10 Things You Won't See In Avengers: Age Of Ultron

Furious 7 just raced its way to seventh spot among the highest-grossing films ever made – an astonishing achievement given the franchise’s limp beginnings. However, 2015’s biggest earner thus far probably won’t hold that distinction for more than a few weeks, for the Age Of Ultron beckons.

Guardians Of The Galaxy was ostensibly a gamble and Ant-Man still has its doubters, but the Avengers sequel is the closest thing to a nailed-on banker this side of a new Star Wars flick. Earth’s Mightiest Heroes’ 2012 outing finished up with a tally of over one-and-a-half billion dollars and currently trails only Titanic and Avatar as the most successful movie ever made. Avengers: Age Of Ultron will surely match the success of its predecessor and may even give James Cameron cause to cast a nervous glance over his shoulder.

With several trailers and any number of TV spots now readily available as its release date beckons, the plot of Age Of Ultron is now common knowledge: Tony Stark’s efforts to reignite a dormant peacekeeping program backfire spectacularly when Ultron, the A.I. developed to render the Avengers redundant, deems our species to be redundant and elects to exterminate mankind.

The anticipation and fervour that surrounds any and all Marvel releases is such that the Internet is already teeming with information about what's in the movie for anyone who cares to know, but here are ten things you (probably) won’t see. Needless to say, mild spoilers abound from this point forward.

Remember the days when a film finished and all bar a handful of cinemagoers dutifully dusted the detritus of popcorn and sugar dust from their fronts, rose from their chairs and shuffled for the exits?

Marvel didn’t invent the post-credits sting, but it’s their movies that have turned a once-rare phenomenon into a cinematic staple that’s left many a movie fan loath to vacate their seats for fear of missing out on a juicy morsel.

No such dilemma for anyone planning on catching Age Of Ultron on the big screen; in an unusual but welcome move, Joss Whedon himself has confirmed that there’s no need to sit and wait until the bitter end:

“There is nothing at the very end. And that’s not a fake-out. We want people to know so they don’t sit there for 10 minutes and then go: ‘Son of a b*tch! I’ll kill them!’”

Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige clarified that there will be a mid-credits scene – possibly an Ant-Man teaser, more likely a nod to Captain America: Civil War – but it sounds like Whedon’s doing everyone a solid here. Unless, of course, he’s lying, on which note…