More Avengers: Age of Ultron Plot & Production Details Announced

The head honchos of next year's biggest sequel discuss what we can expect from it...
Executive producers Joss Whedon (the writer and director of Avengers Assemble) and Kevin Feige (president of Marvel Studios) have today revealed the first details on the narrative and ongoing production of Marvel Studios' upcoming superhero ensemble blockbuster Avengers: Age of Ultron. Set to launch in cinemas next Spring, the much-anticipated movie will mark the eleventh instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise, bringing together each of the Avengers for a momentous battle with the seemingly invincible robot Ultron.

More than ever before (at least in the history of Age of Ultron's gradual marketing scheme), there's a lot to get through with regards to the pair of Marvel execs' comments (relayed by Empire Magazine) on the hype-laden follow-up, so without further ado, let's get down to business:

• JOSS WHEDON ON AGE OF ULTRON'S ANTAGONIST- "I fiercely dislike the idea of just throwing in more people for the sake of doing that, but last time I had all of Earth's Mightiest Heroes versus one British character actor, and I needed more conflict. I'm having a blast with Ultron. He's not a creature of logic- he's a robot who's genuinely disturbed. We're finding out what makes him menacing and at the same time endearing and funny and strange and unexpected, and everything a robot never is."
• WHEDON ON AGE OF ULTRON'S TONE- "The number of different looks and textures and moods we're getting from the British locations is stupid awesome, because this, palette-wise, is very different. I'm trying to make a different film. Because why would you make one movie twice? That seems weird."
• KEVIN FEIGE ON THE DOCTOR STRANGE MOVIE- "There's a whole other side to the Marvel universe, which is the supernatural side. [...] I love that stuff. We haven't done anything that mind-trippy yet and for me, Doctor Strange is our doorway into that."
• FEIGE ON WHETHER ANT-MAN'S SCRIPT INFLUENCED/WAS INFLUENCED BY EARLIER MCU MOVIES- "Not much. There's been a little bit of connective tissue that wouldn't have been there in [Edgar Wright]'s draft ten years ago. We changed, frankly some of the MCU to accommodate this version of Ant-Man. Knowing what we wanted to do with Edgar and with Ant-Man, going years and years back [to before Iron Man's release in 2008], helped to dictate what we did with the roster for Avengers the first time."
• FEIGE ON HANK PYM [ULTRON'S CREATOR]'S ABSENCE IN AGE OF ULTRON- "It was two things- a story Edgar wanted to tell that we'll see with Michael Douglas [who'll play Pym] and Paul Rudd [Scott Lang], and now we're 11 films in, it's looking at the characters we've already introduced who already have the technology and the brains to do...certain things!"
• FEIGE ON REALIZING THANOS IN GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY- "There is an actor. I'm not sure we want to announce it yet."
• FEIGE ON QUICKSILVER & SCARLET WITCH'S PAST- "The key to their origin is in that tag ["The Age of Miracles", a phrase which Baron Von Strucker used in Captain America: The Winter Soldier's post-credits tag could be important here, but we'd be well advised not to forget that Loki's magical staff appeared in the scene as well!]. They're not very happy with the Avengers. Their powers are not insignificant and they're quite different from what the Avengers have faced before."
• FEIGE ON PAUL BETTANY'S ROLE AS THE VISION- "Paul Bettany as The Vision? You're confusing me with your mind games. [...] If one were to confirm anything about Paul Bettany and look at the arc and the line of what Paul has done for us, that's pretty unique and cool and exciting and spins right out of stories we've told in the past."
• FEIGE ON THE HULKBUSTER TEASER IMAGE- "[...] The specifics around [the image] we don't have to do for a while. It's a piece of armour we've wanted to see on-screen for a long time, let's put it that way. What is the Hulkbuster suit built for?..."

Phew! Did you manage to keep up with the onslaught of information? If not, and/or you have any further queries regarding Age of Ultron or the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, then feel free to get in touch with us here at On-Screen via the usual social networking domains to find out more on those matters!

Avengers: Age of Ultron assembles in UK cinemas nationwide on April 24th, 2015.