Avengers: Age of Ultron: James Spader Cast As Villain Ultron

Captain America, Iron Man, Black Widow, Thor, Hulk and Hawkeye – meet your villain!

Marvel announced on Thursday that James Spader will play Ultron in the sequel to 2012’s “Marvel’s The Avengers.”

In the Marvel Comics universe, Ultron – a self-aware robot – is created by Dr. Henry Pym (known to comic book readers as Ant-Man), with a slew of impressive powers (super-human strength, speed, stamina, durability, flight, mind control, a coma ray and a genius intellect).

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But for the big screen incarnation, director Joss Whedon recently told EW that they will tweak the character.

“I knew right away what I wanted to do with him,” Whedon told the mag. “He’s always trying to destroy the Avengers, goddamn it, he’s got a bee in his bonnet. He’s not a happy guy, which means he’s an interesting guy. He’s got pain. And the way that manifests is not going to be standard robot stuff. So we’ll take away some of those powers because at some point everybody becomes magic, and I already have someone [a new character, Scarlet Witch] who’s a witch.”

Adding, “[I’m working] to ground [the character] while still evoking that guy… As a character I love [Ultron] because he’s so pissed off.”

“The Avengers: Age of Ultron” hits theaters on May 1, 2015.

— Jesse Spero

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