History Fridge / AvengersAgeOfUltron

** Thor is justifiably pissed that humanity is ''still'' trying to mess with powers outside of their control, that he's already seen them corrupt his adopted brother, while now also having to make sense of the vision of Hel, and the prophecy of an impending Ragnarok upon Asgard.

** Confirmed in ''Infinity War'', where Thanos succeeds in killing Vision by ''ripping out the stone from his head''.

* The reveal in ''Hawkeye'' that [[spoiler: Laura is or was a SHIELD agent]] lends extra depth to her interrupting Tony and Steve's argument, and her getting Tony into the barn so that he could talk to Fury. Very likely, she greeted Fury offscreen, brought him into the barn, then deliberately worked up an excuse to get Tony there so they could have their private talk.
* During the final battle, the Sokovian police's guns don't seem to do much against the drones, despite the fact that Black Widow seemed to do just fine with a pistol, and the fact that the police seem to be packing a few AKs. Well, Natasha is a highly trained elite assassin, and would probably know where to aim to take it down. The Sokovian PD are likely just beat cops, used to dealing with petty crimnals, and, despite their bravery, aren't really trained to fight killer robots.

* In the first movie, Thor creates a shock wave by hitting Cap's shield, and accidentally supercharges Tony's suit. Many people complained that he didn't use those tricks again during the Battle of New York (except in an alternate sequence of events in ''Endgame'' where he did so to restart 2012 Tony's heart after Scott pulled out wires in Tony's arc reactor as a diversion). However, it made perfect sense for him not to: the former knocked Thor's off-balance too, so it wouldn't have been a good idea to use it in a battle, and the latter gave a temporary boost, but left the armor weakened, making another poor choice for a battle. However, since a couple of years passed, he found a way to work on both of them: he developed a technique to safely hit the shield, avoiding side effects. Although the supercharging still isn't suitable for an armor, it works just fine with something that only needs to be used once, [[spoiler: like Vision's cradle]].

* Early in the final battle, Steve tells the Avengers fighting the Ultron sentries, "The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. You get hurt, hurt them back. If you get killed, walk it off." The camera cuts to Wanda when Steve says "You get hurt, hurt them back," and to a determined Pietro with "if you get killed, walk it off." Pietro dies, and Wanda responds by finding Ultron's main body (the one responsible for doing it) by ripping his power core out.

* Near the beginning of the movie, Ultron says people all create the very things they dread. By the end of the movie, he has created the thing he dreads: ComicBook/TheVision.

* Heartwarming moment of Natasha shown to be "Auntie Nat" and her interaction with Clint's children swiftly becomes heartwrenching, when you learn that she's been sterilized. It's the closest thing for her own kids she's ever gonna get. One may suppose Clint know this, too -- naming his last one after her.

** When [[spoiler: the Avengers realize they might have to sacrifice themselves to save the world,]] Natasha seems to accept it somewhat easily, saying, "Where else am I going to get a view like this?" as a shot of [[spoiler: beautiful clouds]] are shown. When you think of how her line and the shot are connected, it implies that [[spoiler: Natasha believes in TheNothingAfterDeath or thinks she would be unworthy to go to Heaven after she died, which adds a lot of new context to her death in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.]] FridgeBrilliance in that the Soviet government was ''militantly'' atheist and that would have been part of her indoctrination.

* Natasha's sterilization may have been about more than relieving her of the burden of pregnancy. She may have been trained to HoneyTrap her targets. Her organization may have even predicted that she'd eventually find herself up against an enemy who would be her superior in every way; an enemy who would not hesitate to rape her if he could. It's also possible that her training/sterilization could explain why she's has been written as a love interest in all her appearances, and also why trying to pursue something more than just flirting with Banner was so awkward: she's a completely broken individual. If she's not trying to kill someone, or seduce them for information, she ''literally'' doesn't know to interact with anyone. She knows how to fake being normal and well-adjusted, but deep down she has a thoroughly broken mind, which we got a terrifying glimpse of when we saw her nightmare of the Red Room. It's worse in the context that we've seen something like this before in-universe. [[spoiler: Dottie Underwood in ''Series/AgentCarter'', also from the Black Widow program, was fully capable of behaving fairly normally, but once the facade was no longer needed she's revealed to be a deeply broken and unstable individual. Natasha is simply better adjusted, likely due to Clint and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s influence giving her a second chance.]]

** Ultron thus demonstrates that Tony's problem isn't that he isn't as smart as he thinks he is, it's that he's ''even smarter'' than he is ''aware'' that he is, [[AchievementsInIgnorance and is thus capable of accidentally succeeding at feats that anyone else would write off as utterly insane]], whether that be writing the catalyst for biochemical modification on the back of a nametag...or creating posthuman intelligences who believe the world can be saved by asteroid impacts.

-->'''Steve Rogers:''' Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?

-->'''Wanda Maximoff:''' "Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?"

-->'''Wanda Maximoff:''' "Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?"

-->'''Ulysses Klaue:''' I was sorry to hear about Strucker. But then, he knew what kind of world he was helping create. Human life, not a growth market.

-->'''Ultron:''' I had wondered why only you two had survived Strucker's experiments.

* Natasha's sterilization may have been about more than relieving her of the burden of pregnancy. She may have been trained to honey-trap her targets. Her organization may have even predicted that she'd eventually find herself up against an enemy who would be her superior in every way; an enemy who would not hesitate to rape her if he could. It's also possible that her training/sterilization could explain why she's has been written as a love interest in all her appearances, and also why trying to pursue something more than just flirting with Banner was so awkward: she's a completely broken individual. If she's not trying to kill someone, or seduce them for information, she ''literally'' doesn't know to interact with anyone. She knows how to fake being normal and well-adjusted, but deep down she has a thoroughly broken mind, which we got a terrifying glimpse of when we saw her nightmare of the Red Room. It's worse in the context that we've seen something like this before in-universe. [[spoiler: Dottie Underwood in ''[[Series/AgentCarter Agent Carter]]'', also from the Black Widow program, was fully capable of behaving fairly normal, but once the facade was no longer needed she's revealed to be a deeply broken and unstable individual. Natasha is simply better adjusted, likely due to Clint and S.H.I.E.L.D.'s influence giving her a second chance.]]
** Also, in both fiction and real-life, mothers have been shown to be willing [[MamaBear to go to extraordinary measures]], up to and including sacrificing their own life to save their children. If Black Widow were to become pregnant she might fight her programming and handlers tooth and nail to get her child to safety. It is possible that sterilization is also a way of hedging their bets to make sure nothing would supersede the Widow's allegiance to the Red Room.

** When [[spoiler: the Avengers realize they might have to sacrifice themselves to save the world]] Natasha seems to accept it somewhat easily, saying "Where else am I going to get a view like this?" as a shot of [[spoiler: beautiful clouds]] are shown. When you think of how her line and the shot are connected it implies that [[spoiler: Natasha believes in TheNothingAfterDeath or thinks she would be unworthy to go to Heaven after she died, which adds a lot of new context to her death in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.]] FridgeBrilliance in that the Soviet government was ''militantly'' atheist and that would have been part of her indoctrination.

* When Sam asks Cap if he's been looking for an apartment in Brooklyn, Steve jokes that it's too expensive now. While he's at a party hosted by his close personal friend mega-billionaire Tony Stark, shortly after a mission where they were kitted out with probably millions in high-tech gear and equipment. [[spoiler:He was deflecting; turns out his biggest fear is not being needed as a soldier anymore. He doesn't ''want'' to stop fighting and settle down.]]

** Tony was always a bit of a douche in every other movie he was in, but in the movies pre-''Age of Ultron'' (the ''Iron Man'' trilogy plus ''The Avengers''), his creation of the suits and use of them was at least spurred by some kind of conflict or legitimate plot point: being captured and held prisoner by terrorists in ''Iron Man'', the creation of Whiplash’s suits in ''Iron Man 2'', the alien invasion in ''The Avengers'', and the Mandarin / Aldrich Killian in ''Iron Man 3''. But in ''Age of Ultron'', when Tony and Banner decide to bring Ultron to life, there is no true motivation to him doing so. Sure one could argue that he wants "peace in our time", but Tony admits it himself in the first scene when he speaks of Ultron. He refers to himself and Banner as “mad scientists” while they're putting the touches on Ultron. This is where Tony’s curiosity and drive for power gets the best of him. Sure, Wanda may have given Tony that vision where he couldn’t save the Avengers, but that’s all it was: a vision. Thus, Tony is acting out of fear, and as his prior and subsequent films have shown, he does not react well when he is confronted with his own mortality and the mortality of others. Wanda's vision strikes this nerve, and so he becomes reckless and takes a program he already written and decides to bring it to life.

* Wanda [[spoiler: gazing at Vision while he rescues her. Cute foreshadowing for their future relationship, right? Well, given that she's a telepath, and all the [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead thoughts that can go through a person's head]] at any given time, plus the trauma of feeling Pietro's death, [[AllLovingHero Vis]][[TheParagon ion's]] [[MentalWorld mindscape]] would be an [[TheWorldIsJustAwesome idyllic]] [[HappyPlace paradise!]] No wonder she looks so entranced.]]

* Banner's more active fear of the Hulk's destructive capabilities in this movie make even more sense when you remember that, back in ''Film/TheIncredibleHulk'', his greatest fear is that the Hulk's abilities would be weaponized. In this film, by using him as a last resort ("Code Green"), the Avengers have essentially done exactly that.

* Ultron, a newborn intelligence that is trying to understand his own existence, is suddenly forced to see all the contents of the internet, in the time it takes to say so. Meaning, he has to see [[TheInternetIsForPorn bazillions of porn pages and shock sites]], [[HumansAreBastards death threats based on opposing ideologies]], Ashley Madison... [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and TV Tropes]]. No wonder that [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife he thinks that, as a species, we are a hopeless case and deserve extinction]].

* Tony's Iron Man suits getting a massive power boost in comparison to the rest of the Avengers. Black Widow, Cap, and Hawkeye merely get fairly simple upgrades to their previously seen equipment[[note]]Natasha gets some enhancements to her suit's electric taser system, and highly improved shock batons. Cap gets the old leather straps swapped for electromagnetic gauntlet system to more easier throw, catch, and retrieve his shield in the chaos of battle. Barton gets new bow, new arrow tips, some with variable purpose heads, an improved quiver that's less bulky and lets him carry more arrows than his old one did, and ways to easily launch multiple arrows at once[[/note]]. Hulk and Thor are already at their peak power levels, what with Hulk being raged-based, and Thor being a demi-god/alien with mystical powers. Stark however has the Mk. 43 (a perfected version of the Mk. 42 with elements of the Mk. 7's ability to just open up in the front for quick equip), the Mk. 44 "Veronica/Hulkbuster" system, and the Mk. 45, which has quick firing and unibeam-like repulsors. Why? Because now that Tony has had the surgery to remove the Arc Reactor and remaining shrapnel from his chest, he no longer has to worry about either palladium poisoning, or his "New Element"/"Badassium" running out of power bringing him close to death. He can now push his suit designs to the maximum power output with far less lethal repercussions.

* Wanda is the one who influenced Tony's creation of Ultron, so she can be viewed as his "mother" in a way. Thus, Ultron's affinity for her could be viewed as the film's version of his OedipusComplex.
* Ultron and Vision both are created using the mind stone. However, Ultron comes out of Tony's incapability of dealing with fear and self-doubt, while the latter by his trust in J.A.R.V.I.S.' capabilities. The former is born from negative emotions and becomes a villain, the latter by positive ones and becomes a hero.

* Cap inviting the Normandy vets to the Avengers party is at first seen to be simply him being a NiceGuy and a fellow vet himself. However, it's highly probable that he actually fought at Normandy, meaning that those weren't just generic WWII veterans, but most likely comrades he fought side-by-side with. They might've even been in those newsreels we saw at the Howling Commandos' Smithsonian exhibit in ''Captain America: The Winter Soldier''

** In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'', when Bruce finally returned to Earth, he fortunately didn't seem to have any objections to Wanda joining the Avengers, mainly because due to the situation with Thanos, he had other, more pressing matters on his mind. All that said, Wanda being snapped out of existence for five years mere days after his arrival may have been a major ConflictKiller; by the end of ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' when she's brought back, Bruce has been through too much to continue holding any grudge against her.

* In the last episode of ''Series/WandaVision'', [[spoiler: Agatha Harkness notes that there's an entire chapter dedicated to Wanda in the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Darkhold]], saying that "The Scarlet Witch is not born, she is forged. She has no coven, no need for incantation," ...and [[ApocalypseMaiden she is destined to destroy the world]]. In a way, had Ultron succeeded, Wanda would've technically fulfilled that prophecy: Ultron came to life because she let Tony leave the base with the scepter, and then she and Pietro were willing accomplices to Ultron while they thought he just wanted to destroy the Avengers. In turning against Ultron, Wanda was unknowingly saying "ScrewDestiny."]]

--->'''Tony Stark:''' He made it personal.
--->'''Steve Rogers:''' That's not the point.
--->'''Tony Stark:''' That IS the point. That's Loki's point! He hit us all right where we live. Why?
--->'''Steve Rogers:''' To tear us apart.
--->'''Tony Stark:''' Yeah, divide and conquer is great, but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? THAT'S what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience.
--->'''Steve Rogers:''' Right. I caught his act at Stuttgart.
--->'''Tony Stark:''' Yeah, that was just previews. This is - this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva, right? [[ExplainExplainOhCrap He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered... all over... sonofabitch.]]

** During the battle of Sokovia, when he and Wanda come to the aid of some of the town's police, a round fired by a police officer [[spoiler:grazes his arm.]]
** Finally, [[spoiler:his heroic sacrifice involved soaking up minigun rounds aimed at Hawkeye.]]

** In fight scenes, Pietro is quick to rush off into a fight, while Wanda lingers behind until it comes to a confrontation that she cannot avoid. In Strucker’s lab, Pietro rushes outside to mess with the Avengers, while Wanda hides in the base until Steve tries to get Strucker. In the scrapyard, Pietro zips off and Wanda hesitates at Ultron’s side until he tells her “time for some mind games.” While trying to stop Tony and Banner from bringing Vision to life, Pietro is first to take action when he unplugs the cradle, but Wanda doesn’t join the fight until she’s the last one on her side that’s still standing.

* While Tony's worry over another alien invasion is obviously sparked by Wanda's MindRape of him showing a successful Chitauri invasion that destroys the Avengers, and where he is left wondering why he didn't do more, another possible thing beyond that is that in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' Ego's expansion which would have most likely gotten a file in the Avengers facility and which takes place a year before this movie in the timeline could have very well been something that could have contributed to his worry because of they were able to do any research from the people who saw the Expansion Tony could have arrived at the conclusion that it was alien as well.

* When Hawkeye shoots out the glass upon which Quicksilver is standing, we are treated the latter's slow contemplation of the moving bullet. [[spoiler: Since he was moving in super-speed while saving Hawk and the young boy, he must have felt every one of the dozen or so mini-gun rounds push through his body in agonizing slow motion.]]

** In ''Infinity War'', when Bruce finally returns to Earth, he fortunately doesn't seem to have any overt objection to Wanda joining the Avengers. Of course, considering what happened in ''Ragnarok'' and the situation the time, Bruce had other, more pressing matters on his mind. All that said, Wanda was dusted for five years mere days after his arrival before being blipped back, and by then, Bruce has been through too much to continue holding any grudge against her.

** When [[spoiler: the Avengers realize they might have to sacrifice themselves to save the world]] Natasha seems to accept it somewhat easily, saying "Where else am I going to get a view like this?" as a shot of [[spoiler: beautiful clouds]] are shown. When you think of how her line and the shot are connected it implies that [[spoiler: Natasha believes in TheNothingAfterDeath or thinks she would be unworthy to go to heaven after she died, which adds a lot of new context to her death in ''Film/AvengersEndgame''.]] FridgeBrilliance in that the Soviet government was ''militantly'' atheist and that would have been part of her indoctrination.
** Similarly, when she's asked if she wants to see if she can lift Mjolnir and responds that she doesn't need to know the answer, [[spoiler:it's not because she doesn't want to know, it's because ''she thinks she already knows''; the answer is "no".]]

** Considering this and all of this things mentioned in the example just above this one, it makes her [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone breakdown]] in the opening act of ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'' even more understandable.

* Hawkeye, who had been mind raped in the previous film, has not gone bananas as Selvig did back in ''The Dark World''. And yet, Selvig does appear again now, and seems to be fine. Which means that yes, Hawkeye ''has'' gone crazy, at some point between both films, and now he's fine. Justified by the fact that Hawkeye probably had his family to help him get better, which explains why we haven't seen him since Avengers.

* Wanda's journey to becoming an Avenger parallels that of Tony; they were both put into a life-threatening situation by a Stark-made missile that opened their eyes to the cruelties of war and tried to create something to right those wrongs, but inadvertently created something they dreaded (Ultron and the prototype Iron Monger suit respectively). It is only when this creation was refined (Vision and the Iron Man Mk. 2 armor respectively) do they come to accept their lot in life as heroes. Bonus points for both their refined creations to come from Stark Industries and painted predominantly Red and Gold. It's also likely that there was an offscreen conversation where Tony revealed that he was not directly responsible for the black-market dealings that allowed his weapons to be deployed by terrorists, but rather the late Obadiah Stane was.

* Look at Clint's face when Natasha mentions "(Ultron) probably knows more about us, than we know about each other" it seems to be panic, for most of the film we attribute it to Hawkeye and Widows DarkAndTroubledPast, it isn't, it's him realizing that Ultron might know about his [[spoiler: ''family'']].
* The line that perfectly sets up the Maximoffs' character arc for the movie is when the Avengers are returning home from Sokovia the first time, and Maria Hill comments to Steve about how the US was not at war with Sokovia when Wanda and Pietro's parents died, so why were the twins so radicalized. Steve replies “we aren’t, but they are”. This line is so important to how the events of the movie are playing out. We are seeing the story told from the Avenger’s/the US’s POV, a first-world country with money to spare who is not ravaged by war, so clearly radicalized people are frustrated with the United States government and will go to any length to get back at them, so it makes sense that the audience would view them as the villain’s of this story. However if the movie were told from the perspective of the citizens of Sokovia, Wanda and Pietro would be considered the hero’s of that story. They would be to Sokovia what the Avengers are to the United States.
** This is seen in one of the early scenes when the Iron Legion is deployed. None of the Sokovians take it seriously and we see them throw stuff at it and try to break it. A mother even takes her kid away from it. We also see graffiti of the Avengers in the background. This desire that Wanda and Pietro have to get back at Tony is not just an individual issue, it’s an issue of an entire country. So it’s way easier to understand how they find themselves in the situation they do. Steve is the one who recognizes this, and he understands where they are coming from...

** ...a line that is just as applicable to Steve himself because he was the only successful subject of Dr. Erskine's super soldier serum, an experiment he signed up for because he wanted to serve in combat. He knows from his experiences in World War II that the Maximoffs are not bad people, but are in such a terrible situation where they have been victims that it's understandable how they fell into this. That’s why Steve is the first Avenger to trust them once he's seen them do one good deed in their life (stopping the runaway train): because not only is he the most morally centered character, but he gets it because he is the only one (at this point) who has actively seen war and what it does to others. (His recent experience with finding out that Bucky was being used by HYDRA as an assassin also factors in a bit here)

** It's pretty apparent that while the twins may not be ten years old anymore, a lot of what they do is very child-like because of the rough and traumatic childhood the two of them had. They'll put on a tough guy act, but the minute the real teeth come out they’re just a pair of frightened and uncertain children. Often, until Ultron shows up as the “adult leader” of the group, they don't even take action. This is best seen when strongarming Klaue. The twins step into his office and pull their go-to intimidation pose, but Klaue recognizes them as posers. He straight up brushes it off, laughs at their threats, talks down to them, offers them candy and dares them to do their worst. The twins are at a complete and utter loss because they don’t know how to approach a situation where their threats aren't enough to suffice. Ultron’s instructions probably did not even include a caveat for such a scenario, so the two of them are left standing in the doorway, looking to one another in confusion for what to do next, and Wanda even starts moving back into the shadows where she’ll be more safe. Immediately after this, Wanda and Pietro don’t even attack the Avengers at the scrapyard until Ultron gives the command.

** Also note that when the twins come to Steve's aid, he's on the losing end of a fight with Ultron, and Pietro enters by body-slamming Ultron, and then Wanda morphs the luggage rack into an improvised barricade to stop him from advancing. [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger He had him on the ropes]].

** Knowing all this, it means that if Ultron had been active during ''Infinity War'', he probably could have gotten the gauntlet off of Thanos ''and used it himself''. The question then is what would have happened when Ultron snapped his fingers, a real RiddleForTheAges because ''even Ultron himself probably couldn't tell you the answer to that''.

** Tony was always a bit of a douche in every other movie he was in, but in the movies pre-''Age of Ultron'' (the ''Iron Man'' trilogy plus ''The Avengers''), his creation of the suits and use of them was at least spurred by some kind of conflict or legitimate plot point: being captured and held prisoner by terrorists in ''Iron Man'', the creation of Whiplash’s suits in ''Iron Man 2'', the alien invasion in ''The Avengers'', and the Mandarin / Aldrich Killian in ''Iron Man 3''. But in ''Age of Ultron'', when Tony and Banner decide to bring Ultron to life, there is no true motivation to him doing so. Sure one could argue that he wants "peace in our time", but Tony admits it himself in the first scene when he speaks of Ultron. He refers to himself and Banner as “mad scientists” while they're putting the touches on Ultron. This is where Tony’s curiosity and drive for power gets the best of him. Sure Wanda may have given Tony that vision where he couldn’t save the Avengers, but that’s all it was: a vision. Sure Tony is acting out of fear, and as his prior and subsequent films have shown, he does not react well when he is confronted with his own mortality and the mortality of others. Wanda's vision strikes this nerve, and so he becomes reckless and takes a program he already written and decides to bring it to life.

* In the last episode of ''Series/WandaVision'', [[spoiler: Agatha Harkness notes that there's an entire chapter dedicated to Wanda in the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Darkhold]], saying that "The Scarlet Witch is not born, she is forged. She has no coven, no need for incantation," ...and she is destined to destroy the world. In a way, had Ultron succeeded, Wanda would've technically fulfilled that prophecy: Ultron came to life because she let Tony leave the base with the scepter, and then she and Pietro were willing accomplices to Ultron while they thought he just wanted to destroy the Avengers. In turning against Ultron, Wanda was unknowingly saying "ScrewDestiny."]]

** "Mengele would get very excited when he found twins. The other SS officers who helped unload the transports had been given special instructions to find twins, dwarfs, giants or anyone else with a unique hereditary trait like a club foot or heterochromia. The twins were then tattooed and given a number from a special sequence. They were then taken to the twins’ barracks where they were required to fill out a form." Now consider the later reveal in ''Series/WandaVision'' that Wanda didn't get her powers from the Mind Stone, she already had them.

* In the last episode of ''Series/WandaVision'', Agatha Harkness notes that there's an entire chapter dedicated to Wanda in the [[TomeOfEldritchLore Darkhold]], saying that "The Scarlet Witch is not born, she is forged. She has no coven, no need for incantation," ...and she is destined to destroy the world. In a way, had Ultron succeeded, Wanda would've technically fulfilled that prophecy: Ultron came to life because she let Tony leave the base with the scepter, and then she and Pietro were willing accomplices to Ultron while they thought he just wanted to destroy the Avengers. In turning against Ultron, Wanda was unknowingly saying "ScrewDestiny."