Avengers: Age of Ultron Theories

It is less than two months away, but yet it is the most anticipated movie since the first Avengers debuted and May 1st could not come any soon. Of course, Marvel is doing a fantastic job of keeping the hype up on the movie with a terrific advertisement run and equally impressive trailers. Fans, much like myself, dig into these trailers as if they are piecing together a puzzle making themselves into some sort of pseudo-comic book nerd detective. With every new trailer that has hit the internet, new theories tend to follow in line about what the plot may just be. In this article, I go over my theories as to what plot points the film might hit.

One of the more surprising, and recurring elements of the most recent Avengers trailers would be the romance that seems to be brewing between Natasha Romanoff and Bruce Banner. The two seemed to have grown close as friends in the first Avengers film, but to say they would begin a romance takes everyone by surprise. However, taking into consideration that Joss Whedon is yet again the writer and director of the film and how he loves telling a story playing on the theme of forbidden romance it makes sense as it so tragic. Bruce is a likable guy but we all know that a romance with him would be a difficult thing given the rage monster that lies beneath. Thus, making it difficult for any woman to get close to him. Whedon has teased that there will be another death in the film and considering the romance one could jump to the conclusion that one of them could bite the bullet for the other. However, both actors are contracted for future films and are incredibly well liked by the fans making it highly unlikely that either one of them will die.

Pietro and Wanda Maximoff (Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, respectively) are newcomers in this installment providing the film with some much needed fresh blood. Judging by the trailers it seems at first that they carry some sort of resentment towards the Avengers but the reason is unknown at this time. My guess would be that throughout the world there are groups of people that believe that they are bad for the world considering the amount of damage they have already done to the world in their battles. The twins most likely suffered a loss in one of these battles forcing their hatred and making them easy targets to manipulate by evil forces. At first, they are not super powered at all, but as we saw from the post credits scene in The Winter Soldier, Baron Von Strucker "unlocked" some power within them with Loki's Scepter. Again, judging by the trailers it seems as if that the Avengers carry out a mission where they attack a HYDRA facility, that facility would be the one we see in the same post credit scene. In the aftermath of the attack, the twins are freed from the siege and eventually stumble upon Ultron. Ultron manipulates them seeing their hatred for heroes and uses them as a distraction to keep the Avengers off of him until he is ready to fight them himself.

The twins have always been dependent on each other in the comics with Pietro usually being the voice of reason between the two due to Wanda's unstable mental state. Eventually, something will snap inside of him leading him to believe that Ultron's methods are much worse than he had originally thought and allies himself with the Avengers. In the trailers, you see him at one point attack Captain America and then save him. The latter part is what most likely puts him in Ultron's crosshairs making him the casualty of war, and sending Wanda to help the Avengers in the final fight against Ultron and his army of robots. Another reason why I think this theory is correct is due to the most recent trailer when you see the Avengers fighting all the robots, Quicksilver is absent from the fight.

Across the internet I have read theories after this trailer was revealed that the yellow gem in Vision's forehead is none other than the Soul Gem, one of the Infinity Gems. It certainly would be one way of introducing another gem into the Marvel Cinematic Universe before the upcoming Infinity War but I find it highly unlikely for one major reason. The Vision is one of the most beloved Avengers among comic book fans and for him to be changed that drastically would be a mistake. Not to mention, come the Infinity War when Thanos comes to Earth, what is to stop him from seeing Vision with the gem inside of his head and just ripping it out? It would however be a hell of an introduction to the character of Thanos to see him viciously toss aside one of the most powerful Avengers but it would come at to great of a cost of a beloved character. All of this being said, the lack of Vision in the trailers make him one of the more intriguing characters for the film especially given the fact that Kevin Feige has teased that he is one of the more important characters going forward.

The last thing I noticed in the trailer would be the continued inclusion of Loki's Scepter. It was briefly seen in the first trailer and now we see Tony grab it after their victory in the siege over the HYDRA facility. My guess, considering how we see it yet again in his lab (as seen in the picture below) when he is talking to Bruce about artificial intelligence, that Tony uses it as the final step in making Ultron. This would also explain why Thor had confronted him in previous trailers and told him, "you have meddled in something you don't understand." Loki's Scepter is the Mind Gem, one of the Infinity Gems and is likely what makes Ultron a "real boy" and realize the only way to be Earth's salvation is by exterminating mankind as they are their greatest threat is themselves. Furthering this theory that the Scepter is used in the creation is that Ultron's bots have the similar blue hue in their eyes much like Hawkeye and Dr. Erik Selvig had in the first Avengers film.