Avengers: Age of Ultron EXPECTATIONS!

Image Courtesy www.twitter.com/Marvel

At long last, Avengers: Age of Ultron officially comes out in theaters tomorrow—at least in America!  There are a few showings tonight in select theaters, but the official American opening day is May 1.  It’s been a long wait for it to come out—three years since the first Avengers movie, seven years since Iron Man introduced us to this universe.  On Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. they’ve been building to this since right around the midseason premiere.  And the first U.S. showings are very soon!

What has happened so far?

For a more detailed overview of past events in the MCU, look at my “Too Long; Didn’t Watch” article from last week.  In The Avengers, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. brought together six heroes—Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, and Hawkeye—to confront an alien invasion.  Afterward, the heroes all went their separate ways.  However, following the Hydra uprising and dissolution of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, the Avengers came back together to fight Hydra and keep the peace, with Tony Stark as the moneyman and Captain America as the team leader.  Oh yeah, and Maria Hill left S.H.I.E.L.D. to go to work for Tony Stark.  And Hydra used Loki’s scepter to give powers to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

Addition following Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season 2, episode 19, "The Dirty Half Dozen":  Coulson and his team have actually been busy trying to find the location of Loki's scepter since it was stolen by Hydra.  He took his team to a Hydra base in the Arctic to rescue a couple of enhanced people and get information on Hydra and Strucker.  He gave that information to Maria Hill and told her it is "Time to call in the Avengers" at the end of the episode.

Synopsis for Avengers: Age of Ultron:

“The Avengers must reassemble to defeat Ultron, a terrifying technological villain hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, and meet an old friend in a new form in the newly created android Vision.”

Expected plot points:

• Hydra and Baron von Strucker

• The Avengers vs. Ultron

• The Maximoff Twins vs. Everyone—eventually transitioning to join the Avengers

• Setting up Civil War
  
• Crossover with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
  
  
• Introducing:  The Vision!

What I am looking for:

• A few fun scenes of the Avengers bantering

• A lot of action sequences

• I expect Baron von Strucker to be defeated, but I think he will escape to play a role in Civil War
  
• A few smaller skirmishes between Captain America and Iron Man—differences of opinion—also setting up Civil War
  
  
• A massive battle between the Avengers (including Quicksilver, Scarlet Witch, Vision, War Machine, and Falcon) and Ultron’s army

• Perhaps a few shots of heroes around the world fighting Ultron

• A few scenes with Wakanda and Ulysses Klaue, setting up Black Panther
  
  
• Oh yeah, and I think there will be an end-credits scene, despite Joss Whedon’s statement to the contrary

• Some hint that Thanos is pulling the strings

  What would be awesome but probably won’t happen:

1. Before or during the final battle between the Avengers and Ultron’s army, a scene or two at Lai Shi (“Afterlife”), the Inhuman sanctuary where Skye is learning about her people.  We get a chance to see Skye, Raina, Lincoln, Gordon, and a whole team of other Inhumans fighting Ultron drones over the city.
   
2. The entire Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cast (Coulson’s team and a few members of the “Real S.H.I.E.L.D.”) appears to help the Avengers against Hydra.

So what are you looking for in Avengers: Age of Ultron?  What is there that you really want to see but may not see at all?

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