Marvel Studios didn't bring much to Comic-Con this year, but they proved that sometimes quality is better than quantity. Rather than talk about their gigantic slate of upcoming, as-yet-unannounced films (more on that in a minute), the studio decided instead to devote the majority of their panel to their biggest film yet: Avengers: Age of Ultron. Director Joss Whedon couldn't make it to San Diego this year because of a knee surgery, but just about everyone else involved in the Avengers sequel managed to make their way to the stage. Scarlett Johansson was noticeably absent due to her pregnancy (though she didmanage to give a brief video message to the fans), but the rest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes were there, including Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Renner, and Mark Ruffalo, along with new cast additions James Spader, Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Josh Brolin, who caused Hall H to erupt into rapturous applause when he came on stage wearing Thanos' Infinity Gauntlet. Bringing the cast together on stage isn't the most exciting thing, so after a bit of banter back and forth, and a great joke from Hemsworth about wanting Thor to become a woman onscreen so that he could win an Oscar, fans were treated to some pretty epic footage from Age of Ultron. It contained several big battle scenes, Thor crushing a tank, Hawkeye evacuating civilians, the Hulk duking it out with Tony Stark's new Hulkbuster, and of course lots of mayhem caused by the film's titular killer robot, Ultron. Throw in a little bit of voiceover from Ultron actor James Spader, and you've got yourself one hell of a Comic-Con presentation.
James is a 24 year old writer and filmmaker living in Portland, OR. He attended college for graphic design and writes for various sources on the web about film, television, and entertainment.
You can view all of his work on his website, www.thereeljames.wordpress.com
