8 Reasons Avengers: Age Of Ultron Is The Beginning Of The End For Marvel

8. There's No Permanence To Any Plot Developments

All of the Avenger-based stand-alone movies in Phase 2 ended with the heroes going through some pretty major life changes; Tony Stark turned his back on Iron Man, Thor chose a life with Jane Foster over his duty to Asgard and Captain America destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. They're seismic developments that, at the time, felt like they'd have major repercussions across the MCU. Yet, miraculously, Avengers: Age Of Ultron goes back on every single one of them; Tony's unashamedly suiting up throughout the film, Thor's driven totally by Loki's Sceptre even before his vision and Nick Fury not only finds a Hellicarrier from the destroyed S.H.I.E.L.D. lying around, but at the end is heading up the very S.H.I.E.L.D.-like New Avengers.

In fact, the broad situation Age Of Ultron leaves the MCU in isn't that dissimilar to the first film - most of the team departs to follow their own lives, while a more organised group begins to form and Thanos starts scheming in the background.

If things can be retconned or undone in off-screen developments, destroying any sense of permanence or consequence, then there's no real point in investing in any supposedly 'overarching' event. Age Of Ultron introduces the New Avengers, which consists of Vision, Scarlet Witch, Falcon and War Machine. Now what's the betting that this team has been disbanded, or otherwise significantly altered by the time Captain America: Civil War comes to an end?