Why Did Joss Whedon Dial Down Ultron's Powers For 'Avengers Age Of Ultron?'
In the comic books, Ultron is all but unbeatable. He's artificially intelligent and, in addition to being super strong, fast and all that good stuff, he can transfer his consciousness and recreate himself. (He's also changed powers over the years too.) So just when you think he's dead, bang, he's back in another form. That's a big problem for a superhero movie where the good guys kind of have to win, according to Joss Whedon.
In an interview from the set of Avengers: Age of Ultron, the writer/director of the superhero sequel talked about the fact Ultron is so powerful in the comics, he was forced to dial back his abilities for the movie world. He also discussed how introducing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch into the film helped the title character. Read the Joss Whedon Avengers Age of Ultron quotes below.
Whedon talked to Empire Magazine about the main villain of his film:
"The powers in comic books – they're always like, 'And then I can reverse the polarity of your ions!' – well, we have to ground things a lot more. With Ultron, we have to make him slightly less omnipotent because he'd win. Bottom line. Also, having weaknesses and needs and foibles and alliances and actually caring what people think of him, all these things, are what make him a character and not just a tidal wave. A movie about a tidal wave can be great, but it's different than a conflict between one side and the other. When Ultron speaks, he has a point. He is really not on top of the fact that the point he's making has nothing to do with the fact that he's banoonoos. And that he hates the Avengers for bringing him into this world, and he can't really articulate that or even understand how much he hates humanity. He thinks he's all that. That guy is very fun to write. He combines all the iconic stuff. The powers he has are slightly different – he can control certain things, he's not just firing repulsors.
Sounds like Whedon really has a handle on the character. Plus, considering Ultron isn't the villain in Captain America: Civil War it's pretty obvious he's going to get destroyed. As for the lingering effect on the character? That's another issue all together.
Whedon also talks about introducing Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch and the reason why he did that, at least at the start:
[Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch] have an origin but it's largely described. They're already good to go by the time we're up and running. You don't want to fall into Spider-Man 3 territory – and I say that as a guy who actually thinks pretty well of that movie, there's some great stuff in that movie – but there comes a point where you're overloaded with frontstory, backstory, origin story and it becomes very hard to juggle. My instinct is always, 'Don't put in more, work with what you have.' But I insisted on putting in more in this movie because I felt I needed more villains. I needed someone for Ultron to talk to, and I need more trouble for the Avengers. As powerful as Ultron is, if he builds more Ultrons, they're Ultrons. There's no reason for him to ever to talk to them because they're him. 'I need you to – I KNOW! I AM TOTALLY YOU! I DID IT EARLIER! I know that because I am also me.' That's not a good conversation. Actually, it sounded pretty good there. I think I'm onto something.
Avengers: Age of Ultron opens May 1.