was huge and could have been confused for a spike in a seismograph in San Diego when Joss Whedon took to the stage of Hall H and announced The Avengers sequel would be called Avengers: Age of Ultron. He met with Marvel Studios’ show Marvel Live! and spilled even more details that are sure to send fans’ tongues a-wagging.
First up, Whedon clarified how the title of his sequel should not be confused with the book that shares the same name in terms of them also sharing plot points.
"A lot of people, because we called it Age of Ultron and there was a book called Age of Ultron recently, assumed that was the storyline we were doing which is not the case. We're doing our own version of the origin story of Ultron. The other thing is in the origin story, there was Hank Pym, so a lot of people assumed he was going to be in the mix, but he's not because we're basically taking the things from the comics for the movies that we need and can use,” Whedon said.
"A lot of stuff has to fall by the wayside. Ultron was their chief villain when I read the book. He has been the Avengers villain for so long, I was amazed anybody was surprised it was going to be him in a movie. But we're sort of crafting our own version of it, where his origin comes more from The Avengers that we already know about it."
Whedon, normally quite shy with details, perhaps was on an adrenaline rush from greeting that manic Hall H crowd and shared more insight into his film than he usually does. "It's a little bit darker than the other film. Because Ultron is in the house there's a science fiction element that I think is a little bit stronger than the other film. Getting the team together was so rousing, but seriously, keeping the team together is a completely different problem."
The Avengers maestro even admitted that before he made The Avengers, he knew he would be heading into the world of Ultron.
"Since before I even took the job of making the first one, I thought, 'Well, I don't know if I want to make this movie, but the second one should have Ultron in it!'"
The other surprise from the Marvel Live appearance was while The Avengers was primarily focused on New York City and the Loki-led alien invasion, the sequel will have a more international feel.
"It's very much a global Avengers film. A lot of the movie has to do with their place not only in America but in the world," he said.
Lastly, he teased that a certain Avenger will get a little more screen time and where and when we can except filming to commence. "Part of the fun for me, definitely, this time around is writing Hawkeye, because he did get possessed pretty early by a bad guy and sort of had to walk around scowly for most of the movie last time. So now it's nice to actually have the character there and really see him interact with the other guys," Whedon said.
As for that timeframe? "End of February, beginning of March. We'll be shooting in London… London will be the base for Avengers 2."