Warning: The following column is spoiler-heavy
Seriously, if you want to go into Avengers: Age of Ultron or Captain America 3: Civil War with a clean palette—don't read anymore. Still good? Okay, let's talk a little bit about what's coming up in the Marvel films, starting with the new cast in A2.
The Avengers get three new members:
Quicksilver (Pietro Maximoff) and Scarlet Witch (Wanda Maximoff): Referred to as “the twins” in the mid-credits scene of Captain America 2: The Winter Soldier, we last saw these two held in captivity via Baron von Strucker of Hydra. Based on trailers, we know that the twins will start off fighting the Avengers before eventually becoming part of the team. It's roughly the same thing they did with Hawkeye in the first Avengers.
As for powers, Quicksilver is fast as hell, reaching speeds of Mach 10 or faster. He also processes thought at superhuman speeds. We got a nice treatment of him in X-Men: Days of Future Past, but it’s difficult to tell what his personality will be like in A2. Scarlet Witch’s powers are a little more complex, using what’s been referred to as hex powers, probability manipulation (bad luck/good luck powers), and chaos magic. It's been confirmed via a recent clip that the Hulk vs. Iron Man (in Hulkbuster armor) battle is due to her bewitching the Hulk as per Ultron’s “tear them apart from within” strategy.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjx-02XWuzk]
On top of being the most powerful witch on the planet, she also has a history of being completely batshit crazy.
Fun fact: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are the children of Magneto.
Fun (and dirty) fact 2: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch have a super weird incestuous relationship. I highly doubt they’ll give it any attention in the film.
Possible future tie-in: Scarlet Witch eventually works with Dr. Strange. Don’t be surprised if she shows up in that movie, because she has a multi-picture deal. Also, both characters will likely be in anything Avengers-related moving forward.
The Vision: Made by Ultron to show that he too can create life, this will be yet another case in which a hero starts out alongside the villain. Powers-wise, he’s pretty much a badass: phasing ability, microwave/solar beams, density manipulation, and super-human strength, speed, intelligence, etc. So far we’ve only seen The Vision in artistic renderings on posters and a couple seconds close up in the most recent trailer. My guess is that they’re saving “the best for last” as it were. Expect The Vision to come in during the final act.
Possible future tie-in: The Vision will surely be in anything Avengers-related from here on out.
Fun fact: The Vision gets romantically involved with Scarlet Witch.
The Age of Ultron:
There’s plenty that you can pick up about Ultron simply by watching the trailers. He’s created by Tony Stark as a means of protecting the world, although Ultron’s interpretation of that means extinguishing humanity. We know that he’ll be supported (temporarily) by Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, not to mention his army of Ultron bots. We also know that this is a villain who goes through an evolution of forms, starting as a staggering assembly of spare parts and upgrading himself considerably. In the comic, Ultron goes through over twenty iterations. At minimum, we’ll see two of those in the film…possibly three. Ultron is a constantly changing villain trying to find that perfect form.
So how do you beat him? I’ll just say this: Scarlet Witch holds the key.
Possible future tie-in: I have no doubt Ultron will show up again in future films. He’s like the Jason Voorhees of the Marvel universe…you can’t kill the thing. He always comes back.
Fun fact: During one of his later iterations, Ultron fuses with some of Stark’s Iron Man armor.
Captain America’s shield breaks:
We’ve seen it already in trailer two: Cap’s limp hand…and then the camera pans down to his broken shield. Beyond the obvious symbolism of breaking America by breaking the shield…the damn thing is made out of vibranium, which is a stronger material than Wolverine’s adamantium skeleton. The shield can even take a hit from Thor’s hammer, so whatever breaks it has to be powerful. There’s a few possible explanations here.
- This shot is an intentional mislead and we’re seeing a sample of Scarlet Witch’s reality-changing powers.
- The power stone from Guardians of the Galaxy somehow gets involved and shatters it.
- Thanos shows up and breaks it; he’s done this in the comic.
Possible future tie-in: Tony Stark has the resources to repair the shield, but the shattered shield might be a plot device to get Cap to visit Wakanda, home of the largest reserve of vibranium in the world and kingdom of the Black Panther.
Fun fact: One time Cap’s shield got something called “vibranium cancer.” True story.
The Super-human Registration Act:
If you’ve seen any super-hero movie, then you’ve probably noticed there’s usually a ton of property damage and death happening, and no one is footing the bill or taking responsibility. This is part of what causes the government to pass The Super-Human Registration Act (SRA). Essentially, you unmask and register with the government. You will work for the government and be accountable for your actions. This causes a major rift between Iron Man (pro-registration) and Captain America (anti-registration).
We’ll see hints of this in Avengers 2, but these guys will officially be at odds in Captain America 3: Civil War. And caught right in the middle…you guessed it…your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Spider-Man:
In the Civil War storyline, Peter Parker serves as a protégé to Tony Stark. At this point, it’s hard to tell if Marvel will play that angle. What we know right now is that he’ll for sure be in Captain America 3: Civil War before doing his own solo movie (another reboot). And sorry, but you’re not getting Miles Morales. I know there’s a huge faction of people begging for something different, but Civil War is a Peter Parker storyline. Just be thankful you don’t have to sit through the origin a third time.
Anyway…The Super-human Registration Act Passes and Tony Stark convinces Peter Parker to publicly reveal his identity as Spider-Man. He does this, and for a while Spider-Man assists Iron Man in rounding up both heroes and villains alike who have refused to register with the government. Eventually, Spider-Man starts to feel like he chose the wrong side and turns on Iron Man. It leads to a fairly epic battle.
Possible future tie-in: Marvel is getting Spider-Man on loan from Sony. Perhaps Marvel will return the favor when it comes time for Spider-Man’s solo flick.
Fun fact: After pointing out to Peter Parker that his costume is “just cloth,” Tony Stark designs him a high-tech Spider-Man suit (as seen above).
Rumor alert: Although it's being said that there's no post-credits scene, some footage leaked online of Spider-Man taunting a window washer with Avengers tower in the background. It's probably fake.
Ragnarok means two things:
It's an event, translated to "the end of the Universe." In this arc, Thor has to fight a bunch of beasties. Of course, Loki is involved...he always is.
The other: Ragnarok is the cyborg clone of Thor. See...when Civil War kicks off, Thor is out of the picture. In need of more firepower on his side, Tony Stark takes it upon himself to make a clone of Thor using one of his hairs. This creation is known as Ragnarok. If Captain America 3: Civil War follows the comic, we should be introduced to him by the end of that movie.
Possible future tie-in: This is hard to say, but I'd put my money on the third Thor movie being about the event rather than him fighting a clone of himself. Nobody likes clone sagas.
Fun fact: Ragnarok’s hammer is made of a vibranium and adamantium alloy, and fused with circuitry so he can call upon it mentally. Unlike the true hammer of Thor, anyone can pick it up.
Captain America is supposed to die:
In the comic, this is how Civil War concludes: Cap getting killed by Crossbones. Whether or not Marvel actually does this in the movies remains to be seen. In typical Marvel fashion though, all the ducks are lined up to do this. Brock Rumlow aka Crossbones was introduced in Cap2. Sources indicate that it will be Crossbones—not the New Warriors—that initiates the attack which will serve as a catalyst to the Super-Human Registration Act.
Possible future tie-in: We may see Bucky Barnes (The Winter Soldier) or Sam Wilson (Falcon) take over the Captain America mantle. They’ve both done it in the comic.
Fun fact: Captain America uses the cosmic cube to restore The Winter Soldier's memories.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAUoeqvedMo]
What do you guys think? Which of these scenarios do you want to see play out? Should the movies follow the comics or should they go their own way?
