I’ve been looking forward to Avengers: Age of Ultron ever since it was first announced at Comic-Con in the summer of 2013. In the almost two years since then, I have been following the production while trying to limit spoilers. I made it through clean and last night was able to fully enjoy Avengers: Age of Ultron.
I was thoroughly entertained by Age of Ultron. After watching it only once, I can’t really say how it compares to The Avengers or the other movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I can say, though, that it is a lot of fun. A lot of the same pieces from The Avengers are there, but they get used in different ways. Also, the new characters like Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Ultron himself definitely add a lot more to the movie.
Here are some other thoughts I had while watching Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Culpability
In general we don’t like taking responsibility for our actions when they have negative consequences. It’s much easier to shirk that responsibility or blame others for our mistakes. As the trailers for Age of Ultron insinuate, Tony Stark is responsible for Ultron and he has to wrestle with how much responsibility he’s going to take. Granted, creating an artificial intelligence leads to some extreme consequences, but the principle is still the same for us. Whether our actions impact hundreds or just one person, we need to take responsibility for what we’ve done. We need to learn from our mistakes, release any shame we might feel and move forward.
The Monster Inside
Even though there have been 10 movies through which these characters have been developed, there’s still more room for them to grow. Age of Ultron is a little darker than The Avengers, not Daredevil dark but still a little dark. The darkness really comes from the characters as they work to unpack their own monsters and demons. Bruce Banner’s monster is a lot closer to the surface than some of the others’, but they’ve all still got them. We also have a monster inside of us, waiting to roar and scream and pull us astray. Our monster is rooted in the sin in our lives, but can be seen in our attitudes, our egos, our habitual sins and in how we treat others. We like to minimize our monsters because they’re not big and green, but if we don’t address them they could potentially do more damage.
Teamwork
Much like The Avengers, Age of Ultron is all about teamwork. Unlike The Avengers, though, we actually get to see the team working together more than once. The movie begins with the Avengers on a mission and I was so excited to see them working together. The movie is filled with scenes of the Avengers working together, each team member knowing his or her role. Hawkeye can’t do what Thor can do, but Thor can’t do what Captain America can do. More than any other theme, teamwork stands at the center of Age of Ultron, as it should. Whether we like working with others or not, we need to see the value of teamwork. Some of the Avengers may get their own solo films, but our lives are always going to be crossover affairs built upon working with others.
Marvel hasn’t let me down yet; even the lesser movies in the MCU have their appeal. Marvel definitely used Age of Ultron to set up what’s coming, but I didn’t feel like that took away from its own story. Age of Ultron has me more excited for the future of the MCU, especially for Avengers: Infinity War Parts 1 and 2. Part 1 doesn’t come out for another three years, though, and then we’ll have to wait another year after that for its conclusion. Until then, though, I can dream about the Avengers assembling to defeat Thanos once and for all.
What did you think of Avengers: Age of Ultron?
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