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AvengersOur friends over at Geek Girl Authority posted a story from the very awesome Matt Key after the release of the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer was leaked and then released last night. He’s got some thoughts on what’s in there! Check it out below after watching the trailer.

Damn you Hydra. DAMN YOU!

Marvel had a brilliant little idea all planned out, money had been spent, memos had been sent, people had done their jobs all to secure some time during (or after) next Tuesday’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode, and then Hydra had to go and ruin all of that.

Truly, while I understand we live in the internet age and leaks are always going to happen, it does suck when time and money is spent to make something more of an event, something special, and then all that hype is ruined by kids who want to open their Christmas presents early.

That being said, Marvel handled it in true style by sending out a tweet cursing Hydra and then just releasing the trailer early. I think that says a lot about Marvel/Disney. It’s a smart move; why have a lo-fi version of your product out there for a week when you could release a high-quality version of it now and do so in a way (damn you Hydra) that is still awesome and shows that you’re in touch with the times.

Anyway. That’s the old man in me yelling at the kids to stop tweeting from my front yard. GET OFF MY LAWN!

MY THOUGHTS ON THE TRAILER

Going in order in the trailer.

1. The Melting Hand

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Ultron, back in Avengers #66-68 (Roy Thomas, John Buscema) the recently defeated Ultron program reawakens and uses an entranced The Vision to help him create a body made out of pure Adamantium. Adamantium is more or less unbreakable, the strongest alloy on earth right under Vibranium. Adamantium is the stuff that Wolverine’s skeleton is made from, while Vibranium is what Captain America’s shield is made from.

Okay, so, I’m not 100% certain that Marvel has the rights to use Adamantium since that alloy belongs to their claw-popping creation whose film rights are owned by Fox, but Marvel does have the rights to Vibranium.

There’s only one place in the world to get Vibranium: the African nation of Wakanda, which is home to the Black Panther (which Marvel also have the rights to and keep saying his movie is in the works).

Anyway, all that being said, I believe this melting hand could be Ultron getting himself a Vibranium body, like he did with Adamantium way back in Avengers 66-68.


2. “You wanna protect the world, but you don’t want it to change.”

Ultron is an A.I. created to help keep the world safe and peaceful. However, when he becomes self-aware and conscious all on his own, he sees that the only true way to keep the world safe is by getting rid of humanity. THEY are the problem with keeping the world safe.


3. Bruce Banner curled up in a ball on a Quinjet

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What happened here!? I mean, obviously he’s had a Hulk event that he’s recovering from, right? That’s what it looks like to me at least.

My first thoughts are that this happened after the whole scene with the Hulkbuster armor (that comes later in the trailer) and they have subdued the Hulk and are bringing Banner back to Avengers Tower (or wherever home base is at this point) to deal with him in a more official manner.

This brings up the thought that maybe, MAYBE they are going to pursue the Illuminati storyline with The Hulk and everyone is going to agree that launching him into space to get rid of him (since they can’t kill him) is the best idea for the whole planet. He’s too much of a threat. If they did this, it could lead in to the whole World War Hulk storyline where Hulk crashes on a planet whose economy, more or less, hinges on the gladiatorial fights that they put on — which, I mean, he’s Hulk. He wins everything. He’s the strongest one there is.


4. Expanded Avengers Roster?

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This shot, we see James Rhodes, “Rhodey” hanging out with the Avengers. Does that mean we’ll get to see him busting some butts as War Machine right along everyone else? Also, who else is here? Is that Maria Hill? And standing next to Thor, is that his girlfriend Jane Foster? It’s hard to make out the faces, but it looks like we might have an expanded roster to play with.

Having more people on the team will feed in to any of the Civil War stuff that might be going on just under the surface.

This little scene between Thor and Stark certainly goes a long way towards setting that up as well.

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5. The Janky Ultron that Crashes the Avengers Party

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Ultron, at least in the MCU, is a program created by Tony Stark to help with peace-keeping all over the world. At least, that’s what I’ve heard and all.  In the Comics, when Hank Pym created Ultron-1, he came to sentience all on his own and that is what I believe is happening here. We’re seeing the birth of the Ultron threat, of him composing his own body out of Ultron-drones to house his consciousness.

What makes this threat so bad is that Stark created the Ultron program to run on it’s own, much like Jarvis did at the end of Iron Man 3, so when Ultron comes into his own, he now has control over the entirety of Stark’s arsenal of drones, all using arc-reactor tech, etc etc. So, more or less, The Avengers are going up against an army of super-intelligent Iron Mans. Good luck.


6. That Old Castle

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I think this might be an old Hydra base that Rogers is revisiting, as we see him kicking down the doors to what looks like an old fortress. Maybe he’s looking for clues? Maybe they believe this is Ultron’s new base of operations? Or maybe Hydra is somehow behind Ultron?

Honestly, a lot of this sequence seems to be members of the team going to different parts of the world in search of something or someone.

Later on in the trailer, it looks like all of them end up here? I think they all come under attack here from Ultron drones and maybe get their first look at just what sort of threat they are up against… it’s why Thor drops Mjolnir. Just me making the movie up in my mind though.


7. Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver with Ultron?

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So, wait, do they team up with him? OR, does he know what Baron Von Strucker is up to and then goes to free them so he can have their powers on his side?

This goes hand in hand with their origins in X-Men where they were initially teamed up with Magneto on the original Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. These two have always had a tumultuous time in Marvel, sometimes good guys, sometimes bad guys.

Whatever the reasons, if these three are teaming up with each other, that’s bad.


8. Hulkbuster vs. Hulk

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Okay, so what’s going on here! The Hulkbuster armor was originally created in the 90’s as a contingency for the Hulk. However, Stark created a Hulkbuster Mk II during the World War Hulk storyline where a very pissed off Hulk returns from his interplanetary exile to wreak havoc on the ones who shot him into space, mainly all of the Avengers.

Planet-Hulk-Movie-Story-Line-Bruce-Banner

The armor fits around his normal armor (which we see in the trailer), has a lift capacity of 175 tons and is capable of punching the Hulk a distance of a few miles. Perhaps, when we see Banner disheveled and in a snowy forest, Stark punched him there?

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It may just be that Banner lost control, started an unstoppable rampage and the Avengers were sent in to subdue their friend and ally.

However, with all the Civil War stuff going on, it could also be that the Science bros, Tony and Bruce, are at odds with each other over how best to contain the Ultron threat and this is that fight on a mega scale. Probably not, but it’s a theory.


9. Captain America back in WWII?

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It’s just a couple frames, so it’s easy to miss, but at some point it looks like we see Captain America back in time for some reason. Maybe it’s just a flashback. Like, for instance, maybe going in to that castle, if it’s an old Hydra base, brings back memories?

Or, maybe, Wanda Maximoff entranced him in some way and now he’s stuck in some weird day dream or alternate reality.

My money is on flashback, but if Scarlet Witch can do that sort of ensorcelling… fuuuuuuuuu…


10. ANDY SERKIS

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It’s ACTUALLY Andy Serkis! Not Andy Serkis as an ape or a giant ape or a sad, tiny, twisted ring-obsessed creature.

The going theory here is that he is playing Ulysses Klaw, a.k.a. The Klaw. I mean, the beard, the khakis… it all fits, right?

150px-Ulysses_Klaw_(Earth-616)

He’s a great Black Panther villain who, due to an accident with a weapon of his own design, has become a being composed purely of sound waves. He also has a sonic device on his hand that he can use to channel blasts of sound waves, strong enough to deafen people around him, knock them back with the force of dynamite, blow things up or create constructs of pure sound waves that he can then control. There’s more at the Marvel Wiki if you want to learn more about him.

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With that being said, and going off of what I said about Vibranium earlier, this could be a great tie in. Maybe we see Serkis searching for Vibranium in Wakanda or on his way to Wakanda (Some of these shots could be in Africa). Is he looking for himself? Is he teaming up with Ultron?  And, does this mean we’ll get our first look at another Avengers mainstay, The Black Panther?

WHY ARE YOU SO FAR AWAY MAY OF 2015???


11. Hulk and Black Widow

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So, this scene is a little sad to me. It seems very telling of what I said earlier about Planet Hulk. I think Bruce Banner goes nuts and then it’s only the loving, understanding relationship that he and Black Widow share that gets him to calm down, cool off and become Not-Hulk.

It just seems like there’s so much sadness in Black Widow’s eyes, like something bad is about to happen to The Hulk.


12. The Broken Shield

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Oh snap! What? The unbreakable shield broken!?!?

If this is a real thing that really happens in the movie, then I think it’s proof of Ultron getting a Vibranium body for himself as Cap’s shield is nigh invulnerable.

However, a little secret, at San Diego Comic Con, they showed JUST a bit more than this frame and ALL of the Avengers are out. Dead? Unconscious? No matter, they were defeated, and Tony Stark stands over all of them in dismay. That being said, I think this is a strong candidate for a dream sequence or an alternate future brought on by Scarlet Witch. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for because… I mean… that’s Cap. We can’t break his shield for real, can we?

Those are my thoughts!

Follow Matt Key on twitter, here!

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Jenna Busch

Jenna Busch is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Legion of Leia and has hosted and written for sites like Nerdist, ComingSoon.net, Metro, Birth. Movies. Death., IGN, AOL, Huffington Post and more. She co-hosted Cocktails With Stan with the legendary Stan Lee and has appeared on Attack of the Show, Fresh Ink, Tabletop with Wil Wheaton, in the documentary She Makes Comics, on NPR and Al Jazeera America, and has covered film/TV/gaming/comics for years. She's currently a co-host on Most Craved. She's been published in the comics anthology Womanthology, is a chapter author for Star Wars Psychology: Dark Side of the Mind, Game of Thrones Psychology and Star Trek Psychology and more, and owns a terrifying amount of swords and 20-sided dice. There are also those My Little Pony trailer voice overs that give one nightmares.