With Joss Whedon revealing at SDCC that the villain for Avengers 2 will be the robot Ultron, this has raised as many questions as it has answers.
Luckily for us, the folks behind the scenes at Marvel asked them for us. But you may not like the answers.
Yes, we know that Edgar Wright is working on an Ant Man standalone movie for Marvel’s Phase III, post Avengers 2. But just how standalone it will be has been discussed and debated a great deal, often with the assumption that Hank Pym, a founding member of The Avengers in the 616 canon, would be at least teased in Whedon’s Avengers 2.
Well, assume no more.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ylai2RE9EM0
NO HANK PYM FOR YOU!
But, butbutbut. . .Hank Pym built Ultron and. . .
NO HE DIDN’T.
At least not in The Gospel According to Whedon. Which is fine, as far as I’m concerned. Has Joss Whedon let you down before? Ok, then breathe deeply and remember you are in good hands.
I actually see this as an incredibly freeing development. Not only is this the movie Whedon really wanted to make originally, featuring Ultron, this gives him the ability to explore an unexplored question: what if Tony Stark created Ultron? How does that change things?
We also hear Whedon tease that Hawkeye will have more to do in this film. Excellent news to my ears, since the one thing I’ve always loved about Ultron was how he was able to turn technology against The Avengers. (Imagine if Ultron had control over Tony’s arsenal from Iron Man 3? Imagine S.H.I.E.L.D. having little more than basic firearms?) Hawkeye is the ultimate in not needing technology. Bow and arrow. Primal.
And now Whedon is freed of having to introduce and develop a new character, Hank Pym, and explain Pym particles, and give stuff for Ant Man/Giant Man to do, and introduce Janet Van Dyne and make her into The Wasp and. . . you get my point. More killer, less filler. In a movie with too many heroes already, we barely need to introduce more.
The other person I think this frees up is Edgar Wright. He doesn’t have to play backup to a character Whedon already introduced and defined. And it may allow Wright to not necessarily make his Ant Man the Hank Pym one– whether that’s the science-nerd-pacifist Hank Pym of Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes or the wife-beating-Prozac-popping-asshole Ultimate Hank Pym. He could be Scottie Lang, or, perhaps even better and more suited to Wright’s sensibilities, Eric O’Grady the “Irredeemable Ant Man.”
In any case, I think this is a a chance to place a little faith in Whedon and co. Until they start producing substandard results, I don’t think there’s any reason to start complaining.