The first Avengers: Age of Ultron teaser trailer dropped last night (after Marvel had planned to release it next week on TV, but it leaked online early so Marvel was like, "Ah, screw it"), and it just looks jaw-droppingly cool. So let's do what we geeks do and pick it apart!
Many of the moments in this trailer borrow heavily from various Marvel comic books over the years, and we're going to examine those as we go.
Now we know that near the beginning of the movie, the team assembles for a little R&R party in Avengers Tower, where they celebrate Tony Stark's "genius" achievement of instituting a global peacekeeping A.I. force that's intended to make all their lives considerably easier. But it's not long before the A.I. in question, Ultron, comes to call and declares both independence from its creator and full-scale war on the Avengers. That's when we get this awesome robot-crushing-robot moment.
And could James Spader's voice be any creepier throughout this trailer, by the way?
Ultron apparently wipes the floor with them, and either as a result of this fight or something else, most of them are later seen aboard a Quinjet licking their wounds. And something has spooked the crap out of Bruce Banner.
We've seen Bruce freaked out before, so many times, trying his best not to get angry enough to let the Hulk emerge. But this seems different somehow. He doesn't look angry so much as terrified out of his mind.
Somewhere along the way, the team winds up at some kind of European castle or monastery, where Cap busts in like he's looking for someone or something and doesn't have time for anybody's crap.
But of course things never go as planned, and soon Ultron arrives with an entire army of robots. These guys are like foot soldiers based on Ultron's own design, and they look absolutely lethal. Check out this one 'bot crushing a rock as he grabs for a handhold.
The comics went down this road many times over the years, like in the panel below from "Avengers Disassembled." Ultron's ability to replicate himself and rapidly build weapons is one way that he has remained such a threat to the Avengers for so long.
It's here they see something that causes a bloodied and banged-up Thor to drop his hammer Mjolnir. Dun-dun-duuuuunnn!
Finally we get to the good stuff, when Hulk goes on a rampage in the streets (the way he does) and it turns out that Iron Man has been preparing for such a possibility. It's Hulkbuster time!
As Rocket Raccoon would say... "Ohhhhhh, yeahhhh."
Iron Man's Hulkbuster armor is a longrunning bit from the comics, where Tony has gone up against Hulk multiple times over the years. It's basically a beefed-up, testosteroned-out-the-wazoo version of the Iron Man armor built specifically to take on the Hulk. And the film's interpretation of it is quite faithful to the comics:
At some point, Captain America's shield is cracked and broken.
This is a well the comics have gone to time and time again over the years, because it's such a potent symbol of the Avengers' defeat. Here's a recent one.
But despite all the glorious eye candy on display for 2+ minutes, it's that final, full glimpse of Ultron that's the real money shot of the trailer. If it doesn't give fans serious goosebumps, they need to hand in their geek creds.
Like the Hulkbuster armor, Ultron's look takes its cues straight from the comics, but he's realized in a more modern and realistic form. Here's his current comic book appearance for comparison:
As always, it looks like writer/director Joss Whedon has struck the perfect balance between fan service and knowing when to push things to cool, exciting new places, while taking the human drama at its core very seriously.
What do you think of the trailer?
