8 Reasons Avengers: Age Of Ultron Is The Beginning Of The End For Marvel
5. The Humour Is Increasingly Out Of Place
The Avengers may not have been the movie that introduced a sense of humour to the MCU - that's been running through it ever since Robert Downey, Jr. was cast - but it was the one that established it as a dominant stylistic trait. In the movie itself, it was a master-stroke - a film that could have easily burst under its own self-importance was made deliriously entertaining when these icons jabbered just like regular people.
An overtly comedic sensibility aided some of Phase 2's biggest hits as well; Iron Man 3 was always going to be a borderline comedy with Shane Black at the helm and Guardians Of The Galaxy needed to have a carefree swagger to get people caring about Groot and Star-Lord. It has been overused for sure - Thor: The Dark World didn't need Kat Dennings running around spouting sarky one-liners as the end of the universe unfolded - but you could at least see why things were jovial.
With Age Of Ultron, however, we've reached the point where it's there just because it kinda has to be. There's nothing in the story that requires anyone other than Stark to be cracking wise, yet every five minutes some random hero's making a meta observation irrespective of what's going on around them. Now levity isn't an inherently bad thing (DC are going way too far in the other direction by removing all jokes in their films); it's just that it's become such an easy fall-back for Marvel that it's started to overpower whatever else they attempt - as minorly humorous as it is, Hawkeye and Black Widow discussing interior design sucks out a good deal of tension from the final battle.
The only film thus far that's side-stepped the jokes, keeping them entirely logical in-world, was Captain America: The Winter Soldier. With the Russo brothers returning to direct that film's sequel (and Avengers: Infinity War) there's hope this element will be played down, but that doesn't speak for the rest of the upcoming slate.