When Thor puts Mjolnir down at the party, he places it on the table with the handle facing upward, in everyone's view. He was trying to goad the other Avengers into trying to lift it, knowing they would all fail, which would give him an ego boost and allow him to show off; he even ends the "game" by casually flipping the hammer in one hand, then boastfully claiming "You're all not worthy."
Armor Around The World:
Why did Tony build a malfunctioning suit of armor around the world in secret, after a nightmare vision of the Chitauri and Leviathans? Because Pepper wasn't there to help him deal with it.
Alternately, it's a first-generation suit of armor (around the world), meaning it's as clunky, bulky and bug-ridden as the one he originally made and it wasn't until two generations after that the armor was reasonably usable on a regular basis (the Mark III armor), and even then it had glaring flaws (like not having its own power supply and running off the reactor in Tony's chest). The suit of armor (around the world) malfunctioned because Tony wasn't experienced at making them yet. His second attempt follows the trend: a more streamlined, closer to ideal idea that just happens to not fly high enough because of a little icing problem...
The Hulkbuster and the satellite it is carried by are both codenamed Veronica by Tony Stark. Hulk's girlfriend is Betty Ross.
The analogy goes farther than that: Betty talking to Hulk was pretty much the only thing that'd ever calmed him down in the 2008 film. In Archie, Betty is the humble, sweet contender for Archie's affections, whereas Veronica is the glamorous, high-maintenance one. When the Avengers need to subdue the Hulk, they've got two options: either Black Widow talks him down quietly (the sweet/gentle "Betty" approach), or Tony throws several hundred million dollars' worth of fancy technology at the guy to restrain and/or stun him (the glamorous/expensive "Veronica" tactic).
Infinity Stone knowledge:
How did Thor know of all four Infinity Stones that have appeared in Phase 2? The Aether (Reality Stone) appeared against Thor in The Dark World and the Tesseract (Space Stone) and the Scepter (Mind Stone) appeared against all the Avengers in both of the titular movies, so he would definitely have knowledge of three. Yet the only other Infinity Stone to appear against heroes in the movies was the Orb (Power Stone) in Guardians of the Galaxy. Thor could have had knowledge of the events of Guardians, given the cosmic factor, but he never told anyone about it.
Another alternative; the stinger for Dark World showed Lady Sif and Volstagg visiting the Collector at Knowhere and giving him the Aether, suggesting Asgardians travel to, or at least have access to that part of the universe. Sometime between then and Age of Ultron, he may been informed of the Collector now being the owner of the Aether and paid Tivan a visit, whereupon he informed Thor of his encounter with the Orb.
More simply, Thor bathes in the waters that gave Odin the ability to see everything, so allowing him to witness events he wasn't part of is kind of what it does.
In an extended/deleted version of the vision scene, Thor bathes in a magic spring that lets him and Selvig have a conversation with the Norns. A rather unsettling conversation that comes at a cost of part of Thor's life force.
Or the most obvious reason Thor knew about the four Stones is also the most simple: Thor's vision showed him the Tesseract, the Scepter, the Aether, and the Orb all bursting to reveal their respective Infinity Stones. The reason Thor knew that four stones were uncovered recently is because he saw four stones.
Ultron's snarkiness that manifests in several scenes is certainly no accident, considering who helped create him and why is he interested in creating a smaller person... err... child? Because Banner co-created him, and the last Avengers film hinted that he just wants a family. Ultron is even snarkier than Tony for good reason: the last person to use the staff was Loki who is at least as snarky as Tony, if not more so.
Ultron has Buffy Speak, at one point he said "I didn't have the words" when talking about his "evil plan." Confused Matthew compared him to a child who thinks he knows everything and then throws a tantrum when he's corrected. That's what Ultron is, a child who hates his "father" Tony and wants to supplant him, much like in the comics.
Pietro's dying words, "You didn't see that coming?" after saving Hawkeye and a little kid from a rain of bullets and taking them instead, could be considered a lampshade hanging on the fact that Fatal Family Photowas subverted.
Early in the final battle, Steve tells the Avengers fighting the Ultron sentries, "The rest of us have one job: tear these things apart. If you get hurt, hurt them back. If you get killed, walk it off." The camera cuts to Wanda when Steve says "If 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.
The trailers kept showing Hawkeye telling what seemed to be Wanda and Pietro, "If you walk out that door, you're an Avenger." In the actual film he only tells Wanda that, and she ends up becoming an Avenger while Pietro dies. Also, it's noteworthy that it is Hawkeye giving the "The world is crazy, do your job anyway" speech, considering he was on the receiving end of a similar speech from Natasha in the first movie.
Why Vision is worthy:
Thor is considered worthy of Mjölnir; his basic traits are simply that he a is a good man who will always try to do the right thing for the right reasons. It does not matter how old he is, or what minor vices he has, it only matters how he wields the power of Thor and for what reasons. In that case, it shows that Vision has the same worldview as Thor — do the right thing for the right reasons, in this case to protect life. Both their intentions to use the hammer are pure and simple, and that's what the hammer deems 'worthy'. It deems the other Avengers 'unworthy' because their intentions will become convoluted, like Tony would more than likely try to tap into the power of the hammer, maybe for a purely benevolent reason (to provide energy for the world for example), but the hammer is not something to be used that way. It's an instrument for smiting evil and protecting the innocent, and it'll only allow itself to be wielded by those who use it for that purpose and only that.
Vision also lifts it just to give it to Thor. He didn't want to use it at all.
Adding to that, in a later fight with Ultron, Vision uses Mjölnir to save Thor, and immediately hands it back after dispatching Ultron. Vision completely doesn't desire Mjölnir at all, showing it could be a 'to wield the hammer, you must not want to wield the hammer' kind of catch. This fits in with Thor, as he doesn't desire the power of the hammer for power's sake, but recognizes it as the right tool to fight evil with.
Since Vision was brought to life thanks to Thor charging the cradle with his lightning, meaning that he brought power into him, including the worthiness.
The reason Cap is not worthy is based on his own self-doubt. His feeling of being a man out of time (epitomized by his Scarlet Witch-inspired vision), his disillusionment with S.H.I.E.L.D. (and to an extent the Avengers under Stark's leadership), and his own inner demons about losing Bucky twice means that while he may have the other qualities of worthiness, he lacks the belief in himself that he is doing the right thing. If you look, Thor and Vision never hesitate in their actions because they always believe that they are doing the right thing while Cap appears to be constantly struggling with his decisions. Having saved the Sokovians and finally coming to peace with his place in the world and as the head of the Avengers, it is highly likely that he would now be worthy.
Alternately, Cap isn't eligible to wield the hammer because he doesn't want to be. Steve Rogers has never cared for the idea that he's special, or in any way better than anyone else; to believe such a thing would be to buy into Red Skull's twisted ideology about superhumans' "superiority", and to denigrate the worthiness of the Badass Normal troops who'd died fighting alongside him in WWII. To be judged "worthy" where his comrades-in-arms have failed would make him very uncomfortable, and Mjolnir may have rejected him for this reason: he may deserve to be able to wield the weapon, but that alone doesn't necessarily make him the right person to do so (unless he actually needs to, like in Endgame).
Also, there's the whole "worthy to rule Asgard as King" aspect of how "worthy" is defined by Mjolnir's enchantment. Captain America is, after all, Captain America. His very title as a superhero represents his faithful commitment to a nation that was founded on the principle that nobody should rule anybody as king.
How about the fact that the man whose parents' murder Steve is currently keeping secret from is right there in the room with him. And later, Steve will hypocritically tell that man to his face, "Sometimes my teammates don't tell me things."
Basically, Steve Rogers has his good points and bad points like most people, and for the moment, it seems that the same reckless pride that once stopped Thor from being worthy to lift the hammer is also holding Steve back. Or to put it another way, Steve Rogers is not the flawless hero the world sees him as; he's a human being. Or he genuinely is Worthy and isn't budging the hammer because he chooses not to. All those interpetations are valid.
Word of God was given at the 2015 SDCC; Joss Whedon was asked, “How is Steve Rogers not worthy?” Whedon responded teasingly, “Is he not? Are we sure? Did he fail? Or did he stop?” In that case, when Steve budged it, he realized he could lift it... if he chose to. The camera actually racks focus from the hammer to Thor's face at that moment... but Cap chooses not to lift the hammer so as not to ruin what was supposed to be a bit of fun at a party.
The scene itself seems to support Whedon's conclusion. Compared to Clint or Tony (both of whom make several seconds of effort in getting the hammer up), Steve's grip slips immediately on the hammer and his hand slides down the shaft. He wasn't even trying to lift it and it still moved.
That is absolutely not an affirmative answer that Rogers is worthy. It's a deliberate avoidance of answering the question at all. Joss Whedon isn't saying, "Yes, Cap is worthy and he was definitely stopping," he's saying, "I'm not answering that question one way or the other, probably because we want to keep it open for a future film."
Ultimately, Endgame reveals that Steve is indeed worthy of the hammer, coupled with an I Knew It! exclamation from Thor (and fans). That revelation reframes the Age of Ultron scene, with Steve either faking his inability to lift it or being almost-but-not-quite worthy. Either way, in hindsight Thor's expression here seems more like "Hmm..." than "Oh Crap!"
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, like Vision's cradle. Cap would later use this technique by himself after Endgame revealed he is worthy of Mjolnir, by way of Dual Wielding both the hammer and the shield together against Thanos.
Iron Man's battle with the Hulk caused several million dollars worth of collateral damage. They even destroyed a skyscraper that was under construction. That's easily a hundred million down the drain. Tony most likely retired from the team because most of his assets would have to be diverted towards recompensation. After all, he asked to purchase the building merely seconds before he totaled it.
Although it's never specified, it'd be entirely in keeping with Ultron's vendetta if the billion-plus dollars he electronically transferred to Klaue were stolen directly out of Stark's personal accounts.
Ultron makes it clear how hostile he is towards Tony, but there may be yet another reason: He started out as an unfinished program that Tony just happened to find and finish. Whoever's involved with his original creation (if not Hank Pym), Ultron may or may not know on a subconscious level that Tony's not his real father.
It's stated in the movie that Ultron took many of Tony's worst traits. Now, think about it, what lead Tony to create Ultron in the first place? Self-doubt. He created it because he believed he wasn't enough, he couldn't do enough and the avengers weren't enough. Ultron embodies exactly those feelings, and that's why he hates Tony and regards the avengers as a failure.
When he's recruiting the Maximoff twins, Ultron says, "Everyone creates the thing they dread. Men of peace create engines of war. Invaders create Avengers. People create... smaller people...? Uh... CHILDREN! I lost the word there." By the end of the movie, Ultron has created the thing he dreads: The Vision.
Ulysses Klaue's comment about cuttlefish seems completely pointless and just there for Rule of Funny... but when The Vision gives himself clothes, his skin is changing color like a cuttlefish.
Why is Ultron so much like his creators, essentially being Tony's dark side with the Hulk's temper? The Mind Stone scans like an active brain. It has a mind of its own, and it finished Ultron based on the closest available minds.
The Mind Stone was inside Loki's spear, which was being used as a tool for manipulation and exposure of negative emotions. Vision, who was born with the Mind Stone untainted by Loki's device, received Tony's more well-meaning feelings of helping others, and Bruce's intellectualism and ordered mind.
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. He was deflecting; turns out his biggest fear is not being needed as a soldier anymore. Depending on your view of him, either he doesn't want to stop fighting and settle down, or he feels like the only home he has is with the Avengers.
Humanoid body:
It's mentioned that Ultron doesn't feel right outside of a humanoid body, despite its relative inefficiencies. This ties into his personality and motivations, which are based in a very human way of looking at the world; specifically, Tony's. He claims to be superior to humanity, but, deep down, he can't shake off the human influences. He has no strings on him, but what he wants is toBecome a Real Boy.
The humanoid elements could also be explained by the fact that another significant part of Ultron's mind was derived from trying to fit the consciousness of the Mind Stone inside an artificial body, and failing. Vision says that he is on the side of life, and appears very organic. Ultron is almost there — he has a lot of curves and organic parts, even adding unnecessary details like a heart and teeth. This could be because the stone's influence drives him to imitate life.
Making himself humanoid bodies may also be Ultron's way of sidestepping the conundrum of having originally been programmed to protect humanity. He really, really wants to annihilate the species that created him to be its servant, yet his basic programming is completely averse to this, so the only way he can carry out that agenda is to convince himself that he's the next stage in the evolution of humankind. If his bodies were non-humanoid, he couldn't get away with that convenient self-deception.
The Hulkbuster armor is quite effective, even managing to take down The Hulk, something that had never happened in the comics or cartoons despite being its intended purpose. The difference here is that Bruce himself collaborated in its creation, so the armor was considerably better suited to fight his super powered side in case it went out of control. Plus, by the time Tony defeats him, the Hulk thinks the fight is over, and he's looking at all the people that got injured during the battle. His rage gets immediately replaced with regret and guilt, meaning he becomes significantly weakened before Tony delivers the final shot. The fact that Hulk wasn't just enraged, but out-of-his-mind crazy from hallucinations didn't hurt either, as he's normally capable of a bit more tactical cunning than what was shown.
Hulk's strength is directly tied to how angry he is. Since his Scarlet Witch-induced rampage wasn't genuine anger, Hulk's strength wasn't at its peak. Also, if you pay attention, during the fight the two are on par, or Tony is actually superior, for a while. But after Hulk spits out his tooth, he becomes pissed and starts tossing the armor around. And Tony manages to knock him out by hitting him when he was starting to calm down and just before he gets enraged again.
Thor seems surprisingly cheerful when discussing Mjölnir's balance with Vision. It's because he doesn't usually have anyone else who can experience wielding it firsthand.
Many fans wondered where Hawkeye was during the events of The Winter Soldier, including the related episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. This film provides a simple explanation: He was with his family when the HYDRA reveal happened, and then just stayed there until it all blew over.
The four Avengers who have had problems involving family had a hand in helping the Vision "be born": Black Widow (rendered sterile) delivered the "cradle", Tony Stark (estranged from father) created the J.A.R.V.I.S. AI and also helped Bruce Banner (can't have sex or he will Hulk out) transfer it into a synthetic body. Thor (estranged from his brother and his father temporarily took away his powers) summoned a bolt of lightning to power it.
How did Nick Fury know where to take The Cavalry for his big dramatic entrance? He was listening to the same old spy channels that Natasha got a hold of Clint with.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier coming in for the rescue shows the organization literally being a "shield" of protection, actively just helping to evacuate the civilians rather than give the Avengers additional firepower versus Ultron's army. Lampshaded by Pietro when the Helicarrier arrives for the evacuation: "This is S.H.I.E.L.D.? This isn't so bad." Given the Maximoffs' new backstory, he's only ever seen the violence of Stark Industries, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the Avengers; seeing them doing actual good is awe-inspiring for him.
It makes sense that Hawkeye was the one to redeem Natasha, seeing as he has a wife and family of his own. He probably got through to her when talking about kids, something Natasha's wanted for awhile and something to turn good for.
Remember when Loki asked Natasha: "Is this love?" when questioning her about Hawkeye and she replies: "Love is for children." She doesn't mean that she thinks love is childish, she's saying she loves kids like how she loves Clint's kids.
Early in the movie, we see a bumper sticker inside the Avengers' Quinjet that reads "J.A.R.V.I.S. is my co-pilot" much in the way there are "Jesus Is my co-pilot" signs. By the movie's end, J.A.R.V.I.S. has become the Messiah figure of the Vision, an all-loving Hero who is the only other being worthy of wielding Mjölnir.
Why was Wanda able to tear through Ultron's vibranium body like it was tissue paper, when even Iron Man, Vision and Thor's combined energy blasts and lightning could do no more than just damage it? It can't be merely because her power is magic, since Thor's lightning is also magical and Vision is powered by the same Mind Stone that gave Wanda her powers. No, it's because her magic manifests as telekinesis. And for all its extraordinary properties, vibranium is still made of atoms just like everything else. Also, they may have dodged it best they could, given the copyright issues, but (in the comics) she is Magneto's daughter. Wanda tearing through tons of metal is as close as they can get to a full-blown Shout-Out to her comic parentage.
And WandaVision later shows that the Mind Stone didn't actually grant Wanda her powers, but amplified what she already had. This lines up with the comics, where Wanda is a Reality Warper. Destroying a few robots should be small potatoes for her. This would also explain why Ultron gasps in pain when Wanda is tearing his chest open, despite the fact that as a robot, he shouldn't have any way to comprehend the concept of it (and had previously shown little reaction to his bodies taking on damage in prior fights). It's because on a subconscious level, Wanda warped his existence so he could feel the pain she was experiencing in that moment.
Deus ex Machina means "God out of the machine" and is usually used as an easy end to an impossible situation (like Fury showing up with an old helicarrier). But Ultron is literally a machine with superhuman intelligence and capabilities who compares himself to God. He makes Biblical references about the flood and states that he needs to destroy the earth to help humanity evolve. He is literally a "god out of the machine." Vision would probably count, too. Even more so given that Ultron and Vision are given life by the Mind Stone, an object with God-like capabilities.
Why did Tony change his A.I. to FRIDAY when it's no more sentient than the broken J.A.R.V.I.S.? Because Vision has J.A.R.V.I.S.' voice, and it would be difficult for Tony to differentiate between J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision during battle.
Out of the new Avengers lineup, Wanda and Vision are the only members who have done some sort of avenging. Vision was avenging J.A.R.V.I.S., and Wanda was avenging her brother. Both members are also a couple in the comics.
It might seem a bit strange for the Mind Stone to give Pietro Super-Speed instead of another mind-based power like his sister has. But then, if you look closely in the 'bullet from below' scene, you can clearly see how Pietro can see the bullet before realizing he's in trouble. The Mind Stone didn't give him Super-Speed, it gave him enhanced perception of speed. It's not that Quicksilver has Super-Speed, he's just able to see the world in slow motion, and his body just adapts to it. His reaction speed being physically tied to his body's energy levels lends credence to much of his performance throughout the film. When he's rested, he's basically unstoppable, reacting to everything and speeding appropriately — but when he gets tired, he's not able to react nearly as great, as showcased by a stray bullet hitting him (after thorough exertion helping evacuate)... and he was further exhausted during his Taking the Bullet action, not able to think/react beyond instinct.
The film provides a decent (in universe) reason for Bruce to not be involved in Captain America: Civil War. In the comics Civil War, Hulk was absent because he was blasted into space after Tony and others decided he was too dangerous. For the MCU, this needed to be simplified for storytelling and time, but they still made Hulk’s departure from the ongoing story occur in symmetry with a just-as-heartbreaking twist. Comic-wise: after saving the day from a dangerous man-made A.I., Hulk finds himself alone in a spacecraft flying where no one will ever find him. A video screen of people he trusts tell him they’re sending him away, never to be seen again. The film’s explanation? After saving the day from a dangerous man-made A.I., Hulk finds himself alone in an aircraft flying where no one will ever find him. A video screen of a person he trusts tells him to come back. He turns it off, and disappears into self-imposed exile out of guilt. The next we see of him is in Thor: Ragnarok, where he's a gladiator on Sakaar, in a storyline that is an adaptation of Planet Hulk.
Nat's best friend is a man with a loving wife and kids, and given the timeline, Clint was probably married when they met. Remember the vague sexual tension in the first film? It's not that Nat isn't attracted to him, she just knows she can't have him. In fact, being constantly reminded of the fact that she can't have kids hurts every time she visits, which may be part of the reason Clint doesn't talk about his personal life in front of her. Heck, she probably feels she doesn't deserve the love of a good man. Which explains why she was trying to set up Cap with so many women in TWS, despite clearly looking pleased when he said that she probably looked good in bikinis despite her scar. That may play into why she went after Banner — nice as he is, he's got WAY too many issues to actually reciprocate.
Or that she realizes that Banner is, in his own way, just as broken as she is. They can be happily broken together.
Finding out Clint is a family man puts many things in the first movie in a new light. When Coulson calls to tell Natasha that "Barton's been compromised", he sounds almost choked up, which is strange in that they don't seem to have been close in his brief appearance in Thor and Clint had no reaction to Coulson's death later. Coulson also had to have seen fellow agents captured or killed before. It can only be because he knows that Clint has a wife and two kids that he would get so emotional about it. He probably even met them (especially given the later reveal about Laura's backstory).
As the Avengers are still up and running by the end of the film, it would seem that the public and government never learned that Stark and Banner were the ones who created Ultron. Odd considering the government would of course have questions about where he came from. However, it would be quite easy for the Avengers to frame Ultron as a HYDRA creation; he first appeared around the time Strucker was defeated, his army and technology came from HYDRA's base in Sokovia, he used the Twins (given powers by HYDRA) as his minions, he did business with Klaue, one of Strucker's contacts, the scepter that created him was in HYDRA's possession for over a year, and both Strucker and List are too dead to attest otherwise.
One of the first things Ultron does when he gets loose is spread all over the internet. And in doing so, what plan does he come up with for destroying the world? Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies.
Ultron builds his second batch of bodies from components in the destroyed HYDRA base, which is full of hardware that HYDRA's agents took from S.H.I.E.L.D. when they were secretly running that organization. Gee, wonder where his decision to rain mass death from above on any and all potential enemies could have come from?
Location:
Cap and Nick Fury's choice of moving the new Avengers HQ to Upstate New York not only harkens back somewhat to Cap's old days in the U.S. Army. But also marks his symbolically taking over leadership of the Avengers from Iron Man.
Also, moving the HQ upstate seems a good choice, as the Avengers probably wanted to avoid damage to civilians when their base is under attack. After all, the Iron Man — Hulk fight must have been bad for their publicity.
Even though Ultron early on manages to spread out across the internet, not many people outside of the Avengers themselves and those physically attacked by him seem to notice the impending crisis. On the other hand, given how J.A.R.V.I.S. spends much of the film keeping Ultron from accessing nuclear launch codes, it's very possible that J.A.R.V.I.S. also tried to minimize the damage of the Big Bad's online rampaging.
The New Avengers consisting of second-stringers Falcon and War Machine, and new heroes Scarlet Witch and Vision. This is consistent with the comics, where the Avengers alternate between being Marvel's Justice League and being a showcase for lesser-known heroes.
The heartwarming moment of Natasha shown to be "Auntie Nat" and her interaction with Clint's children swiftly becomes heartwrenching with the revelation 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.
Natasha and Bruce — they haven't actually been Strangled by the Red String. It may seem like it, but after a closer look, not so much:
At no point did they actually upgrade their relationship. At most they've had a heart-to-heart talk about the subject, some gazes, and a surprise kiss (initiated by Natasha) in the middle of a serious situation, but that's it.
The vast majority of the crushing is one-sided, via Natasha — and consider this: she's been trained as a child spy, been through terrible conditioning and modifications (including forced sterilization), and her job was a very amoral field, without much room for emotions. Even after having been among friends, she's one of the more stoic people you could know... so it's very unlikely she knows what loves feels like. Sure, she can act it, but the actual feeling eludes her. One way or another, Natasha seems to be "in love" with the idea of being in love, but isn't actually herself.
Bruce himself doesn't know she's flirting with him until it's outright stated, and even after then, doesn't show much enthusiasm for the idea because of several issues, including at the end when they might all die. In addition, Natasha's 'calming down' The Hulk, while done almost lovingly, is compounded by the fact that Banner doesn't remember anything while having been Hulked Out — they are two separate entities after all, even if one is the form of Banner's inner rage.
Banner is outwardly a terrifying monster, while Natasha puts on the most harmless appearance possible. Inwardly, Banner is possibly the most moral and honest guy on the team and Natasha has a hopelessly screwed up moral compass due to her upbringing in the Red Room and work as an assassin and spy. She probably wasn't looking for a boyfriend as much as she was looking for a Morality Chain.
It's been pointed out that she chose the one guy among the Avengers who would actually prefer to run from a fight. Moreover, she's spent a great deal of her life seducing men, and picks the one guy who physically cannot have sex with her.
Falcon not appearing in the final battle has been met with some fan outcry and may not make sense in lieu of his joining the team at the end but there is a possibly legitimate reason for it. While Fury brought in Rhodey, a military officer who he could get quick access to while on base or track down easily if on assignment because of his armor, he may not have had the time to track down Sam, who mentions that he has been searching for Bucky and may have been in the middle of doing so when the invasion went down.
There's a lot of clues in the movie to explain Ultron's erratic behavior and why he went rogue.
A) Tony used Loki's Scepter AKA the Mind Stone to create the basis of Ultron's consciousness. He didn't predict how fast Ultron, an A.I. based on alien algorithms, would develop compared to J.A.R.V.I.S., a human-created A.I. Ultron is, essentially, a child with genius-level intelligence WAY beyond his age, and he acquired knowledge without the sensorial and emotional maturity needed to handle it. Upon birth, he immediately starts asking questions and seeking answers. There are other fiction works on A.I.s going rogue because their missions conflict with mission parameters; Ultron simply went mad from the revelation. Vision, on the other hand, was created from J.A.R.V.I.S. J.A.R.V.I.S., while inferior in potential to Ultron, is Older and Wiser. Also, he has the Mind Stone, whereas Ultron's psyche was merely based on it. All of this gives Vision far more maturity and mental stability than Ultron.
B) Tony and J.A.R.V.I.S. severely underestimated how fast Ultron's mind would develop. If they had kept Ultron isolated from the Internet and database on an offline computer or server, Ultron likely wouldn't have Gone Mad from the Revelation, because he would have time, peace and quiet to adapt until he reached J.A.R.V.I.S.' level of mental maturity.
C) Ultron's mind was based on some algorithms of the Scepter/ Mind Stone mixed with human A.I. technology. Quite likely, these two technology and programming types are in conflict (i.e. trying to run an old and outdated software in an advanced computer that no longer uses or recognizes it). Vision, on the other hand, has all of the Mind Stone, plus J.A.R.V.I.S. as base for his personality. He doesn't have conflicting programming and algorithms like Ultron may have.
It does leave the question of why Vision isn't affected as far we've seen. Maybe it was the Scepter's blue orb the Stone was stored in that directed it to influence others, not the Stone itself. Note that whenever the scepter was used to brainwash someone or shoot laser, it emitted a blue aura, instead of the Stone's natural bright yellow, which Vision displays.
This becomes even more likely with the events of Infinity War, which reveals that Thanos already knew who Tony Stark is, even calling him by name, suggesting that he has been aware of events on Earth all along. The idea that he planned for something like Ultron to happen makes sense when you think about it: he had to have known that, should the Chitauri attack fail and the humans get their hands on the scepter, they would have a powerful weapon which they might be able to use against him. So what would he be likely to do? Booby-trap it, so that they ended up destroying themselves with their meddling. Fortunately, however, this didn't work out as planned either. Fine. He'll do it himself.
Ultron reveals his similarity to Tony when he tells Klaue a saying that Tony also used, but it's not the only time this happens in the film: Ultron refers to children as "smaller people", and later Tony refers to Clint's kids as "smaller agents". The difference being that Ultron genuinely forgot the word, while Tony was trying to cover his ass because he'd told the others that the place was a safe-house. Fittingly, this also ties in with Ultron's personality, as he dislikes being compared to Tony, despite often using the same phrases and logic, perhaps unintentionally.
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 The Avengers.
Hawkeye is also a seasoned S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, who has undoubtedly been given training and conditioning to make him more mentally resilient than the average person, to help protect against torture and other forms of mental compromise. He'd certainly bounce back quicker than a scientific non-combatant.
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 equipmentnote Natasha gets some enhancements to her suit's electric taser system, and highly improved shock batons. Cap gets the old leather straps swapped for an electromagnetic gauntlet system to more easier throw, catch, and retrieve his shield in the chaos of battle. Barton gets a 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. 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's journey to becoming an Avenger parallels that of Tony's; 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 to Wanda 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.
Ultron built his first set of bodies out of damaged Iron Legion drones, so why was the 'primary' body in such terrible shape, while the others were in perfect working condition? Simple: It wasn't the 'primary' body; It was the 'distraction' body. The purpose of that attack was to escape with the Scepter, so he had to have as many fully-functioning bodies as possible; The left-over pieces were used for a body which did nothing but talk while the others got into position.
Banner's more active fear of the Hulk's destructive capabilities in this movie make even more sense when you remember that, back in The Incredible Hulk, 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 seems drawn to human women. Wanda serves as a slight Morality Pet for him, he calls Dr. Cho a "remarkable woman" and shows genuine admiration for her intelligence, and rather than killing Black Widow, he merely gloats about his plans and intimidates her. Perhaps this a manifestation of Tony's womanizing tendencies?
Keeping Black Widow alive could also be a manifestation of Tony's arrogance and his need to show off. Ultron can't just "save" humanity, he needs someone to see him do it. He originally had the Maximoff twins for that, but they turned against him, so he took Black Widow and locked her in a cage, just so he'd have someone to gloat/show off to. Tony's showmanship twisted into something much less benign. Imagine this exchange between Tony and Steve in The Avengers about Loki, but with every instance of Loki switched for "Ultron":
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? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered... all over... sonofabitch.
This trait of Ultron's clearly was one of the things that managed to get transferred into Vision's body before Dr. Cho shut down the process, explaining why Vision first looks at Wanda when he's first brought to life.
The Bruce/Natasha relationship seemed to come out of nowhere, considering how little tension there seemed to be between them before this and how terrified Nat was of Bruce (because of the Hulk) in the first film. It starts to make more sense, though, when you realize that Nat is the sort of person to confront her fears and figure out how to use scary people to her advantage.
It's also ironic that a professional seductress goes after a man she can't have sex with, ever. Heck, she can't even make out. Maybe she goes after him because he's resistant to her usual tricks.
Ultron changes his goal from forcibly evolving humanity to simply destroying and replacing it after the second act of the film. However, he only did so after the twins abandon him due to horror at his planned genocide. Perhaps he realized that any humans who survived his meteor crash wouldn't be accepting of his plan and he needed to take more drastic action to achieve peace in the world.
As an expansion of the main page's entry, Ultron's birth and death are perfect Book Ends.
Ultron is born. J.A.R.V.I.S. tries to reason with him, but Ultron attacks him, leading to J.A.R.V.I.S.' death.
Ultron's first body is a heavily damaged Iron Legion drone, with a prominently missing left arm.
Ultron wins his first fight against the Avengers, thanks in large part because Wanda incapacitates them.
Ultron loses his final fight with the Avengers, with Wanda striking the finishing blow to his main body by ripping out his power core.
Ultron is reduced to one body, which is heavily damaged, with a prominently missing left arm.
Vision (J.A.R.V.I.S.' successor/next incarnation) tries to reason with Ultron, but Ultron attacks him, prompting Vision to vaporize him.
The Ultron Sentries' lack of sturdiness actually makes sense. Not only did Ultron mass-produce them with a limited amount of materials in a short time-span, but they're meant to be nothing but disposable cannon fodder for Ultron's primary body.
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 (and subsequently Vision's) affinity for her could be viewed as the film's version of his Oedipus Complex.
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.
Wanda is shown flying only in her last scene, but looks quite distressed and not particularly good at it. Considering that only Vision's intervention saved her from dying in Sokovia, it's likely something that just recently she started using, and she's still training. On a side note, why wouldn't she develop it sooner? She always relied on her brother's power for transportation, never needing to develop some of her own. Even in Sokovia, they planned on Pietro carrying her to bring both to safety. And now that Pietro is dead, she can't do it anymore.
Quicksilver's competence against firearms gradually worsens over the course of the film.
First, he manages to disarm Ulysses Klaue and disassemble his gun without a shot being fired
While trying to prevent the Vision's birth, he is caught off-guard by Hawkeye shooting the floor out from beneath him.
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 grazes his left arm.
Finally, his heroic sacrifice involves soaking up minigun rounds aimed at Hawkeye.
Vision is a literal Deus ex Machina; a god-like being given life by human technology.
Natasha calling herself a monster wasn't because she was sterilized, it was because of what she had done to get sterilized. After the Hulk's rampage in Johannesburg, one could understand why Banner wouldn't want to see "the other guy" as anything less than a monster, but really, the Hulk is more akin to a force of nature, like a tsunami or a hurricane. They both kill, but they are indiscriminate about it in their unstoppable rampage. Natasha considers herself more of a monster because, while she hasn't killed as many people as the Hulk likely did, she knew most, if not all of them, inside and out. Assassins pride themselves on getting to know their targets and their actions, to ensure success. Natasha would have killed a number of good people, and she would have to deal with ending them. In essence, the Hulk has the deaths of a thousand unnamed souls on his hands, while Romanoff has a hundred named souls on hers, which is arguably worse.
Rhodey's story early on has another purpose — foreshadowing the raw strength of the Iron Man suits. He says it can take the weight of a tank, and this is borne out in the climax, where Tony helps carry a full lifeboat full of people onto the Helicarrier after Ultron disables it. Also, on a more minor note, it might also be to establish that no amount of physical force or strength can lift Mjolnir if one is not worthy (as Tony and Rhodey use two Iron Man gauntlets simultaneously to no avail).
During Tony's visit to the Nexus, all the blinking lights in the background are either Ultron-blue or J.A.R.V.I.S.-gold, hinting at J.A.R.V.I.S.' survival.
Pietro's candy stealing while the twins are failing to strongarm Klaue isn't just to show his childishness. It's shown that he gets tired pretty quickly when using his powers. Candy contains sugar, which can replenish stamina. His fast movements are also akin to someone having a sugar rush.
Tony says that Thor doesn’t get why the Earth needs a defense system. While all the Avengers are superhuman fighters, he is a legitimate businessman and so has a strong place in the civilian world, unlike the others (an alien demigod, a man out of time with no connection to anyone outside the Avengers, two master assassins, and a guy who's been on the run for years). So he can understand humanity’s frailty and need for a security system better than his fellow Avengers. It's further cemented by his saying this to Thor, an Asgardian, who comes from a world which has a defense system that (until recently) hadn't been breached in decades, if not centuries.
Also, Tony, as a former weapons merchant, has more of an interest in building and using weaponry than any of the others.
Cap inviting the Normandy vets to the Avengers party is at first seen to be simply him being a Nice Guy 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.
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, and for most of the film we attribute it to Hawkeye and Black Widow's Dark and Troubled Past, but it isn't. It's him realizing that Ultron might know about his 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, “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 Avengers'/the US’s POV, a first-world country with money to spare who is not ravaged by war. Clearly, radicalized people are frustrated with the United States government and will go to any lengths to get back at them, so it makes sense that the audience would view them as the villains of this story. However, if the movie were told from the perspective of the citizens of Sokovia, Wanda and Pietro would be considered the heroes 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 woman even pulls her younger brother 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...
Steve Rogers: Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?
...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 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).
A plainly visible detail foreshadowing the Maximoffs' Heel–Face Turn is the fact that for hardened criminals (at least as their files paint them), they never really act like hardened criminals, especially not Wanda.
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 and begins toying with Clint, while Wanda hides in the base until Steve is about to capture 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.
Even in the very first scene, you see them holding hands, and Wanda nervously chewing her nails. Immediately after that we get a close up of their faces, showing the two of them looking scared when they hear that the base is under attack. They aren’t out there actively hunting the Avengers down, even though they're the people they seek to target as allies of the man they blame for their parents' deaths. They’re waiting for orders, because they don’t really know what they’re doing. They’re frightened of what’s about to happen. They’re both in way over their heads.
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 retreating 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.
As Vision first emerges from the cradle, he looks at someone. The fact that the camera first cuts to Wanda would suggest that she's the first person he notices. Only then does he notice the other Avengers around the room, before finally focusing on Thor in front of him. It's very much possible that being powered by the Mind Stone—which is also what enhanced Wanda's magic—is a factor. Before his actual eyesight kicks in, he might only be able to see the energy glow around her. Also note that Wanda touched his consciousness when he was still in the cradle and about to be used as a body for Ultron, so it's also possible Vision's subconscious recognized her as familiar from that brief contact. Whatever the case, Vision immediately "imprints" in a way with Wanda, enough that he's able to track her down and find her as Novi Grad is being wiped out.
In this moment of imprinting, Wanda is also able to read Ultron's thoughts. Even though he disconnected himself from the cradle moments later, it's clear that Wanda formed a telepathic link to Ultron's main body as well in this moment, which would explain how she was able to find him later during the chase scene in Seoul; and in the climax, how she was able to find him so quickly after Hulk knocked him out of the Quinjet.
A deleted scene shows Pietro distributing stolen food, medicine and clothes on the streets to other Novi Grad citizens, just before he and Wanda are summoned by Ultron to the church. It's later revealed in the eighth episode of WandaVision that their father sold bootleg DVD boxsets of American TV shows on the streets. Meaning Pietro took up after his father, though steered away from sitcoms because they were traumatic reminders of the night their parents died.
The first thing Ultron does upon coming to life is attack JARVIS, who is voiced by Paul Bettany. In his obsession with the human form, Ultron seeks to transfer his consciousness to a vibranium synthezoid body that is physically portrayed by Paul Bettany. JARVIS left enough of an impression on Ultron that he decided that his humanoid body needed to look like the physical form of the actor who supplied JARVIS's voice.
Steve is the first person to accept the Maximoffs as Avengers. The twins were the subject of experimentation by HYDRA...much like Bucky Barnes, who was already getting experimented on when Steve liberated him and the other Howling Commandos from HYDRA captivity, and who later got experimented on further to be turned into the Winter Soldier.
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. Steve had him on the ropes.
In fact, the very reason why Steve was struggling against Ultron there could be because they were on a speeding train, and subconsciously, he remembers that the last time he had a fight on a speeding train (during the mission to capture Zola), he lost Bucky.
Don't forget, at the very beginning of the movie, he highlighted their similarities. "What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country?" Even before he properly met them, he recognized some of himself in them.
Vision's name shows his place as the middle ground between Tony's two A.I.s. He's JARVIS uploaded into a body that was being built for Ultron.
Ultron's fascination with meteors and extinction level events could very well be because vibranium, the material he uses to build the anti-gravity drill and his final main body, came to Earth in a meteorite.
While Tony's worry over another alien invasion is obviously sparked by Wanda's Mind Rape 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 contributor beyond that would be the events of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. Ego's expansion would have most likely gotten a file in the Avengers facility and took place a year before Age of Ultron. It could have very well been something that could have contributed to his worry because if 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.
Right before Tony throws the Hulk into the building in Johannesburg, he fires four missiles, which hit four different structural points that cause it to collapse in a way that minimizes the overall collateral damage and loss of life that the fight has already brought. Shows just how smart he is in a way that could easily be missed.
The Barton farmhouse is located in Iowa, the Hawkeye State.
The reveal in Hawkeye that 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 A Ks. Well, Natasha is a highly trained elite assassin, and would probably know where to aim to take it down. The Sokovian police are likely just beat cops, used to dealing with petty criminals, and, despite their bravery, aren't really trained to fight killer robots.
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 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. Dottie Underwood in Agent Carter, 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.
Also, in both fiction and real-life, mothers have been shown to be willing 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 Widows' allegiance to the Red Room.
The stinger reveals that Thanos is no longer willing to take a backseat in collecting the Infinity Stones. Vision has an Infinity Stone installed in his head, which means he's now on Thanos' hit list.
Ascended in Infinity War, where Thanos succeeds in killing Vision by ripping out the stone from his head.
Natasha and sacrifice:
When 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 beautiful clouds are shown. When you think of how her line and the shot are connected, it implies that Natasha believes in The Nothing After Death or thinks she would be unworthy to go to Heaven after she died, which adds a lot of new context to her death in Avengers: Endgame.Fridge Brilliance in that the Soviet government was militantly atheist and that would have been part of her and Yelena's 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, it's not because Natasha doesn't want to know, it's because she thinks she already knows; the answer is "no".
When Hawkeye shoots out the glass upon which Quicksilver is standing, we are treated the latter's slow contemplation of the moving bullet. Since he was moving in super-speed while saving Hawkeye 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.
This film adds a new level to how crappy things were in The Avengers (2012). That staff Loki was using? It's an Infinity Stone. And it was on loan from Thanos, just like the Power Stone was loaned to Ronan.
Banner was betrayed by his closest ally. Everyone knows that Banner hates turning into the Hulk; he doesn't even refer to his alter ego by name when he can help it. He's always been worried that someone will try to weaponize him. Natasha does both in a single move. The Avengers may have needed the Hulk to win the day, but the way she invoked the transformation was gut-wrenching. It's going to take a long time for Banner to trust anyone ever again; until then, he'll hide out in the small places of the world, hopefully never to be seen again.
Natasha: I adore you. [kisses Banner, then shoves him off a cliff] Natasha: ...but I need the other guy.
What's Banner going to think when he finds out that Scarlet Witch, who deliberately unleashed the worst Hulk rampage yet, has actually been accepted onto the team in his absence?
In Avengers: Infinity War, when Bruce finally returned to Earth, he fortunately didn't seem to have any objections to Wanda joining the Avengers, mainly because due to Thanos' arrival, he had other, more pressing matters on his mind. All that said, Wanda being snapped out of existence for five years just days later may have been a major Conflict Killer; by the end of Avengers: Endgame when she's brought back, Bruce has been through too much to continue holding any grudge against her.
It's not a happy fate for Natasha either. When the chips were down, the world needed an operative and assassin more than a reformed agent. To that end, she betrayed him for all the right reasons, but it's still getting close to a mark and betraying him at the right moment like she's been trained to do all her life. In the end, she can't escape being a monster any more than Banner can.
Wanda set the whole plot in motion when she used mind control on Tony. Ultron, the weaponization of her hometown, her brother's death — all set into motion by her. If she hasn't realized this yet, she will later.
Wanda and Pietro's main hatred for Tony was rooted in a Stark bomb killing their parents and nearly killing them. This makes Wanda's Mind Rape of Tony understandable, if not justified, and played on Tony's ego combined with his fears and sense of responsibility. Going after Bruce, however, was a low blow, because she compelled Bruce to hurt many innocents, in other words doing exactly what Stark's brand proxy did to her and her family. She thinks this is okay but Ultron exterminating all of humanity isn't, and despite Bruce really wanting to make her pay for that, he has no choice but to accept her help because they need as many people as possible fighting the killer robot.
Considering this and everything in the example just above this one, it makes Wanda's breakdown in the opening act of Captain America: Civil War even more understandable.
Tony probably learned the twins' story, knows it was his weaponry (and centerpiece of his fortune) that set them on the path of Revenge, and is likely going to blame himself for it.
Bruce's gradual unhinging throughout the film is unsettling, especially after being afflicted by Wanda's powers in which he goes on a rampage throughout the city and nearly kills thousands of civilians. Later, when he and Tony are confronted by Steve, Pietro, and Wanda (the latter two who both went under a Heel–Face Turn), Bruce outright states he is ready to throttle Wanda for mind-raping him, and that he is going to do it without transforming. When Steve and Pietro take on Tony, Wanda rushes to jump in until Bruce comes from behind and places her in a chokehold, then he invites her to do something about it. The implication seeming to be that if she hurt him trying to get out of it, he would transform into the Hulk while already tightly holding her neck and head. Pop.
Look at just how quick each of the Avengers becomes angry with one another, and without the presence of the Scepter to influence them, not to mention how fractured they are as a team.
Steve is becoming more and more of a Blood Knight because of HYDRA's continued existence, and true to their creed, cutting off one head, two more take its place thus far, meaning now he's always looking for the next fight, and if there isn't one or he isn't preparing for one, he feels he has no purpose.
Natasha is still haunted by her past as an spy/assassin, and the loads of horrible memories she has to deal with, that she feels at times as being the Token Evil Teammate, she'll never be able to have the normal life she wishes she could have.
Tony still hasn't quite completely gotten over the PTSD nightmare-inducing events of the Battle of New York, and is quick to try and take all of this on his own and make risky, misguided attempts at protecting others.
Thor is justifiably pissed that humanity is still trying to mess with powers outside of their control, powers that he's already seen them corrupt his adopted brother, and he has to make sense of the vision of Hel, and the prophecy of an impending Ragnarok upon Asgard.
Banner will Hulk out if he absolutely must, but the events in Africa show that if he's brainwashed or Hulks out at the wrong time, innocent lives are put too easily in jeopardy and brings nothing but hatred and fear upon him and the team.
The only one we don't know for certain of, is Hawkeye, and that's because after the events of the first Avengers film, he possibly was put on long-term leave from S.H.I.E.L.D. to mentally recover. Now add the concerns about his family, and putting them in jeopardy or him dying are on his mind, while also trying to play the role of the heart of the team. And on top of all that, imagine what he went through if he received reports from Nick Fury, Maria Hill, Black Widow and other trusted allies about HYDRA hiding within S.H.I.E.L.D. while on leave, feeling as though it was another moment of him not being able to fight with his allies when he was needed most.
Thor was intending to take the scepter to Asgard, had Ultron not been created. Knowing that Loki is impersonating Odin, things may had not gotten pretty for the Asgardians.
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 bazillions of porn pages and shock sites, death threats based on opposing ideologies, Ashley Madison... and TV Tropes. No wonder that he thinks that, as a species, we are a hopeless case and deserve extinction.
Ultron is shown assembling his main body before interrupting the party... meaning he purposefully chose to assemble one out of all the damaged parts of the Iron Legion as the first one that'd have been seen.
While they were given a Race Lift, the fact that Wanda & Pietro, two characters who have always been Jewish-Romani and children of two Holocaust survivors in the comics, willingly volunteer for a neo-Nazi organization like HYDRA, is really disturbing. It's mitigated somewhat by the fact that they thought they were signing up for SHIELD, but not entirely.
When we're shown the flashback visions of Natasha's "graduation ceremony," there's a gurney, doctors, and trays of surgical instruments...but no evidence of any kind of anesthetic.
When one stops and thinks very deeply about it, Ultron's real power isn't his robotic legions. It's that he is Tony Stark with all of Tony's personality traits - his genius, his impulsiveness, even his warped concepts of humor and camaraderie and compassion (Ultron did genuinely care for the Maximoffs in his own deranged way) - all dialed up so high even Ultron himself isn't sure what he is going to do at any given moment.
Wanda Maximoff: Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?
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 Riddle for the Ages because even Ultron himself probably couldn't tell you the answer to that. What If…? (2021) gives us a possible answer...and it's not pretty.
In retrospect, Age of Ultron is the movie where Tony's true self comes to form.
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” when trying to convince him to put Jarvis into Ultron's new body when Bruce is apprehensive and thinks it would lead to another 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.
Another really important line that sums up how Tony’s character works from here until his death in Avengers: Endgame is what Wanda says to Steve in relation to Tony and Ultron.
Wanda Maximoff: Ultron can't tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that?
Whether it be the fact that Tony is a billionaire and doesn’t understand the concept of facing repercussions for his actions since he can buy his way out of problems, or his untreated mental illness that he refuses to seek treatment for, Tony has always walked the line between creating things as a benefit to society and becoming a detriment to society, and it’s shown from the first two Iron Man movies. While he built the very first Iron Man suit for the sake of getting him out of capture, the creation of more of them is what continues to bring problems for both the team and for those in Tony's personal life. Iron Man 2 established that Tony’s tech is actually not that difficult to recreate if someone has the time and resources. And like the Iron Man suits, things like Ultron and the Sokovia Accords are cases of something that starts off good and may look good on paper, but with continued use and pushing of boundaries ends up becoming the antithesis of what it's meant to do.
"Mengele’s handsome physical appearance, fastidious dress, and calm demeanor seemingly contradicted his attraction to murder and gruesome experiments." Strucker is portrayed by Thomas Kretschmann.
"His ability to elude capture increased his notoriety." Strucker is notoriously difficult to catch.
"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 WandaVision that Wanda didn't get her powers from the Mind Stone, she already had them.
Mengele was noted for treating twins, or as they were often called, “Mengele’s children,” differently than other prisoners. Notice how Klaue calls the Maximoff twins "Strucker's prized pupils".
"Though they suffered through medical experiments, the twins were often allowed to keep their hair and allowed to keep their own clothes." Notice that Wanda and Pietro each have a fairly decent sized wardrobe.
"Mengele’s presence did not necessarily cause fear in the children. He was often known to appear with pockets full of candy and chocolates, to pat them on the head, talk with them, and sometimes even play. Many of the children, especially the younger ones, called him “Uncle Mengele.”" This puts Klaue taunting the twins by offering them candy in a much darker light.
"… the twins underwent various medical experiments. Mengele kept his exact reasoning for his experiments a secret. Many of the twins that he experimented on weren’t sure for what purpose the individual experiments were for, or what exactly what was being injected or done to them."
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.
"The autopsies became the final experiment. [Dr. Miklos Nyiszli] performed autopsies on twins who had died from the experiments or who had been purposely killed just for after-death measurements and examination."
Ultron: I had wondered why only you two had survived Strucker's experiments.
In the last episode of WandaVision, Agatha Harkness notes that there's an entire chapter dedicated to Wanda in the 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 mind-raped Tony and let him take 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 "Screw Destiny."
In fact, the eighth episode of What If…? (2021) makes clear that Wanda might have done the most heroic deed of any character in the movie when she disrupted Ultron's attempt to download himself into Vision's body. If she wasn't there to do that, he would've gone on to destroy the Avengers, nuke the Earth, kill Thanos for the remaining five Infinity Stones, then wipe out all sapient life in the universe. And when that was done, he'd set his sights on doing the same thing to the rest of the Multiverse.
Wanda mind-raping Bruce into becoming the Hulk. We don't know what memory caused the transformation, but clearly it wasn't pretty.
Steve's "sometimes my teammates don't tell me things" line is pretty hypocritical. Keep in mind that while Steve never knew for absolute sure that Bucky killed Tony's parents, he does have his suspicions and hasn't told Tony for a whole year at this point while admonishing Tony for keeping his own secrets. It is very possible that Tony remembered this following Civil War. This could certainly go even further into his reluctance to contact Steve until he absolutely had to.
Steve is portrayed as needing war. However, this isn't him being a Blood Knight. It's worth bearing in mind that he was 25 when he signed up for Erskine's experiment, and has spent the rest of his twenties at war, either as part of the Howling Commandos or the Avengers. Between that and losing literally everyone he knew when he went into the ice (and having, at most, six months to adjust to living in a new world prior to joining the Avengers), is it any wonder he feels like there's nothing left of Steve Rogers, and Captain America is all that's left?
, one of the Nazi scientists who experimented on Jewish victims who had been sent to the concentration camp at Auschwitz, and who was known for his fascination with twins. There are lots of parallels between Strucker and Mengele that are hinted at in Wanda and Pietro’s backstory.