Avengers - Horsing Around In LA

The Avengers: Age of Ultron

By: Erin

Entering the Marvel Universe today is Avengers: Age of Ultron, that builds on the events that took place after Earth’s Mightiest Super Heroes first met up for the Avengers in 2012. Writer and director, Joss Whedon is faced with the most challenging task of following up such a box office hit with another blockbuster. In Age of Ultron, Joss strives to achieve this by diving deeper into each character, giving them their moment, having their mythologies deepened, and their chemistry and relationships with each other grow in new and interesting ways. Of course, then this must all tie in together in the same story line and must be structured into a screenplay that delivers a powerful compelling story while being filled with non-stop action scenes.

(Chris Hemsworth)..Ph: Jay Maidment..?Marvel 2015

With our Super Hero cast of Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Captain America (Chris Evans), Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), who are all stars and Super Heros in their own right. They feel like a close-knit family now, digging at each other with sly, saucy humor. There is also a new budding romance between Black Widow and another main character you might not have suspected, but I don’t want to spoil the fun, go see it for yourself if you want to know the details on that one. 😉

Marvel's Avengers: Age Of Ultron..L to R: Bruce Banner/Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson)..Ph: Film Frame..?Marvel 2015

Be prepared to be propelled right into the action. If you aren’t familiar with the Avengers, you might be thrown off at first trying to figure out the storyline with so much action happening so soon as the team is already assembled on a mission against a Hydra base. Captain America, Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, Black Widow and Hawkeye are together again and they’re on a mission to take down Hydra’s top official, Baron von Strucker.

We are introduced to a new villan, Ultron (pictured above). Despite the ending sequence in Marvel’s “The Avengers,” which led movie goers to think the character of Thanos would be the next big villan, Whedon’s first choice was always Ultron. “For me, Thanos was always meant to be in the third Avengers movie because he really is a god,” explains Whedon. As the mysterious Ultron emerges, the team must reassemble in order to stop the terrifying technological villain hell-bent on human extinction. We are also introduced to two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff , as well as an old friend in a new form, named The Vision (below).

Age of Ultron is two-plus hours of action- packed fun and special effects, humor, and more. As the story violently twists and turns, in true Marvel fashion, the characters Marvel has spent so much time creating and nurturing, hold it all together to create one wild adventure. So get on out there, and be ready for a crazy ride with all of your favorite superhero friends.

Marvel's Avengers: Age Of Ultron..L to R: Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), and Thor (Chris Hemsworth)..Ph: Film Frame..©Marvel 2015

So go on and see the Avengers: Age of Ultron this weekend!

The Superhero Cast of The Avengers: Age of Ultron

By: Erin

The epic story continues with Marvel’s the ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron.’ The Superhero Dream Team is back with a superhero cast to protect the world from the greatest threat man has known yet! Before all the adventures start-up again this Friday, May 1st, I thought I would share some fun facts that were shared at the brief, but informative press junket that I attended as a guest of Disney.

The superhero cast and talent that were present:

· Robert Downey Jr (“Iron Man”)

· Scarlett Johansson (“Black Widow”)

· Chris Evans (“Captain America”)

· Chris Hemsworth (“Thor”)

· Mark Ruffalo (“The Hulk”)

· Jeremy Renner (“Hawkeye”)

· Cobie Smulders (“Maria Hill”)

· Aaron Taylor Johnson (“Quicksilver”)

· Elizabeth Olsen (“Scarlett Witch”)

· James Spader (“Ultron”)

· Paul Bettany (“Vision”)

· Joss Whedon (Director)

· Kevin Feige (Producer)

With so much talent in one room at once, it was hard to take in everything happening, and where to focus your attention at. Questions being asked, laughter, conversation, the talent frequently and wittingly jumping in on each others’ questions. It was then cut pretty short to show us a sneak peek of the Ant Man trailer at the end. Here are some highlights from our afternoon with the superheros from the Avengers: Age of Ultron. 😉

One of the first questions was for Joss Whedon, the director, about the challenges with the film.

What were the biggest challenges that you faced putting together the story and then shooting the film? What were the things that surprised you on your journey?

JOSS WHEDON: There’s like 47 of these people. I really didn’t think that through, and I regret very much doing this at all. You know, it’s just making sure that everybody’s, got their moment, that everybody’s got their through-line, that it’s connected to the movie. I have all these people. I love all these people. They’re extraordinary. But making sure that they’re not just all being served, but all within the same narrative structure, that they’re in the same movie, that it’s all connected to the main theme. At some point during the editing process, I could not have told you who they were, who I was, what movie I was making, I got so lost in it. But I think it all came together, it’s just about making these guys look good, which takes a long time.

So many questions for Joss, on how do you even begin to start to create the sequel to one of the greatest, largest, most successful movies of all time?

JOSS WHEDON: With the smallest thing I can think of. The thing that drew me back to the movie was: what little moments are there between these characters that I haven’t gotten to do yet? What conversations have they not had? How can I, you know, what haven’t I shown? It’s never sort of the big picture stuff, it’s never “and then we can have an army of robots” – although that’s cool too – it’s always just: where do they live, or how can I get inside their hearts, what’s funny about them? Those are the moments – just, I write just reams and reams of paper just thinking about, you know, the tiniest part, that’s really the heart of the thing.

A lot of attention was going to Joss, so *note* make sure to ask Robert Downey Jr the first question if ever at a press conference.

We get to see a lot of sort of fatherly side of Tony Stark this time, your relationship with Tony and Woo Chon, and you also sort of take care of Hulk, Bruce Banner, like a father. So were you having that kind of thing in mind when you’re playing this role this time?

ROBERT DOWNEY JR.: I said: I think this is great. Kevin said, “You never say that. You can’t mean that.” I said, “Yeah, I think it’s great. Let’s go shoot it.” I thought it was a Swiss watch to begin with and Joss really created some great new situations for Tony to be in, so rather than dig in my heels and try to rewrite every scene, to make them even better, if possible, I showed up and it turned out great.