Avengers: Age of Ultron

The Avengers team, which became an independent structure after the fall of I.T. ”, in search of the scepter of the god, Loki attacks the last Hydra base in Zakovia, where they are opposed, in particular, by the twins Pietro (Mercury) and Wanda Maximoff - mutants who received supernormal abilities as a result of experiments by scientists of the Hydra with the scepter . Wanda invades Iron Man's mind and sends him a vision of his secret fear: the fall of the Avengers and a new invasion of Earth. Stark concludes that it is necessary to complete the Altron peacekeeping project as soon as possible, which will serve as a defense to humanity. Bruce Banner first opposes Tony’s venture, since Ultron means global control over people, and people like Steve Rogers and Thor may not approve of his plan. Tony still convinces Banner to help him, hiding information from the team, as success will allow Bruce to live quietly without the Hulk.

Having studied the scepter in the Avengers tower (rebuilt after the battle for New York Stark Tower ), Stark and Banner discover the artificial intelligence hidden in the stone that will help them implement the project, and set about to recreate it. Stark is not sure he took everything into account. While the Avengers are at the Hydra Fall party, where only Thor has the opportunity to raise his hammer, Jarvis watches the experiment. Ultron comes to life and begins to analyze data, during which it sees that humanity is in "stagnation" and will soon destroy itself. The experiment gets out of control, and Ultron, taking control of the Iron Legion, a series of autonomous Iron Man costumes through Jarvis, decides to bring his plan to "save" the Earth to life. Ultron attacks the Avengers, escapes from the tower, destroying Jarvis and taking the scepter with him. The team is fragmented due to the fact that Stark hid information from them, but nevertheless decides to work together.

Ultron goes to the castle of Baron von Strucker , under which "Hydra" created a laboratory for the study of the Chitauri race , collected after the battle in New York, and based on their armor recreates an army of drones and "temporary" avatar modules of his personality. After that, he recruits the twins, promising them reprisals against the Stark, the hatred of which they feel because the shells manufactured by his corporation caused the death of their parents during the war in Zakovia, and begins to implement a plan to make his "ideal Body. The Avengers find information that Ultron needs a vibranium whose deposits are in Africa . During the theft of vibranium from criminal merchant Ulysses Clough at a port base in South Africa , Ultron and the twins engage in battle with the Avengers. Pietro helps Wanda quickly move between the characters, and she immerses part of the Avengers team in visions that demoralize them. Being under the influence of Wanda, the Hulk goes to smash located near the base of Johannesburg . Stark, at the cost of tremendous effort and destruction, manages to stop him using the huge Hulkbuster armor launched from the Veronika orbital station.

Defeated and demoralized, the Avengers go to Clint Barton's house to hide for a while. There they meet Nick Fury . The Avengers are trying to cope with their “demons": Natasha invites Bruce to escape and live together, and Thor, worried about Vanda Maximoff's visions, turns to his friend and scientist Eric Selvig for help. The Avengers fly to Korea , where Ultron, with the help of Dr. Helen Cho (which he had previously taken control of with the scepter of Loki) creates a new body for himself. The Avengers manage to pick up the regenerator with the body before Ultron loads his consciousness there. Captain America is joined by twins who have realized Ultron’s real plans, and together they manage to repulse him. However, Wanda warns of the dangers posed by the regenerator.

Tony Stark and Bruce Banner, having studied the body, decide to transfer the consciousness of Jarvis into it, who managed to leave during a skirmish with Ultron's mind. The process is not yet complete when the Captain and the Twins arrive. They are trying to destroy the body, fearing a repeat of what has already happened. There is a skirmish between the heroes, which is interrupted by the suddenly arrived Thor. With the help of Mjolnir, he completes the process. The Android, who received the mind with the help of the Infinity Stone (which was the source of the scepter), calls himself Vision and joins the Avengers in order to stop his original creator.

The team goes to Zakovia, where Ultron is preparing the last stage of his plan: having converted one of the captured Chitauri ships into a lower thrust jet engine, he lifts a whole region into the air, which he then plans to bring down to Earth, like a huge asteroid that will kill all organic life on the planet . Evacuating residents of the Avengers helps Nick Fury, the Warrior and agents of the reanimated I. T.a. ” After lengthy battles, the Avengers manage to destroy Ultron's main forces, but the cyborg survives and attacks the Hawkeye at the last moment. Pietro manages to cover him, but he perishes. Wanda, who lost her brother, finds Ultron and personally kills, tearing out his "heart". Iron Man and Thor manage to undermine the Zakovia region, which was lifted into the air, thereby essentially saving the entire population of the Earth. Vision meets the last cyborg in which Ultron's mind has infused himself, and after a short conversation destroys it.

Having completed the task, part of the team diverges: Clint returns to the family; Stark, following Barton's example, also “takes time out”; Bruce Banner flies alone on a plane and goes missing; Thor flies off to Asgard , explaining that the four Infinity Stones appeared for a reason; Captain America and the Black Widow greet the new members of the Avengers: Warrior , Vision , Falcon, and the Scarlet Witch .

In the scene after the credits, Thanos puts on a glove ^{[~ 1]} and intends to collect Infinity Stones ^[9] .

Script

In October 2011, at the Comic-Con exhibition in New York, the head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feigi shared his plans for upcoming projects of the second phase of the Marvel cinema universe , including the second part of The Avengers ^[14] . The director of the first film, Joss Whedon, wanted the sequel to surpass the original and tell a tragic story ^[15] . At the premiere of Avengers, Feigi said that the studio has the opportunity to ask Whedon to start filming the sequel ^[16] . After the release of the first part, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced the start of preparatory work to continue the franchise ^[17] . Most of the actors who starred in the first part, signed a contract for the shooting in the sequel. However Robert Downey Jr. ( Tony Stark / Iron Man ) did not sign participation papers at this time. The contract of the actor expired after working in Iron Man 3 ^[18] . During the Comic-Con festival in San Diego in 2012, Weedon said he had not yet made a decision regarding the filming of the picture ^[19] . In August 2012, the director signed a contract to work on the sequel and the television series “ Agents„ S. I. T. “ ” for the ABC channel ^[20] . Later this month, Disney management set a premiere date for May 1, 2015. ^[21] “It was a difficult decision. I thought for a long time: "This just will not happen." Later I already began to be determined and came to the conclusion that I would have to continue and develop these heroes. It was amazing, but not so simple, ”says Whedon about his decision to return to filming ^[22] .

In December 2012, Weedon finished sketching for the film ^[23] . The director noted that death will play a role in the plot of the sequel ^[24] , and the paintings “ The Empire Strikes Back ” and “The Godfather 2” served as a source of inspiration for him ^[25] . Feigi admitted that the character Captain Marvel , whose solo film will be released in 2019, was in the first draft of the script, but was cut out. “The time has not come yet. We did not want to imagine her fully formed, the flight of a character in a suit, before you knew who she was and where she came from, ”says the producer ^[26] . Weedon even made prefabricated visual effects in the episode where Captain Marvel arrives at the new Avengers headquarters. However, these blanks were used for scenes with the Scarlet Witch ^[27] . In an early version of the script, the Quinjet Hulk was discovered near Saturn in the final of the picture. But in the end, Marvel Studios decided to keep the character on Earth and leave his fate unclear in order to dispel the rumors about working on the film adaptation of the comic strip Planet Hulk ". Later, the creators decided to adapt the comic for the film “ Thor: Ragnarok ” ^[28] .

Preparation

In April 2013, it became known that filming would begin in early 2014 at Shepperton Studios in England ^[29] . In the same month, Weedon finished writing the script and began to draw storyboards for the scenes. The director mentioned the appearance of a “brother and sister” from the comics ^[30] and later confirmed that it was a Scarlet Witch and Mercury ^{[31] [32]} . The rights to the film version of these characters belong to the 20th Century Fox studio, Marvel had to avoid conflicts with the X-Men franchise . Weedon first entered two characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe according to their conditions, which allowed them to link their origin stories with the Marvel franchise and avoid the concept of mutants ^[33] . In May, Downey entered into negotiations with Marvel Studios to renew his contract. ^[34] A month later, the actor signed a contract for the shooting in the second and third film of the Avengers franchise ^[35] .

In 2013, at the Comic-Con in San Diego, Whedon announced the name of the painting - “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ^[36] . The film was named after the comic book of the same name , released in 2013. However, producer Feigi stated that this comic would not be used as the plot of the film ^[37] . Whedon added that the origin of the character of Ultron will be different from the comics, and that Hank Pim will not be involved in the plot ^{[~ 2] [38]} . The director noted that the film will look gloomy due to the participation of Ultron ^[39] . Many fans dreamed of seeing Thanos , the inspirer of the events of the first film, the main villain in the sequel. But Whedon said: “Thanos has always been the ruler of evil and darkness. He was never considered the next villain. ” ^[40]

In August 2013, Marvel representatives announced in a press release that James Spader was appointed Ultron ^[41] . According to director Whedon, Spader was the first and only choice for this role because of his hypnotic voice, which can be eerily calm and convincing, as well as simple and humorous ^[42] . In November, Marvel's management confirmed that Elizabeth Olsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson were cast as Scarlet Witch and Mercury. ^[43] Taylor-Johnson began the initial stage of negotiations as early as June ^{[44] [45] [46]} , and news about the possible participation of Olsen in the filming was first reported in August ^{[47] [48]} . By the end of the year, Mark Ruffalo ^[49] , Chris Evans ^[50] , Samuel L. Jackson ^[51] , Chris Hemsworth ^[52] , Scarlett Johansson ^[53] , Jeremy Renner ^[54] and Kobe Smulders ^[55] confirmed their participation in filming a picture. At this time, actor Don Cheadle , who played James Rhodes in the Iron Man films, signed a contract for shooting ^[56] . In the first months of 2014, Thomas Kretschmann received the role of Baron Wolfgang von Strucker ^[57] , Claudia Kim joined the cast, and Paul Bettany , who voiced D. J. A. R. V. I. S. in previous KVM films, was approved for the role of Vision ^[58] .

Filming

Filming began on February 11, 2014 in the South African city ​​of Johannesburg and was completed after 6 months - August 8 ^{[59] [60]} . Cameraman Ben Davis used Arri Alexa XT digital camera models with Panavision Primo lenses ^{[61] [62]} . Frames were shot in 4K resolution in ARRIRAW format with a frame rate of up to 120 fps ^[63] . The stunts were shot on portable Pocket Cinema Camera cameras equipped with Zeiss Primes lenses and a Super-16 format sensor ^[64] . The total budget of the picture amounted to 444 million dollars ^[3] .

In mid-March, the blockbuster was shot for four months on the territory of the British studio Shepperton ^{[65] [66]} . Scenes from Zakovia were filmed in the Italian province of Valle d'Aosta and the Bard fortress at the end of March ^[33] . After finishing work in Italy, production moved to South Korea ^[67] . From March 30 to April 14, filming was carried out in Seoul : on the Mapo bridge ^[68] , the Hangang River ^[69] , in the Gangnam District ^[68] . According to producer Kevin Faigi, South Korea served as an ideal place for film production, as the country has advanced technologies, magnificent landscapes and impressive architecture ^[70] . When working on scenes in Seoul, the film crew attached cameras to drones and remote-controlled cars to take pictures from any angle ^[71] .

Among the locations of England were used the Hawley Forest in Hampshire ^[72] (winter battle), the Rivoli dance hall ^[73] (Captain America’s flashback), University of East Anglia ^[74] and Dover Castle ^{[75] [76]} (Hydra research base in Zakovia). The final weeks of filming took place in the sound pavilion of London, which was transformed from the capital's police academy to the war-ravaged city in Zakovia ^{[77] [33]} . Actress Scarlett Johansson was pregnant during the production and the scene with her participation had to be shot in the early stages. Three understudies were hired to work on the remaining episodes ^[78] . Additional surveys were conducted at the shipyard for the disposal of ships in Chittagong ^{[79] [80]} and in New York ^{[81] [82]} . Production designer Charles Wood and his team rebuilt the huge Avengers Tower decoration, which was the largest decoration ever created for Marvel films. ^[71] Weedon admitted that the filming process turned into a nightmare for him: “The Avengers are completely different characters. This is not the X-Men , who often experience all kinds of events and wear the same costumes. In truth, it’s not as easy as anything I have ever done. ” ^[83]

Installation

In June 2014, IMAX Corporation announced that the tape will be fully converted to IMAX 3D format. Image and sound quality were processed using proprietary IMAX DMR technology ^[84] . After the filming was completed, the cast was supplemented by Stellan Skarsgård ( Eric Selvig ) ^[85] , Anthony Mackie ( Sam Wilson / Sokol ) ^[86] , Idris Elba (Heimdall) ^[87] and Tom Hiddleston ( Loki ). However, the scenes with Hiddleston were not included in the final version of the film. Whedon said the material did not fit, and the director did not want to make the film oversaturated ^[88] . According to Hiddleston, in test shows, viewers overestimated his role. The audience felt that it was Loki who controlled Ultron and this violated expectations ^[89] . In December 2014, it became known that Kim got the role of Dr. Helen Cho ^{[90] [91]} . In February 2015, Marvel confirmed through advertising materials that Andy Serkis played Ulysses Clough in the film ^{[92] [93]} . In early April 2015, Linda Cardellini and Julie Delpy joined the cast of ^{[94] [95]} .

Whedon said the film will only contain one scene after the credits. The director could not come up with anything better than the shawarma scene in the first part of Avengers ^[94] . The leaders of Marvel Studios did not want Whedon to include in the film scenes on the Hawkeye farm and an episode of visions that the Scarlet Witch sends to the Avengers. Initially, Weedon shot an extended scene with Thor and Selwig in the cave, but the studio decided to cut out almost the entire episode due to the negative reaction of the focus group to the first version of the editing ^[96] . In this scene, Norn takes possession of Thor's mind, and Selvig asks her questions ^{[97] [98]} . In addition, Weedon wanted to add Spider-Man to the plot, but Marvel and Sony Pictures Entertainment studios did not manage all the details of the deals ^[96] .

Special Effects

The film contains 3000 plans with special effects ^[99] , on which eleven companies worked, in particular Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Trixter, Double Negative , Animal Logic , Framestore , Lola VFX, Territory, Perception, Method Studios , Luma Pictures and The Third Floor ^[100] .

ILM Studio has made significant changes to the character Hulk. Based on 3D scans of the face of actor Mark Ruffalo, the artists updated the facial rig . The CG model and the character’s internal muscular system were also completely redesigned. Hulk's tricks on the set were performed by Rob de Groot in a motion capture suit. All the stuntman’s movements were recorded on three cameras, while the animators tested the rig. They managed to see the secondary movements of the muscles, after which they were introduced into the digital muscular system. After the test, they started to run a skin simulation on top of the system ^[101] and by the time the work was completed, the animators were able to recreate the Hulk model with properly deformed muscles ^[102] . Special Effects Specialist Christopher Townsend said the artists wanted to make the Hulk with gray skin and red eyes when the Scarlet Witch infuriated him. But later this idea was rejected so that the audience did not confuse the character with Joe Fixit, the gray Hulk from the comics ^[103] .

To create Ultron, ILM artists built a character model from metal plates. Due to the complex rig, Ultron's face had to be shown in close-up. Plates were created on the cheeks, jaw and around the mouth, which moved without interfering with each other. As a result, there were 600 knots on the face of Ultron. Specialists from Double Negative built the area of ​​Seoul in computer graphics. Three-dimensional people collected lidar scanning data and photographed textures to recreate a lightweight version of the location, which was then used as a digital backdrop for the required frames ^[104] .

Specialists of the studio Perception worked on the initial and final credits of the film. Artists visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art several times to take a look at a number of the best sculptures in the world. Before starting to make a scene with a marble monument, Reception designers developed three options for captions. The first was based on the visualization of Ultron consciousness, the second showed characters with different glows of objects, and the third showed an animation of the classic logos of the Avengers. The final design was inspired by military monuments such as the Iwo Jima Memorial ^[105] .

Music

In March 2014, Brian Tyler signed a contract to write original music for the film , replacing the composer of the first part Alan Silvestri . In 2013, Tyler took part in the work on the soundtracks for Iron Man 3 and Torah 2: The Kingdom of Darkness ^[106] . When composing music, the composer drew inspiration from the works of John Williams , in particular Star Wars , Superman and Indiana Jones: In Search of the Lost Ark ^[107] . Danny Elfman also took part in the work on music ^[108] . The score was performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded at the Abby Road Studios in early 2015 ^[109] . The soundtrack was released by Hollywood Records on April 28, 2015 in digital format and May 19 on physical media ^[110] .

Sources: ^{[110] [111] [112]}

The world premiere of the film “Avengers: Age of Ultron” took place on April 13, 2015 at the Dolby Hollywood Theater ^[113] . The premiere screening in Russia took place on April 15 at the Moscow cinema October ^[114] . The European premiere of the film took place on April 21 at the London Vue West End cinema ^[115] . Rental started in 11 countries on April 22, and by the end of the first weekend the tape debuted in 44 countries (55% of the world market) ^{[116] [117]} . The picture was released in American distribution on May 1 in 3D and IMAX 3D formats ^{[84] [116] [118] [119]} . The film debuted in 4,276 cinemas, of which 2,761 in 3D, 400 in large premium format and 143 with D-Box seats ^[120] . Many independent movie theater owners in Germany (about 700 screens) boycotted the film in response to Disney Studios raising rents from 47.7% to 53% of ticket sales. The owners believe that increasing fees, the cost of digitization, rising costs for employees and advertising could make many cinemas abandon the business ^[121] .

In September 2014, the TNT television network acquired the rights to cable broadcasting of a film in the United States, which is scheduled to be shown two years after the release of the rental ^[122] . March 4, 2015 pre-sale of tickets began. Variety Magazine noted: “The two-month gap between the sale of tickets and the release of a wide rental reflects a significant expectation of film fans.” ^[123]

Box office fees

The tape raised $ 459,005,868 at the American box office and $ 946,397,826 at the international box office. The total number of box office receipts is $ 1,405,403,694 ^[4] . The picture took fifth place in the list of highest grossing films of all time and fourth in the list of motion pictures of 2015 ^{[124] [125]} . “Avengers: Age of Ultron” earned $ 392.5 million in the first weekend of hire and took seventh place in fees for their debut weekend ^[126] . The film set a world record by collecting $ 25.2 million in IMAX rooms (the early record belonged to The Dark Knight: Revival of the Legend ). In addition, the tape raised $ 40 million in IMAX cinemas in just 12 days ^[127] . According to some analysts, the number of fees for the premiere weekend was lower than expected due to the broadcast of the boxing match Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao ^[128] . The editors of Deadline Hollywood estimated that the net profit of the film was $ 382.32 million, taking into account the production budget, advertising campaign, rental results, and auxiliary income from DVD sales. The site placed the picture in fourth place in the ranking of the most profitable blockbusters of 2015 ^[129] .

On May 15, 2015, the film became the 21st film of the world cinema, the third work of Marvel Studios and the eighth film company Disney, the fees of which crossed the line of $ 1 billion ^[130] .

USA and Canada

The blockbuster earned $ 84.46 million on the first day of distribution, showing the highest grossing start among movie comics and the second result in the history of American distribution after the movie “ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Part 2 "(91.7 million). On Thursday evening sessions, which began at seven o’clock in the evening, the film raised $ 27.6 million and showed the sixth result on fees on Thursday pre-shows ^{[131] [132]} . The fees for the first weekend amounted to 191.3 million dollars and the picture was in third place after the Jurassic World (208.8 million) and Avengers (207.4 million) ^[133] . IMAX sessions earned the Knockcomics $ 18 million, showing the second result for the first weekend of rental in IMAX format (behind The Dark Knight: Revival of the Legend). The picture collected 85% of the total box office ( Spider-Man 3 had an early record) ^{[131] [134]} . The audience was 59% of men and 41% of women, with 59% of them over 25 years of age ^[131] .

According to the results of the second weekend, the collection rates fell by 59% and the tape earned $ 77.7 million. This result did not exceed the number of collections of the first “Avengers” for this weekend (103 million) ^[135] . The picture became the third highest grossing film of 2015 ^[136] .

Outside Territories

The picture was released in 44 countries, earning $ 200.2 million for its debut weekend. The tape led the box office 44% higher than its predecessor. In addition, the film became a leader after the start of international distribution in IMAX format halls and raised $ 10.4 million. The most successful countries were South Korea (28.2 million), Great Britain (27.3 million) and Russia (16.2 million) ^[117] . Blockbuster set several records in many countries, in particular: the first day of hire in Mexico (6.8 million), the Philippines (1.6 million) and Indonesia (900,000 dollars) ^{[127] [131] [137]} ; the first weekend in Mexico (25.5 million), Russia and the CIS (16.2 million), Hong Kong (6.4 million) and the Philippines (7.7 million); and the highest premiere weekend among film comics in the UK, Ireland and Malta (27.3 million), Germany (9.3 million), Sweden, Norway and the Netherlands ^{[117] [138] [139]} .

In the UK, the picture earned $ 5.4 million on the first day of hire and $ 27.3 million on the premiere weekend, showing the best result of April among Marvel projects ^[140] . On the first day of international rental, the tape raised $ 9.4 million ^{[140] [141]} . In South Korea, the film raised $ 4.9 million on the first rental day and $ 28.2 million on the weekend ^{[117] [140]} . China showed the biggest start for the Disney / Marvel project, which earned $ 33.9 million on day one ^[142] . For the first six days of rental, the tape raised $ 156.3 million, showing a second result after Fast and Furious 7 . Moreover, 17.5 million came from IMAX halls ^[143] . The start of the Ultron Era box office in Japan debuted in first place in early July 2015, showing the highest start for KVM films ^[144] . As of January 3, 2016, the tape is the seventh highest grossing movie of all time ^[145] and the fourth highest grossing film of 2015 ^[146] . The largest markets for the film were China (240.1 million), South Korea (78 million), the UK, Ireland and Malta (76.6 million) ^[147] .

Marketing

In 2013, at the Comic-Con in San Diego, Whedon introduced a teaser trailer for the film ^[148] . The video itself, as well as a short interview with Whedon, became available on September 24, 2013 in the JARVIS iOS second screen app in honor of the release of the movie Iron Man 3 on Blu-ray media. A day later, the trailer became available on social networks ^{[149] [150]} . On March 18, 2014, the ABC channel hosted a screening of a documentary entitled “Marvel Studios: Uniting the Universe,” which featured the film’s wilderness peak ^[151] . The video on the creation of the painting demonstrated the concept art of the Scarlet Witch and Mercury, as well as the battle of the Hulk and Iron Man in the Hulkbuster costume ^{[152] [153]} . Motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson, in collaboration with Marvel, provided its first Project LiveWire electric motorcycle, which was used in the shooting of the picture ^[154] . The cast attended the 2014 Comic-Con festival in San Diego and made a presentation of the video material for the film ^[155] . The tape “Avengers: Age of Ultron” was in second place in terms of the number of mentions in social networks at the convention after “ Batman v Superman: At the dawn of justice ” ^[156] .

The premiere of the debut trailer was scheduled for October 28, 2014, together with the next episode of the series " Agents„ S. I. T. " " ^[160] . However, on October 22, the video was leaked to the network ^[161] , and after a few hours, Marvel Studio officially posted the trailer on its YouTube channel ^[162] . Entertainment Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter Magazines praised the grim version of the song “ I've Got No Strings "From the animated film" Pinocchio "(1940) in the trailer ^{[157] [158]} . The video collected 34.3 million views per day, of which 26.2 million falls only to the YouTube audience. Trailer performance broke Iron Man 3's record (23.14 million views). For comparison, the first teaser was watched 20.4 million times in the first day ^{[163] [164]} . In response to the failure of the release of the first trailer, Marvel Studios decided to present a video on the film during the screening of “Agents„ S. I. T. “” ^[163] . At the end of October, Marvel’s editor-in-chief Axel Alonso announced plans for a comic book prelude to the film ^[165] .

In November 2014, during the screening of a documentary about the 75th anniversary of the Marvel Universe on the ABC channel, backstage shots from the filming of the Age of Ultron were presented ^[166] . In the same month, Samsung arranged a product placement of Samsung phones by publishing an extended trailer for the film on its YouTube channel ^[167] . In December 2014, a Blu-ray edition of the Guardians of the Galaxy movie was released with additional materials, including a video from the shootings ^{[82] [168]} . In the same month, the ABC television network announced that several upcoming episodes of the series “Agents„ S. I. T. “” will be associated with the events of the “Age of Ultron” ^[169] . In the series “The Enemy’s Sworn Friend” and “Dirty Half Dozen”, Easter eggs, plot threads and other connective tissues were found leading to the opening scene of “Avengers: Age of Ultron”, and the episode “Scars” tells about the consequences of the film ^[170] .

In January 2015, a movie dedicated to the character Ultron was presented at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) ^[171] . Also at CES, Samsung introduced its new gadgets used to take the picture, and visitors to the exhibition using Gear VR virtual reality glasses could see the Avengers Tower ^{[172] [173]} . The premiere of the second trailer took place on January 12, 2015 on the ESPN channel during the broadcast of the playoffs of the national college football championship ^[174] . Forbes columnist Scott Mendelssohn enjoyed watching the trailer, but did not want to reveal plot elements ^[175] .

On February 3, 2014, Marvel released the digital comic prequel to screenwriter Will Crown Pilgrim and artist Wellinton Alves “Avengers: Age of Ultron Prelude - This Scepter'd Isle” ^[176] . The plot tells how Strucker took possession of the scepter of Loki and where did the superpowers from the twins Maximoff come from. At the end of the month, the official poster of the tape was released. Graham Macmillan from The Hollywood Reporter criticized the poster for lack of originality and emphasized that the poster is almost the same as from the first part of The Avengers, but without flying robots in the background ^[177] . Mendelssohn agreed with Macmillan and believes that the poster was “ridiculously photographed” ^[178] . On March 4, 2015, Marvel Studio asked Twitter users to use hashtags so that the final trailer instantly appeared on the network. Thanks to the efforts of the fans, the trailer was released ^[179] . A week later, the video set a record with 35 million views ^[180] .

In April 2015, members of the cast presented Downey Generations Award at the MTV Movie Awards 2015 , and also presented an exclusive excerpt from the film ^[181] . In honor of the release of the tape on April 27, Downey and Renner, along with the leaders of Marvel Entertainment, rang the bell of the New York Stock Exchange ^[182] . Disney spent $ 26.9 million on advertising paintings ^[183] from the total budget of the advertising company in the amount of $ 180 million ^[184] .

Editions

The film became available on digital platforms on September 8, 2015 and was released on Blu-ray and DVD on October 2 ^[185] . The disk edition included backstage from the shootings , an audio commentary by the director, cut scenes and a selection of funny takes ^[186] . The picture was included in the collector's edition of 13 disks with films of the second phase of the Marvel cinematic universe entitled "Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two Collection" and was released on December 8 ^[187] . In July 2015, Whedon said he was not going to release a directorial version of the film. Despite the difficulties in creating the picture, the director was satisfied with the theatrical version and did not think that changes should be made in it ^[188] . Picture in Ultra HD Blu-ray format will be on sale on August 14, 2018 ^[189] .

Julian Roman, MovieWeb website editor , writes that the sequel was able to surpass the original. The director did a wonderful job on the picture and tried to adhere to the original comic storyline, which fans are fond of every few years. The result was a grandiose film that will delight the hearts of viewers. Each hero was given quite a lot of attention ^[190] . Scott Fundas of Variety writes that Tyler and Elfman’s collaboration is an abundance of high-profile action music, but the most memorable passages are still recycled pieces of Alan Silvestri’s magnificent Avengers fanfare ^[191] . Richard Roper , columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times ", Gave the film three and a half stars out of four and noted that the film shows unexpectedly touching and sometimes mysterious adventures. The picture deserves a high rating in the Marvel universe and it has impressive special effects. The critic also called Taylor-Johnson, Olsen, and Bettany's performances “beautiful.” ^[192]

Peter Travers from Rolling Stone magazine described the Age of Ultron as a whole summer of fireworks packed into one picture. Sometimes Weedon is carried away and goes too far with action, but takes up the job as a professional, creating a spectacle and epic in every sense of the word ^[193] . Matt Zoller Seitz , site editor Roger Ebert , gave the film three stars out of four and stated that the picture looks so much larger than the first work of Whedon. “The second Avengers is a giant omelet made with seasonings and ingredients from the refrigerator and pantry. The creation of Joss Whedon broke a dozen eggs, ”writes the critic ^[194] . Camille Long, a journalist for The Sunday Times negatively commented on the film, which, according to her, outlined a bunch of stupid storylines. In the action scenes, the worst computer graphics have been used since the First Avenger: Another War ^[195] . In the Chinese box office, the film caused mixed reviews due to the poor quality of the translation, which, according to viewers, was too verbatim and was made using Google Translate ^[196] .

The editor of Interfax , Katya Zagvozdkina, believes that the plot is not a paramount thing, but it is strikingly inscribed between episodes of battles. By the end of the spectacular battle, the audience will have an excursion into the past of the heroes, and then a touching children's song will sound after the phrase “Hulk, destroy!”. The picture is not only a gigabyte of special effects, but also charming characters, and the actors play a bunch of jokes with visible pleasure ^[197] . Film critic Anton Dolin from Vesti FM described the film as "a religious parable about how a person creates his idol, and then he himself suffers with it." It was not easy for the director to make such a perfect film, but Whedon left no trace of the first Avengers ^[198] . Alexei Ionov, a columnist for the Igromania magazine, believes that the blockbuster turned out to be epic, massive and spectacular than the first part of The Avengers. The villain Ultron himself is not suitable for the role of a worthy opponent, but the voice acting of James Spader was called the main decoration of the film. The main problems of the picture are the dynamics and volume of the narrative. New characters received little attention to their disclosure, in particular the Scarlet Witch and Mercury ^[199] . The site KinoNews.ru wrote that the blockbuster is a preface film. The plot is a symbol of the evolution of Tony Stark, who has to justify the establishment of total control over humanity. Ultron doesn't look like a villain, but the character is dramatic like Victor Frankenstein . The work of Marvel Studios looks simply exciting and skillfully balances on the edges of some genres ^[200] .

Awards and nominations

In December 2015, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences placed the picture “Avengers: Age of Ultron” on the short list of possible applicants for an Oscar for best visual effects ^[201] , but in the end the film was not nominated for an award ^[202] .

The directors of the films "Avengers: Infinity War" and "Avengers: Finale" were made by Anthony and Joe Russo , and Christopher Marcus and Stephen McFeely ^{[213] [214] [215]} were screenwriters of the projects. Infinity War was released on April 27, 2018 ^[216] , and the fourth film premiered on April 26, 2019 ^[217] .