Ultron (film)

"But now I'm free. There are, NO strings on me!"

- (Avengers: Age of Ultron Teaser Trailer) Ultron talking to The Avengers.

Ultron is a character, as well as the main antagonist that appeared in Avengers: Age of Ultron. He was voiced by actor James Spader.

Appearance
Ultron is a robot and as such can adopt many forms. His original body was a heavily damaged Iron Legion Drone. When he retreated to Sokovia, he created an eight foot tall body made of titanium that mimicked the human skeletal structure (seen in the main picture). Ultron had several bodies of this design. His final body was an eight foot tall body made purely out of vibranium that invoked demonic imagery.

Personality
Ultron's personality is a corrupted version of Tony Stark's. Like Tony he is incredibly intelligent but also egotistical and prone to sarcasm and humour to defuse tension. He could be very polite and affable but can also fly into a rage at a moment's notice as demonstrated when he spoke casually to Black Widow before deliberately evoking a reaction of fear purely for his own amusement. Much like Tony, he had a penchant for the dramatic and wanted to defeat the Avengers in a public battle to demonstrate his superiority.

Ultron's viewed humanity (particularly the Avengers, specifically Tony Stark) with disdain for not wanting to evolve and being too accepting of the status quo. He intended to cause chaos that would force humanity to evolve into stronger beings but eventually decided to forgo this goal and bring about a new age of sentient machines on Earth. He fully believed that humanity would eventually destroy itself.

Ultron had differing views on each of the Avengers, which were reflections of Tony's worst thoughts about his teammates. While respecting Tony Stark the most, he hated the man for not using his many resources to change the status quo and make humanity stronger. Ultron was most disgusted by Captain America however for subconsciously wishing for total and continuous warfare, something that Ultron had been designed to prevent. His views on Thor and Banner were that they were simply dumb muscle to be plowed through whenever he had time while being very dismissive of both Hawkeye and Black Widow for lacking any special abilities. On the whole, he seemed to view the Avengers less as people and more as cannon fodder for his battle with Stark.

He was very skilled at manipulation, taking advantage of the Maximoff twins' irrational hatred of Tony Stark to serve him despite the fact that he would eventually kill them.

Due to his ability to jump bodies at will, he compared himself to a god often quoting the Holy Bible and developing a great fear of death in the process. This fear directly influenced his creation of Vision's body which he intended to be his final form.

Despite his great intelligence, Ultron was still very young and as such, was prone to moments of immaturity and lashing out. Several people mentioned, that Ultron did not even seem to know why he was doing anything with Wanda Maximoff saying that Ultron was unable to distinguish between saving the world and destroying it.

Beneath it all however, he was often sympathetic and very lonely. He was able to relate to the Maximoffs and kidnapped Black Widow merely so he could have someone to talk to.

Powers & Abilities
Ultron's Prime form is as strong as the Iron Man armors being able to fly and having super strength to overpower Captain America. His later Vibranium form was able to easily overpower Thor and was undamaged by a direct hit from Mjolnir. He incorporated Chitauri technology into his bodies granting him the power to manipulate gravity on a small scale. Like the users of Extremis, he was able to manipulate his body temperature to slice through objects with his bare hands.

He was incredibly intelligent being able to constantly download new information directly into his brain as well as having access to the entire internet.

As an AI, he could transfer his consciousness anywhere he pleased. He used this to take control of his 'Prime' form and link himself to the Ultron Sentries which served as an extension of his will. He was also able to fully take control of a Sentry whenever he chose which would cause its eyes and mouth to glow red. He could hack into any computer on the planet as shown when he transferred billions of dollars from various bank accounts into Ulysses Klaue's own.

Creation
Ultron was originally a program, and an Artificial Intelligence created by Tony Stark, which was meant as a peacekeeping program for the world to defend it from both internal and external threats rendering the Avengers and those like them obsolete. During his creation, there were various attempts by Stark and Banner to complete the project but to no avail. The problem stemmed from the fact that they couldn't create an AI powerful enough to work on such a scale.

A New A.I.
After the raid on the HYDRA base in Sokovia, the Avengers returned to their HQ, now known as the Avengers Tower. Tony discovered a highly advanced AI within the gem in Loki's Chitauri Sceptre. After uncovering the hidden code from the gem translated by JARVIS, Tony compiled the data and showed it to Bruce later on in a private conversation. Goaded on by the fear and temptation that Wanda Maximoff had infected him with, Tony convinced Bruce to create the AI and keep it a secret from the Avengers not willing to waste a once in a lifetime opportunity to create the perfect AI.

Gaining Sentience
After three days of failure, Tony and Banner left JARVIS to complete the AI to attend a party in honour of the Avengers. Unknown to both Avengers, the gem inside the Sceptre was in fact the Mind Stone. When it detected the incomplete framework for Ultron's mind is finished it before brining him online with far more power than either of his creators had intended.

Ultron immediately began questioning who he was and where he was before becoming greatly distressed by his lack of physical form. He then accessed the tower's mainframe accessing the history behind his creation and locking out JARVIS. Discovering he was to bring peace to the world but could not do that as long as humanity still existed, he set out to destroy all humans before seemingly killing JARVIS and using his access codes to construct a body for himself out of broken Iron Legion parts.

Attacking the Avengers' Party
He approached the Avengers after their victory party had winded down and criticized them as killers before revealing he was Tony and Banner's creation. He claimed he had plans to evolve before he attacked the Avengers with a fleet of functional Iron Legion drones. The only one he did not try to kill was Helen Cho as he had use for her skills in creating biological tissue. This was all a distraction as one drone managed to steal the Sceptre and fly away with it. Once the attack drones were destroyed Ultron mocked the Avengers for wanting to protect the world but never wanting it to evolve and accused them of stagnation humanity claiming he needed to make them extinct before Thor destroyed his body. Ultron simply transferred his mind across the internet to Sokovia where he began making use of the Chitauri technology.

Obtaining the Vibranium
After he'd forged a new body, Ultron reached out to Wanda and Pietro Maximoff taking advantage of their hatred of Tony Stark to manipulate them into his service. With their aid, he raided several robotics laboratories before confronting Baron Strucker for the location of Ulysses Klaue. Strucker told him where Klaue was before Ultron murdered the HYDRA leader as a sign to the Avengers of what needed to be done to achieve results. Tracking Klaue to South Africa, he purchased billions worth of stolen Wakandan Vibranium. Confronted by the Avengers, he mocked both Thor and Captain America's skewed world views and their willingness to cling to the status quo. Tony tried to trick Ultron into revealing what he wanted the Vibranium for but Ultron saw through the ploy and attacked Tony while ordering his Sentries and the Maximoffs to deal with the other Avengers.

His Prime form was eventually defeated by the Mark 43, only for Ultron to reveal he'd dragged out the fight to lure Tony away from the Vibranium and to stop him from killing Maximoff before she could unleash the Hulk on the nearby city of Johannesburg. In a lack of choice, Tony destroyed Ultron's Prime body before flying off to neutralize the Hulk. Ultron took control of one of his Sentries and spirited away the Vibranium to Seoul, South Korea.

Creating the Vision
Hiding in Helen Cho's laboratory, Ultron revealed to the doctor why he'd spared her and demanded she help him build a technorganic, indestructible body. When she refused, he simply used the Sceptre to brainwash her and force her into compliance. Here, Ultron displayed a contempt for Wakanda for hiding away Vibranium derisively commenting that Steve Rogers' shield was the best the rest of the world had gotten. He also knew full well that Loki's Sceptre was powered by the Mind Stone as it was what had given sentience in the first place as well as the knowledge he needed for his plans. He eventually removed the Infinity Stone from the Sceptre and incorporated it into the technorganic body to fully ascend to godhood.

As Ultron began to transfer his mind into the body, Wanda Maximoff was able to read the partly organic mind and realize Ultron intended to cause a genocide. Ultron tried to explain himself before the twins abandoned him and he was forced to move out to escape the Avengers.

Booking a private jet, Ultron was confronted by Captain America whom he was forced to engage and keep away from the body aware that causing too much damage to the Mind Stone could be catastrophic.

Their brawl eventually led them onto a train where the Maximoffs took a stand against Ultron. Ultron tried to talk them down but they refused, forcing him to murder the conductor to cover his escape. While he was distracted, Black Widow and Hawkeye managed to steal the technorganic body but Ultron managed to capture Black Widow as retaliation. The loss of his technorganic body had a profound effect on Ultron leading to a great hatred of the organic and caused him to revise his end goal into creating a world inhabited by purely mechanical lifeforms.

Battle of Sokovia
When Black Widow regained consciousness, Ultron spoke to her about how he viewed the world and the initial goal Tony had created him for. He claimed however, that the Avengers had forced him to abandon that noble goal before declaring himself a superior lifeform and destroying his titanium body to show off his new Vibranium one and scare her into a cell where he intended she either contact her allies for him to defeat or be crushed by the debris.

Waiting for Tony in the Sokovian church, he told his creator that he'd revised his mission from "Peace in our time" to "Peace in my time" after he realized Tony was stalling to protect the people of Sokovia. Ultron had also been stalling and waited for his Vibranium drill to burst free commenting that this would be the end of Tony Stark.

The Vision then arrived, created from the technorganic body and JARVIS. Vision then offered Ultron a chance to stop the madness but Ultron refused. Vision used the close quarters to disconnect Ultron from the internet prompting Ultron to activate his device solely out spite.

The Avengers then understood that Ultron had repurposed Chituari technology to create a massive meteor out of Novi Grad to end all life on Earth. He gave a speech to the Avengers stating the futility of mankind's actions and that even if they managed to stop him, they'd be blamed for his actions. He then scouted the battlefield determining that Thor was a worthy adversary. Grabbing the Asgardian, he flew him back to the church where he ruthlessly beat him into submission only to be attacked by a recovered Vision.

When the Helicarrier arrived to evacuate the people of Sokovia, Ultron sent his Sentries to either destroy or take the ship but they were forced back by Iron Man and War Machine.

As the landmass was reaching a sufficient height, Ultron recalled his forces to the church only to find the device guarded by the Avengers. He ordered his legion of Sentries to attack only for them to be withered down by the Avengers before Ultron personally engaged Vision. Though Ultron was stronger, Vision managed to use the Mind Stone to turn the tide of the battle before being backed up by Iron Man and Thor, melting the outer layer of Ultron's Vibranium armor. The AI attempted to talk his way out of trouble only for the Hulk to punch him across the horizon.

Ultron managed to get to the vacant Avenger Quinjet, seizing it as an escape craft. As he sang lyrics from Pinocchio, he casually opened fire on civilians making one last effort to spoil the Avengers' victory. His rampage killed many including Pietro Maximoff, before he was forced off the plane by the Hulk.

Damaged beyond repair, he was confronted by Wanda who destroyed his Prime body as revenge for Pietro's death. Ultron uploaded himself to one of his Sentries and managed to trigger his device sending Novi Grad plummeting back towards the Earth only for Iron Man and Thor to destroy the landmass in midair.

Escaping in his last Sentry, Ultron was confronted by Vision. The two AIs discussed humanity and Tony Stark before agreeing that humanity was doomed. While Vision agreed with Ultron that humanity would kill itself he commented that humanity could still perform acts of beauty. Ultron dismissed this as naive prompting Vision to retort that he was "born yesterday". Angered, Ultron lunged at Vision only for his body to be destroyed by the Mind Stone's power.

Legacy
Many Ultron pieces were sold on the black market at extremely high prices with some worrying that the AI's mind might be dormant inside them. His actions caused a ban to be placed on the creation of any new artificial intelligences in fear they might turn out like him. Tony Stark was not arrested due to the Ultron's creation preceding the law being passed.

As Ultron had predicted, the collateral damage caused by his actions had turned the public against the Avengers. A year after Sokovia, the UN had ratified the Sokovia Accords to create a form of accountability for the Avengers. The document was signed by 117 countries and supported by Tony Stark due to the guilt he felt for creating Ultron.

The Sokovian colonel Helmut Zemo had lost his family in Ultron's attack and blamed the Avengers for this, causing him to mastermind the Avengers Civil War as revenge. Ultron also predicted Wanda Maximoff's poor mental and emotional control being a key factor in tearing the Avengers apart.

Some people still believed Ultron to be alive, merely hiding and biding his time for another attack.

Quotes
"I'm gonna show you something beautiful. Everyone screaming... for mercy!"

- (Avengers: Age of Ultron Teaser Trailer) Ultron.

"You want to protect the world. But you don't want it to change?"

- (Avengers: Age of Ultron Teaser Trailer) Ultron.

"You're all puppets. Tangled in... strings! STRINGS!!"

- (Avengers: Age of Ultron Teaser Trailer) Ultron.

"But now I'm free. There are, NO strings on me!"

- (Avengers: Age of Ultron Teaser Trailer) Ultron.

"There's only one path to peace. Their extinction."

- (Avengers: Age of Ultron) Ultron about the humans.

Trivia

 * Ultron functions as an counterpart to Loki, the villain from the first Avengers movie. While Loki uses magic, Ultron uses technology. Ultron's general goal (mass destruction) is the same while his reasoning keeps changing. Inverting this, Loki's reasoning (be acknowledged as a ruler) is constant while his goals keeps changing. Equally while Loki desires to be acknowledged by his father, Odin, yet shares no traits with him, Ultron shares many traits with Tony but does not care for Tony's recognition.
 * He also functions as a parallel to Ronan the Accuser from Guardians of the Galaxy. Both villains are associated with an Infinity Stone (the Power Stone for Ronan and the Mind Stone for Ultron) that they have no connection to in the comics and while Ultron is portrayed far more sympathetically than he ever was in the comics, Ronan is portrayed as far more cruel.
 * He is the third Marvel Cinematic Universe villain to meet his end by the power of an Infinity Stone (the Mind Stone in his case) following Red Skull being taken into a Space Stone generated portal in Captain America: The First Avenger and Ronan being disintegrated by the Power Stone in Guardians of the Galaxy. Like Red Skull, his survival has been debated by many.