Avengers: Age of Ultron

Plot

In the Eastern European country of Sokovia, the Avengers—Tony Stark, Thor, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, and Clint Barton—raid a Hydra facility commanded by Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, who has experimented on humans using the scepter previously wielded by Loki. They are attacked by two of Strucker's test subjects, twins who have been given superhuman abilities: Pietro (superspeed) and Wanda Maximoff (telepathy and telekinesis). The Avengers apprehend Strucker and retrieve Loki's scepter.

Stark and Banner discover an artificial intelligence (AI) within the scepter's gem and secretly use it to complete Stark's "Ultron" global defense program. The unexpectedly sentient Ultron, believing he must eradicate humanity to save Earth, eliminates Stark's AI J.A.R.V.I.S. and attacks the Avengers at their headquarters. Escaping with the scepter, Ultron uses the resources in Strucker's Sokovia base to upgrade his rudimentary body and build an army of robot drones. He kills Strucker and recruits the Maximoffs, who hold Stark responsible for the deaths of their parents by his company's weapons. The trio go to the base of arms dealer Ulysses Klaue in Johannesburg to get vibranium. The Avengers attack them there and are subdued by haunting visions created by Wanda. Banner turns into the Hulk and rampages through Johannesburg until Stark stops him with his anti-Hulk armor.

A worldwide backlash over the Hulk's destruction, and the fears Wanda's hallucinations incited, send the team into hiding at Barton's farmhouse with his family. Thor departs to consult with Dr. Erik Selvig on the apocalyptic future he saw in his hallucination, while Nick Fury arrives and encourages the team to form a plan to stop Ultron. In Seoul, Ultron uses Loki's scepter to enslave the team's friend Helen Cho. They use her synthetic-tissue technology, vibranium, and the scepter's gem to craft a new body. As Ultron uploads himself into it, Wanda reads his mind and discovers his plan for human extinction; the Maximoffs turn against Ultron. Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton fight Ultron and retrieve the synthetic body, but Ultron captures Romanoff. Stark and Banner upload J.A.R.V.I.S., who has been secretly active inside the Internet to hide from Ultron, into the synthetic body.

The Avengers fight among themselves over the decision to upload J.A.R.V.I.S. until Thor returns and helps activate the body. He explains that the scepter's gem is part of his vision, related to the powerful six Infinity Stones, from which the new being gets the name "Vision". He earns their trust by being worthy of lifting Thor's hammer, Mjölnir. Vision and the Maximoffs go with the Avengers to Sokovia, where Ultron has used the remaining vibranium to build a machine to lift a large part of the capital city into the sky, intending to crash it into the ground to cause global extinction. Banner rescues Romanoff, who awakens the Hulk for the battle. The Avengers fight Ultron's army while Fury arrives in a Helicarrier with Maria Hill, James Rhodes, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to evacuate civilians.

Cast

Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man: The benefactor of the Avengers who is a self-described genius, billionaire, playboy, and philanthropist with electromechanical suits of armor of his own invention. On how his character evolves after the events of Iron Man 3 (2013), Downey said, "I think he realizes that tweaking and making all the suits in the world—which is what he has been doing—still didn't work for that thing of his tour of duty that left him a little PTSD. So his focus is more on how can we make it so that there's no problem to begin with. That, you know, there's a bouncer at our planet's rope. That's the big idea."

Chris Hemsworth as Thor: An Avenger and the crown prince of Asgard, based on the Norse mythological deity of the same name. Regarding Thor's place in the film, Hemsworth stated that as Thor has remained on Earth since Thor: The Dark World (2013), and has begun to feel at home here, he considers Ultron's threat a personal attack. Hemsworth stated that he had to work harder to bring new elements to the character to avoid repeating himself saying, "It gave us room to kind of make him a little more grounded and human and have him in some civilian clothes and mixing it up at a party." Hemsworth noted that Thor's motivations in this film were completely different, as it was the first MCU film where he did not play against Tom Hiddleston's character of Loki.

Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner / Hulk: An Avenger and genius scientist who, because of exposure to gamma radiation, transforms into a monster when enraged or agitated. To prepare for the role, Ruffalo worked with motion capture performer Andy Serkis' The Imaginarium. He stated that his character had grown since the previous film and was "a bit more complex". Ruffalo explained that a confrontation is brewing between Banner and the Hulk saying, "There's a very cool thing happening: Hulk is as afraid of Banner as Banner is afraid of Hulk.. and they have got to come to peace somehow with each other." While filming in London, Ruffalo said that Whedon still had not given him any of the Hulk's lines. Whedon later explained that he writes the Hulk's dialogue spontaneously, saying, "What makes the Hulk so hard to write is that you're pretending he's a werewolf when he's a superhero. You want it vice versa [...] So the question is, how has he progressed? How can we bring changes on what the Hulk does? And that's not just in the screenplay, that's moment to moment."

Chris Evans as Steve Rogers / Captain America: The leader of the Avengers and a World War II veteran who was enhanced to the peak of human physicality by an experimental serum and frozen in suspended animation before waking up in the modern world. Evans stated that since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014), Rogers has been left to depend on his Avenger teammates without the structure of military life and is now "looking to understand where he belongs, not just as a soldier, as Captain America, but as Steve Rogers, as a person." Evans maintained his physique from Captain America: The Winter Soldier by working out up to an hour a day. Regarding Captain America's fighting style, Evans felt he did not want to take a step back from the skills shown in The Winter Soldier, making sure Rogers' fight style advanced, showing "a consistent display of strength", and having Rogers utilizing his environment.

Production

Development

In October 2011, Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said the studio was beginning to look at the films that would comprise Phase Two of the studio's shared universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which would start with Iron Man 3 and would culminate in a second Avengers film. In March 2012, Joss Whedon, director of the first film, stated that he would want a sequel to be more small, personal, and painful; that is "not just a rehash of what seemed to work the first time", and with a theme full of originality to itself. Despite the production of the film becoming increasingly wider in scope, Feige maintained that this was not their intention, always looking to see where the team wanted to take the characters, over how to make it bigger than The Avengers. At the premiere of The Avengers, Feige said the studio had an option for Whedon to return as director. In May 2012, after the successful release of the first film, the Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger announced a sequel was in development. Most of the film's cast members were under contract to potentially appear in the sequel; however, Tony Stark / Iron Man actor Robert Downey Jr. was not, as his four-picture deal with Marvel expired after Iron Man 3.

At the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Whedon said he was undecided about directing. However, in August 2012, Iger announced that Whedon would return to write and direct the sequel and develop the Marvel television series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020), for ABC. Later in the month, Disney set a May 1, 2015, release date. Whedon said his return for a sequel "wasn't a tough decision"; he thought it was "not going to happen", but realized he "desperately wanted to say more about these characters" when he started considering it. Whedon said that they intended for the film's production to not be as rushed as the first one. In December 2012, Whedon stated that he had completed an outline for the film. In March 2013, Whedon said that he looked to the films The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Godfather Part II (1974) as inspirations.

Feige revealed that Captain Marvel, who starred in her own MCU film in 2019, appeared in an early draft of the screenplay, but was removed since the character had not yet been cast, saying, "It didn't feel like the time. We didn't want to introduce her fully formed flying in a costume before you knew who she was or how she came to be." Whedon went so far as to shoot visual effects plates for Captain Marvel to fly into Avengers Headquarters at the end of the film; those shots were reused; however, for Wanda Maximoff instead. Feige also revealed that an early draft of the script had Bruce Banner / Hulk's Quinjet detected near Saturn at the end of the film, but it was finally decided to keep it Earth-based and leave his fate ambiguous in order to dispel rumors that a film based on the "Planet Hulk" comic storyline was in development, which Marvel Studios had no plans to adapt at the time. Marvel would later decide to adapt "Planet Hulk" for the MCU film Thor: Ragnarok (2017), in which the Hulk is retroactively revealed to have left Earth after the events of Age of Ultron.

Pre-production

By April 2013, filming was scheduled to begin in early 2014 at Shepperton Studios in England. At the Hollywood, Los Angeles, premiere of Iron Man 3, Whedon said that he had completed a draft of the script, started the storyboard process, and met with actors. Whedon also mentioned that he wrote with Downey in mind and included a "brother/sister act" from the comic books, later confirming that he was referring to Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Whedon explained his rationale for including the characters in the film that "their powers are very visually interesting", with problems which Whedon "had on the first one" for strong powers; those powers are superspeed, and spells and telekinesis, respectively, which "they can do that will help sort of keep it fresh", though cautioned he was not throwing in more characters for the sake of doing that. Whedon stated that the twins allowed him to add more conflict, who dislike the United States and the Avengers, and "the Avengers are like a world power, and not everybody's on board with the Avengers coming in and starting fights, even in the name of justice". Because Marvel Studios shared the film rights to Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch with 20th Century Fox and had to avoid conflict with Fox's X-Men films, Whedon introduced two important characters into the Marvel Cinematic Universe completely on his terms for the first time, which allowed him to connect their origin stories to the universe that they created and avoid the concept of mutants. Whedon relished at the storytelling opportunities by introducing a character with telepathic powers, explaining, "it meant we could spend a little time inside the Avengers' heads—either their past or their impressions of what's going on, or their fears, or all of the above." By May, Downey had entered negotiations to extend his contract with Marvel Studios and reprise his role as Iron Man in the film. A month later, Downey signed on to return for the then-untitled Avengers sequel, as well as a third Avengers film.

At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Whedon announced the film would be subtitled Age of Ultron. Despite the subtitle, the film is not based on the 2013 comic book miniseries Age of Ultron. Feige explained that they simply liked the title Age of Ultron but the plot was taken from decades of Avengers story arcs. Whedon added that Ultron's origin would differ from his comics roots, and that Hank Pym would not be involved with Ultron's creation. Whedon disclosed that Edgar Wright had rights to the character first through his inclusion in Ant-Man, which was already in development. He also thought that Ultron needed to be conceived through the Avengers and since they already had Tony Stark and Bruce Banner on the team, it would not make sense to bring in a third scientist. Whedon also said the film would have a darker tone due to Ultron's involvement. The title of the film came as a surprise to many fans who were expecting Thanos, the mastermind behind the events of the first film, to be the main villain in the sequel, with Whedon saying, "Thanos was never meant to be the next villain. He's always been the overlord of villainy and darkness." Commenting on finding the right balance between technology- and fantasy-based heroes in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Feige explained that Iron Man is a technology-based hero, and his films are always based on those; Thor is a fantasy-based hero introduced in the 2011 film of the same name, which also introduces Asgard, a fantastical realm in "the more reality-based MCU"; and finally, Ultron is "clearly [...] come[s] out of technology," using tools that established in the franchise to construct Age of Ultron storyline.

Filming

Filming began on Tuesday, February 11, 2014, in Johannesburg, South Africa, having been postponed that Monday. Second unit crews shot action sequences without the main cast, to be used as background plates for scenes featuring the Hulk, in the Central Business District of Johannesburg for a period of two weeks. By mid-March, principal photography had begun at Shepperton Studios near London and was scheduled to film there for at least four months, under the working title After Party. Filming at Shepperton as well as other locations in England allowed Whedon to get a "number of different looks and textures and moods" to give the film a different palette and fresh aesthetic from its predecessor. Production designer Charles Wood built an enormous, new Avengers Tower set, one of the largest sets ever built for a Marvel film. The set featured multiple connected environments and levels. On March 22, production moved to Fort Bard, Italy and continued in the Aosta Valley region through March 28. The region doubled as the fictional Eastern European nation of Sokovia, with crews replacing local storefronts with Cyrillic script. Filming in South Korea began on March 30 on the Mapo Bridge, and continued through April 14 at various locations in Seoul, such as Cheongdam Bridge, Digital Media City, Gangnam Boulevard and road near Kaywon University of Art and Design in Uiwang. While in Seoul, the production was able to attach cameras to drones and race cars to get unique camera angles and footage. An artificial island on the Han River known as the Saebit Dungdungseom served as the headquarters of an IT institute featured in the film. Scenes involving Ultron's attack on parts of the city were shot in the Gangnam District.

In April, shooting began in Hawley Woods in Hampshire, England, and Hayley Atwell, who played Peggy Carter in previous MCU films, filmed scenes inside the Rivoli Ballroom in London while extras performed the Lindy Hop. That June, scenes were shot at the University of East Anglia in Norwich and at Dover Castle in Kent, with Dover Castle used for interior shots of Strucker's Hydra base in Sokovia. The next month, filming took place at a training facility for London's Metropolitan Police Service, which doubled as a city in Sokovia. Additional filming took place in Chittagong, Bangladesh, including the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard, and in the state of New York. On August 6, Whedon announced on Twitter that he had completed principal photography on Avengers: Age of Ultron. Disney spent $330.6 million on Avengers: Age of Ultron from February 2013 to November 2014, but $50.7 million of this was offset by payments from the UK tax authority. A report on actual production costs for films from FilmL.A. Inc., indicated a gross budget of $444 million, with a net of $365 million for Avengers: Age of Ultron. This makes the film one of the most expensive films ever made.

Post-production

In June 2014, the IMAX Corporation announced that the IMAX release of the film would be converted to IMAX 3D. Following the completion of principal photography several more cast members were revealed including Stellan Skarsgård as Erik Selvig, Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson / Falcon, Idris Elba as Heimdall, and Tom Hiddleston as Loki, reprising their roles from previous MCU films. However, Hiddleston's scenes did not make the theatrical cut of the film, with Whedon saying what was shot "didn't play" and he did not want the film to feel "overstuffed". According to Hiddleston, "In test screenings, audiences had overemphasized Loki's role, so they thought that because I was in it, I was controlling Ultron, and it was actually imbalancing people's expectations." Whedon later explained that Elba and Atwell appear in the film because of exploring the psyches of the Avengers from Wanda's power. In December 2014, Kim's role was revealed as Dr. Helen Cho. Additional scenes were scheduled to be filmed in January 2015 at Pinewood Studios. In February 2015, Marvel confirmed through promotional material that Serkis portrays Ulysses Klaue in the film. In early April 2015, Linda Cardellini and Julie Delpy were confirmed to be part of the film's cast. At the same time, Whedon stated that the film would not contain a post-credits scene, which had become customary for MCU films. Whedon tried to come up with a post-credit scene but felt that he could not top the "Shawarma scene" in The Avengers, explaining, "It didn't seem to lend itself in the same way, and we wanted to be true to what felt right. The first rule of making a sequel is take the best moments and do something else. Don't do the Indiana Jones gun trick again differently. Just go somewhere else. Don't try to hit the same highs, because people will sense it." However, Feige clarified, "There will be a tag [shortly after the credits start]. But there's not a post–post–credit scene."

In May 2015, Whedon revealed he was in conflict with Marvel executives and the film's editors about certain scenes in the film. The executives were not "thrilled" with the scenes at Hawkeye's farm or the dream sequences the Avengers experience because of Wanda. Also, Whedon had originally shot a much longer scene with Thor and Selvig in the cave but the final version is shorter as test audiences did not respond well to the original cut. In the scene, Thor would be possessed by a Norn, a goddess of destiny, while Selvig would quiz her about Thor's hallucination. Additionally, Whedon reiterated he had wanted to include Captain Marvel and Spider-Man at the end, but deals for each character (signing of an actress and a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment, respectively) were not completed in time for their inclusion.

Music

Brian Tyler signed on to compose the film's score in March 2014. He replaced Alan Silvestri, who composed the score for the first film, and Tyler's hiring marked his third collaboration with Marvel following Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World in 2013. Tyler said the score would pay homage to John Williams' music for Star Wars (1977), Superman (1978), and Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) while referencing the scores for the Iron Man, Thor, and Captain America films in order to create a similar musical universe, saying, "That's the goal for sure. You have to build in nostalgia and do it upfront so you can relate to it." Danny Elfman also contributed music to the score, reprising Silvestri's theme from the first film to create a new hybrid theme. Hollywood Records released the album digitally on April 28, 2015, and in physical formats on May 19.

Marketing

Promotion

At the 2013 San Diego Comic-Con, Whedon introduced a teaser trailer for the film, which included a look at an Ultron helmet and a title treatment. Footage of the teaser, as well as a brief interview with Whedon, was made available as part of Iron Man 3's second screen companion app for its Blu-ray release on September 24, 2013. On March 18, 2014, ABC aired a one-hour television special titled, Marvel Studios: Assembling a Universe, which included a sneak peek of Avengers: Age of Ultron. The special debuted concept art for Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, as well as art of the Hulk fighting the "Hulkbuster" Iron Man suit. Harley-Davidson partnered with Marvel to provide their first electric motorcycle, Project LiveWire, for use by Black Widow in the film. As with previous films, Audi provided several vehicles for Age of Ultron and commercials promoting these vehicles. At the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con, the cast was introduced to promote the film, along with screening footage from the film. Avengers: Age of Ultron received the second most social media mentions at the convention, following Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), but had a higher intend-to-see response.

The first trailer was scheduled to premiere during the airing of an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on October 28, 2014. However, on October 22, the trailer leaked online, and within a few hours Marvel officially released the trailer on YouTube. Entertainment Weekly and The Hollywood Reporter noted the effective use of the song "I've Got No Strings" from Pinocchio (1940) in the trailer. Scott Mendelson of Forbes felt the trailer was "such a textbook 'dark sequel' trailer that it borders on parody" but said, "it's a pretty spectacular piece of marketing, one that elevates itself both by the music choices and by James Spader's vocals as the title villain". The trailer received 34.3 million global views in 24 hours, 26.2 million from Marvel's YouTube channel, which broke the previous record held by Iron Man 3 with 23.14 million views. In comparison, the original Avengers teaser received 20.4 million views in 24 hours after its debut. In response, Marvel agreed to air footage from Age of Ultron during the episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that was originally scheduled to premiere the trailer. At the end of October, Marvel Comic's Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso stated there were comic tie-in plans for the film.

In November 2014, ABC aired another one-hour television special titled Marvel 75 Years: From Pulp to Pop!, which featured behind the scenes footage of Age of Ultron. Also in November, an extended trailer debuted on Samsung Mobile's YouTube channel, featuring product placement for various Samsung devices. In December 2014, additional behind the scenes footage was released as a special feature on the Guardians of the Galaxy Blu-ray, highlighting the various filming locations for the film. That same month, ABC announced that an episode of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would tie-in to the events of the film. The episodes "The Frenemy of My Enemy" and "The Dirty Half Dozen" feature "Easter eggs, plot threads and other connective tissue leading into the opening scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron" while "Scars" explores the aftermath of the film.

Merchandise

In January 2015, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Traveller's Tales announced a Lego video game adaptation of the first film and Age of Ultron for release in late 2015 on a variety of video game consoles. In March 2015, Disney said it planned to broaden its merchandising strategy with Avengers: Age of Ultron by expanding the target demographics to women and to fans of the individual superheroes that make up the Avengers. Paul Gitter, senior vice president of Marvel licensing for Disney Consumer Products, said, "For the first film, we primarily focused on the Avengers property and the group shots [...] Now we're broadening the line and scope to create skews that focus on the team and the individuals characters, as well." Disney Consumer Products partnered with Hasbro, Lego, Hot Wheels, and Funko for action figures, playsets, and other toys, and with Under Armour for apparel. Disney established new partnerships in the food and packaged-goods categories, including with Sage Fruit, ConAgra, Crunchpak, and Chobani. Walt Disney India's consumer products partnered with 50 brands to promote the film in India, considered the highest ever for any film—Hollywood or Bollywood—released in India (the previous record held by Ra.One (2011) had 25 partners). Some of the brands include Amazon India, toy retailer Hamleys India, online fashion store Myntra, Hero Cycles, Mountain Dew, Liberty Shoes, Tupperware, and Subway restaurants, among others. A virtual pinball table based on the film was released in April 2015 by Zen Studios.

Release

Theatrical

Avengers: Age of Ultron had its world premiere at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on April 13, 2015, and held its European premiere on April 21 at the Vue West End in London. The film was released in 11 territories on April 22, with its release jumping to 55% of its international market (44 countries) by the end of its first weekend, before releasing on May 1 in the United States, in 3D and IMAX 3D. In the United States, the film opened in 4,276 theaters, including 2,761 3D theaters, 364 IMAX, 400 premium large format, and 143 D-Box theaters. Many independent theater owners in Germany (approximately 700 screens) boycotted the film in response to Disney raising its rental fee from 47.7% to 53% of ticket sales. The owners felt that the "increased fees, coupled with the cost of digitization, and rising staff and marketing costs may force some of them out of business." Avengers: Age of Ultron is part of Phase Two of the MCU.

On March 4, 2015, ticket pre-sales for the film began. Variety noted, "The two-month gap between advance sales and the release is much wider than normal and reflects the heavy fan anticipation" for the film.

Home media

Avengers: Age of Ultron was released on digital download by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on September 8, and on Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3D, and DVD on October 2. The digital and Blu-ray releases include behind-the-scenes featurettes, audio commentary, deleted scenes, and a blooper reel. The film was also collected in a 13-disc box set, titled "Marvel Cinematic Universe: Phase Two Collection", which includes all of the Phase Two films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and was released on December 8. In July 2015, Whedon stated that he did not intend on releasing a director's cut of Avengers: Age of Ultron because despite the film's complexity, he was satisfied with the theatrical version and did not think it needed to be tweaked. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment released the film on Ultra HD Blu-ray on August 14, 2018.

In September 2014, TNT acquired the US cable broadcast rights, for broadcast two years after its theatrical release.

Reception

Box office

Avengers: Age of Ultron grossed $459 million in the United States and Canada, and $943.8 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.403 billion, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing film at the time and the fourth-highest-grossing film of 2015. Avengers: Age of Ultron's worldwide opening of $392.5 million was the seventh-largest ever. The film set a worldwide IMAX opening-weekend record with $25.2 million (previously held by The Dark Knight Rises (2012)) and also broke the record for the fastest movie to make over $40 million in IMAX theaters, doing so in 12 days. According to some analysts, the opening weekend box office gross was lower than expected because of the weekend's featured boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Deadline Hollywood calculated the film's net profit as $382.32 million, accounting for production budgets, marketing, talent participations, and other costs; box office grosses and home media revenues placed it fourth on their list of 2015's "Most Valuable Blockbusters".

On May 15, 2015, Avengers: Age of Ultron became the twenty-first film in cinematic history, the third Marvel Studios film, and the eighth film distributed by Disney to cross the $1 billion threshold at the box office.

Avengers: Age of Ultron earned $84.46 million on its opening day, marking the biggest opening day for a superhero film and the second-biggest opening and second-biggest single-day gross, behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011) ($91.7 million). The film's Friday gross included $27.6 million from Thursday night, which began at 7 p.m., and was the sixth-highest ever for Thursday preview earnings and the highest among Marvel films. The film totaled $191.3 million in its opening weekend, the third-highest gross behind Jurassic World (2015) ($208.8 million) and The Avengers ($207.4 million). It also saw the second-highest IMAX opening weekend total with $18 million (behind The Dark Knight Rises), a record $13.5 million from premium large format theaters and the highest share for the first weekend in May, accounting for 85% of the top twelve box office total earnings (previously held by Spider-Man 3 (2007)). Of those in attendance the first weekend, 59% were male, 41% were female and 59% were over the age of 25.

In its second weekend, the film fell 59%, earning $77.7 million, which was the second-biggest second weekend gross behind The Avengers' $103 million (both were surpassed a month later by Jurassic World's $106.6 million). It holds the record for the second-biggest loss between first and second weekends with $113.6 million, only behind Deathly Hallows – Part 2's $121 million loss between its first and second weekends in 2011. It became the third-highest-grossing film of 2015.

Critical response

The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 75%, with an average score of 6.8/10, based on 371 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Exuberant and eye-popping, Avengers: Age of Ultron serves as an overstuffed but mostly satisfying sequel, reuniting its predecessor's unwieldy cast with a few new additions and a worthy foe." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 66 out of 100 based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, and those at PostTrak gave the film a 90% overall positive score and a 79% recommend.

Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter said, "Avengers: Age of Ultron succeeds in the top priority of creating a worthy opponent for its superheroes and giving the latter a few new things to do, but this time the action scenes don't always measure up." Scott Foundas of Variety wrote, "If this is what the apotheosis of branded, big-studio entertainment has come to look like in 2015, we could be doing much worse. Unlike its title character, Age of Ultron most definitely has soul." Writing for the Chicago Sun-Times and giving the film three-and-a-half out of four stars, Richard Roeper said, "Some day, an Avengers film might collapse under the weight of its own awesomeness. I mean, how many times can they save the world? But this is not that day." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone wrote, "Age of Ultron is a whole summer of fireworks packed into one movie. It doesn't just go to 11, it starts there. [Joss Whedon] takes a few wrong turns, creating a jumble when the action gets too thick. But he recovers like a pro, devising a spectacle that's epic in every sense of the word." Matt Zoller Seitz of RogerEbert.com gave the film three out of four stars, stating that despite being "bigger, louder, and more disjointed" than its predecessor, "it's also got more personality—specifically Whedon's—than any other film in the now seven-year-old franchise." Helen O'Hara of Empire praised the interactions between the characters, the action set-pieces and Whedon's ability as a director in her review, stating that the film "redefines the scale we can expect from our superheroes."

Conversely, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said, "Although this movie is effective moment to moment, very little of it lingers in the mind afterward. The ideal vehicle for our age of immediate sensation and instant gratification, it disappears without a trace almost as soon as it's consumed." Scott Mendelson of Forbes said, "Avengers: Age of Ultron plays like an obligation, a box to be checked off on a list before all parties move onto the things they really want to do." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times wrote, "This Avengers doesn't always pop the way that the first one sometimes did, partly because its villain isn't as memorable, despite Mr. Spader's silky threat." Camilla Long of The Sunday Times remarked, "Two hours of boredom and boobs add up to a sorry basis for the new Avengers." Much like the release of Guardians of the Galaxy, the film received mixed reviews upon release in China, due to poor translations. The translations, which were said to be too literal, were thought "to have been done by Google Translate."

Sequels

Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame were directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, from a script by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. Infinity War was released on April 27, 2018, followed by Endgame on April 26, 2019. Much of the cast returns for the two films, with additional cast and characters joining from other MCU films.