Things That Almost Ruined Age Of Ultron

Fake technology is standard for most science fiction stories, but sometimes, a concept comes along that's just so clumsy that it's impossible to suspend disbelief. In order to contain Ultron (who has infested the Internet) from just replicating again after being defeated, Vision "burns Ultron out of the net". If it didn't work for a celebrity nude photo leak, it's not going to work for a world-dominating superintelligence, and it presumes a whole lot of stuff about technology that just can't happen. Ultron's probably asleep in any number of computers right now that didn't have a Wi-Fi signal during the split-second "burn". Got ya, Joss.

In order to distract and confuse the Avengers, magic-user Scarlet Witch pokes around in The Avengers' heads and gives them visions of some pretty rough, personal stuff. Black Widow relives her assassin training, Steve Rogers sees a life in which he didn't disappear in a plane crash... and everyone gets pretty depressed. While dream sequences are usually the worst part of any exposition, these scenes actually provided a solid, visual interpretation of the powers of Scarlet Witch.

Supergeeks worldwide have now enjoyed the premiere of Avengers: Age of Ultron, the second Avengers film assembling the mighty team, and the eleventh film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe canon. While it was a great film, no great experience comes without its pitfalls. Here are seven moments which came close to bringing the film to a grinding halt.

Age of Ultron is a Joss Whedon joint, so you know someone is going to die by the end of the story, and it'll be someone that you've grown to really like. In this case, super-fast mutant Quicksilver races out in front of a bullet to save Hawkeye's life, in a scene which may have been more poignant if the rivalry between Hawkeye and Quicksilver were allowed to play out as it was originally intended. But as we all know, death in comic-based fiction is never permanent, and rarely unexpected. Only time will tell how he'll be brought back to life.

In a scene which director Joss Whedon fought to develop more or have removed from Age of Ultron entirely, Thor is seen wading into a magic pond and experiencing a series of visions which culminate in the outline of the Infinity Gauntlet, decorated with the Infinity Gems – some of which have appeared in previous Marvel films. It's a nod that only comic readers would really get, and the whole scene seemed to come from out of nowhere. Whedon wasn't happy with how it was edited in, but at least it gave a clunky reason why Ultron's gem-headed android baby was named "Vision".

James Spader did an awesome job voicing an annoyed, petty, and very human Ultron, but even in the first few moments of Ultron's robot voice emanating from his speaker-mouth, the vocal resemblance to Tom Waits' sinister growl was uncanny. You may know Waits from his generation-spanning songwriting career, or maybe as Renfield in Dracula (1992), but Waits' natural bemusement with the failings and wonders of humanity would have put Ultron over the top – and with nearly the exact same voice.

At the end of Age of Ultron, we see a new team of Avengers assembling – and notably absent are Iron Man, Hulk, and Thor, all of whom have their own messes to deal with. Scarlet Witch, War Machine, Falcon, Vision, Black Widow, and Captain America don't really make up a very interesting Avengers, with only a couple of super powers among them. The scene was originally set to include Spider-Man and Captain Marvel, but licensing had them cut from the film – and only came through after the scene was filmed. So, we got the B-team instead.

Tony Stark is a bit of a jerk who never hesitates to say whatever he's thinking, and while there was definitely some romantic tension between Black Widow and Bruce Banner, the last thing anyone wants to think about mid-battle is Hulk's green weiner. So, when Iron Man asks about Natalia playing "hide the zucchini" with the Hulk, it's a moment that's both obnoxiously in character and also enough to remove one from the viewing experience and question both the sanity of the writers and the biology of Hulk's nethers.