The bad guy wins! No plotting and scheming. No long-term planning. Ultron wins! Marvel heroes lose. Fans enjoy!
Enter the Age of Ultron this week from Brian Michael Bendis and Bryan Hitch. When this 10 issue series kicks off the classic Avengers enemy has defeated Earth’s Mightiest Heroes. Only a handful of survivors are left to stand against the android. Bendis and Executive Editor Tom Brevoort talked about the scope and impact on the entire universe on Marvel.com.
“Age of Ultron is about Ultron, one of our biggest villains ever, finally fulfilling his destiny, which is taking the Earth. From the very first page, Ultron has taken the Marvel Universe and everything is changed. There is a shocking amount of destruction and devastation. It started in Avengers, but it’s meant to be a Marvel Universe book. It starts everyone,” said Bendis, “This was never supposed to be my last Avengers story, it was always meant to be a Marvel Universe event.”
In past events we’ve seen the slow buildup of the enemy. The writer explains that this time – it’s very different: “What would it be like to wake up one morning and have one of the Marvel Universe’s biggest villains have just taken over? How will people react?”
“This isn’t a story where the Skrulls are invading. We cut right to the chase. We’re already past that and Ultron is already here. He’s already put his footprints on the landscape. You’re immediately thrust into the heart of crazy events and things are going a million miles an hour,” adds Brevoort.
The editor and writer confirmed this happens in continuity in the contemporary Marvel NOW! Marvel Universe.
You probably won’t need the back story but the creators say the seeds of this epic go back to the first arc of Mighty Avengers by Brian and Frank Cho, but the most direct prologue is Avengers #12.1, aka a Free Comic Book Day issue.
“Tony Stark knew the next time Ultron came back we wouldn’t be ready. This is that time,” said Bendis.
As soon as you say Ultron you immediately think of Vision, Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne but the new threat from the metal madman will affect every Marvel hero.
“It’s fair to say this is an Avengers Vs. X-Men level event. That doesn’t mean we won’t be doing other things later in 2013, but it’s Brian, Bryan, Brandon, Carlos and all the ingredients needed for a big deal project,” said Brevoort.
“If you go back to the earliest Ultron stuff, he has severe daddy issues, even for a Marvel character, and they all have daddy issues. His logic is that the only thing standing in the way of the Earth being what it can be is humanity. I’m kind of obsessed with artificial intelligence in the real world and why people are scared of it. If there were a Marvel Singularity, it would be from Ultron. This is the moment technology takes over in a hostile way,” said Bendis.
“To write a story like this is incredibly scary, because Ultron coming at us with everything he has is the end of the Marvel Universe. We’re doing it,” said Bendis, “This ending is a whopper. And I’ll go ahead and say it: You can’t guess it. I’m involved in it and even I am going ‘Really?'”
“I could not be more excited for this book to hit the stands. Literally not a day has gone by over the last year where people haven’t asked me when it was coming. I know that people are looking forward to it, so to finally debut it and for it to be, I imagine, much more than people thought it was going to be, is great. It’s beautiful. It takes one of Marvel’s classic villains to a level he’s never been before, takes the heroes to a place they’ve never had to go, and ends in a way you will never guess,” said Bendis.
Age of Ultron#1 arrives this week with 2 more issues this month. For the entire liveblog here’s the link.
By Editor