Marvel Studios is bringing back a major villain who captivated audiences with his eerie nihilism 11 years ago. However, the studio has made a significant change to this big bad that essentially nerfs his villainy. Although the antagonist won’t be as powerful as he once was, his return is still exciting, as Marvel brings to light aspects of the character that weren’t depicted in his first appearance.
James Spader’s Ultron returns in the upcoming Disney+ series VisionQuest, and showrunner Terry Matalas has peeled back the curtain on what fans can expect from the murderous AI ahead of the show’s October 14 premiere. Speaking to ScreenRant, Matalas revealed that Ultron is “not quite the guy he used to be,” implying a shift in temperament, adding that “he’s come around a little bit on humanity”:
“Ultron’s not quite the guy he used to be; he’s come around a little bit on humanity, he’s trying to understand us. He’s devoured our culture and art, and has a better perspective on humanity than even Vision does.”
This is a significant change for Ultron and a far cry from the unhinged villain Spader first portrayed in Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015. That version of the character, freshly awakened, had zero regard for humanity despite being conceived by Tony Stark and Bruce Banner as a peacekeeping program. He took a single peek at the internet, learned humanity’s history, and decided it deserved extinction. Ultron embodied the age-old fear of a robot apocalypse, one Hollywood has explored in countless films, with the likes of I, Robot and Ex Machina becoming hugely popular.
Spader’s portrayal brought that fear to the screen in visceral fashion, his way with words evoking genuine dread. Lines like “Everyone creates the thing they dread. Men of peace create engines of war” were delivered in a spooky manner that made other characters and the audience itself shudder. Ultron was unstable, possessing a terrible anger and ego that made him unpredictable.
He was unforgiving and punished anyone at the slightest provocation. He memorably tore off Ulysses Klaue’s arm when the arms dealer compared him to Tony Stark. That unhingedness made him a fantastic villain, but per Matalas’ words, he won’t have the same maniacal view on life when he returns in VisionQuest.
The show follows Vision as he tries to make sense of the memories White Vision inherited from the original synthezoid in WandaVision. To do so, he consults a bunch of Tony Stark’s AI creations, including FRIDAY, JARVIS, EDITH, and Ultron himself. The villain’s brand of menace this time around will be that of a devil on Vision’s shoulder, a corrupting influence rather than the world-ending threat he was in Age of Ultron.
Ultron Will Still Be an Interesting Villain in VisionQuest
Marvel has an affinity for making villains sympathetic, steering them down the anti-hero path instead of leaving them evil for evil’s sake. That seems to be happening with Ultron too, but it likely won’t make him any less intriguing. VisionQuest will explore facets of the character that Age of Ultron never had room for. The series features two forms of Ultron, his robot body and his human avatar, which means more James Spader. And since this is a TV show with more runtime, fans will get to see Spader inhabit the role further and drop more chilling monologues.
Ultron has always relied on psychological manipulation, but that will be his primary weapon in VisionQuest. He is trapped in a prison loft inside Vision’s mind, so this time he can’t depend on physical strength or pull off feats like lifting Soko him scheme from the inside can be far more entertaining than high-octane physical battles
A villain like Ultron gaining a new perspective on humanity should also make for compelling viewing, especially his take on some of our most beloved culture and beliefs. So although Marvel is nerfing Ultron in a sense, the change gives the writers room to explore other sides of him. That fits perfectly with a show about self-discovery.
