Tardy Critic

“I am not Ultron. I am not J.A.R.V.I.S. I am… I am.” — Vision

A Quick Summary
A traumatized Tony Stark takes matters into his own hands, building an army of Iron Men in the name of peace, only for it to fall into the hands of someone not so different from... himself? The Avengers reassemble to stop his creation before it brings about “peace in our time.”

Reception at the Time
Avengers: Age of Ultron, the second big team-up film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, received mixed-to-positive reviews upon release. It was knocked for being messy, exposition-heavy, and full of setup for future Marvel properties. This likely didn't impact its box office take, however, as it ended up in the top 10 for all-time gross and is currently sitting in 18th place with a lifetime worldwide gross of 1.4 billion dollars.

How It’s Aged
This one’s gotten better with time. It might be the rare case where ten years isn’t enough distance to fully review it. So much of its legacy depends on what came after—Wanda’s arc, Vision’s existence, the Infinity Stones, Wakanda, even the road Tony ends up on. The movie feels more relevant now within the MCU than it did at the time.

At the core is a surprisingly focused theme: playing god. Tony tries to create peace and ends up creating a monster. Ultron immediately starts quoting scripture, shaping his apocalyptic logic around phrases like “Ask Noah” and “Peace in our time.” It’s not subtle. Vision, born from the wreckage, literally says, “I am…” This is Marvel doing Frankenstein by way of technotheism, and for once, the mess kind of fits the message.

Also worth noting: Marvel literally changed the movie post-release. The Thor vision sequence, once a confusing tangent, has been cut down and re-edited on Disney+ to focus on the Infinity Stones. It works better now. My main gripe? Gone.

Best Parts
James Spader’s Ultron. He’s a dark Tony Stark with a god complex and the deadpan delivery to match. Ultron can’t tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. “Where do you think he gets that?”

Wanda’s visions. Her actions spark Tony’s anxiety spiral and indirectly kick off the entire second half of the Infinity Saga. She might actually be the main villain here, depending on how you look at it, though that dynamic shifts by the end.

Quicksilver has a great introduction. “You didn’t see that coming?” cracked me up. The moment where he grabs Thor’s hammer mid-fight is so great. Wish we got more of him.

Vision’s birth scene hit completely different this time around. They go full Universal Monsters. He’s created in a coffin and brought to life by a team of mad scientists. I never fully registered it before, but this is Frankenstein’s monster, born of Thor's lightning. One of the most thematically loaded scenes Marvel’s ever done that now 100% works for me when it previously did not. “We’re mad scientists. We’re monsters, buddy.”

Overall
Age of Ultron has always been a little messy, but that’s part of the appeal now. It swings big, it builds out half the future of the MCU, and it gives us one of the most interesting villains in the franchise. It’s also one of the few Marvel films that actually wrestles with power; how it’s created, who controls it, and what happens when your creation turns on you. You've never seen a Frankenstein movie like this.

And somehow, it still holds together. More than that, it holds up.

“That up there, that's the endgame.” — Tony Stark

Review by Michael Knepprath