After my recent the MCU timeline has come, it's impressive just how much heavy lifting Avengers: Age of Ultron actually did for the universe.
Marvel has a big release slate in 2025 and beyond, but it is nice to look back on when the universe was trying to find its footing. There were growing pains trying to figure out what direction to take it, but when Phase 3 hit, and the MCU saw success after massive success, all the groundwork laid before is a big reason why. Avengers: Age of Ultron is one of those movies that had to weather the growing pains, and revisiting it reaffirms its place as not only one of the best MCU movies, but one of the most important.
Age Of Ultron Had The Weakest Box Office For Avengers Movies
Astonishingly, A Billion Dollars Was A Comparative Disappointment
When The Avengers came out in 2012, it shattered all expectations, making over $200 million in its opening weekend for a then record. It then went on to make over $1.5 billion worldwide, cementing it as one of the high grossing movies of all time. Avengers: Age of Ultron actually made less in its opening weekend, which typically doesn't happen with Marvel sequels, bringing in $191 million to an eventually worldwide total of $1.39 billion.
Avengers Movies at the Box Office |
||
|---|---|---|
Movie |
Year |
Worldwide Gross |
Avengers: Age of Ultron |
2015 |
$1,395,316,979 |
The Avengers |
2012 |
$1,515,100,211 |
Avengers: Infinity War |
2018 |
$2,048,359,754 |
Avengers: Endgame |
2019 |
$2,748,242,781 |
That number stands out even more after Avengers: Infinity War made over $2 billion, and Avengers: Endgame briefly became the highest grossing movie of all time with over $2.7 billion worldwide. One movie had to be the lowest and that fell to Avengers: Age of Ultron. Despite the financial downturn from The Avengers, the sequel's box-office is still incredibly respectable as it sits as the fifth highest grossing MCU movie, behind the other Avengers films and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
It Set Up So Much Of The MCU Going Forward
The Shockwaves Of Ultron's Attack Are Still Felt In Phase 5
At the time, one of the big criticisms of Avengers: Age of Ultron was that it tried to set up too much going forward, with various of the Avengers splitting off to set up their own films. Looking back on it now, it actually set the stage for a lot that the MCU would explore in Phase 3 and the lead-up into Avengers: Infinity War, with arguably the most important being the initial seeds being planted for Captain America: Civil War. In fact, most of Tony Stark's motivations going forward come from his vision that Scarlet Witch showed him.
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Although the tone of the film ended up being much different, Thor's motivations to return to Asgard to stop its destruction sets up Thor: Ragnarok alongside Bruce Banner deciding to leave Earth at the end of the film. Hawkeye's family is introduced, which leads into one of the most heart-wrenching scenes in the MCU during the opening of Avengers: Endgame, and it at least attempted to give Natasha Romanoff some more depth. It's messy, but it did a lot to shape the MCU as a whole. Wanda Maximoff and Vision became a significant part of the universe after appearing here.
Age Of Ultron Is Better Than People
Time Has Been A Lot Kinder To The Avengers' First Sequel Than You Might Imagine
As time goes on, I personally feel Avengers: Age of Ultron is one of the strongest MCU movies overall, at least when it comes to Avengers films. It easily looks the best of the Avengers franchise, as well, with some of the most gorgeous looking CGI the universe has ever had. What really helps elevate Avengers: Age of Ultron is all the interactions the characters have with each other. They all feel distinct, and the party scene is one of the best things to ever come out of the MCU.
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The biggest flaw of Avengers: Age of Ultron is the titular villain. The trailers for the film promised something much darker than what came before, but the final product felt different in tone, especially Ultron, whose personality was essentially modeled off Tony Stark, but it was his actions in Sokovia that helped shape some of the conflicts in future installments.
Avengers: Age of Ultron sits at 76% on Rotten Tomatoes, behind Avengers: Infinity War at 85%, The Avengers at 91%, and Avengers: Endgame at 94%.
Avengers: Age of Ultron honestly feels underrated at this point in the MCU, with fantastic performances, mostly great character interactions, and thrilling setpieces that truly help to set it apart, while also being so important to the MCU overall.
Avengers: Age of Ultron
- Release Date
- May 1, 2015
- Runtime
- 141 minutes
- Director
- Joss Whedon
Cast
Tony Stark / Iron Man
Thor
WHERE TO WATCH
Avengers: Age of Ultron, released in 2015, follows Earth's Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man and Captain America, as they contend with Ultron, a rogue AI with plans for global annihilation. This Marvel sequel sees The Avengers form uneasy alliances and embark on a perilous global adventure to thwart Ultron's schemes.
- Writers
- Joss Whedon
- Studio(s)
- Marvel Studios
- Distributor(s)
- Disney
- Budget
- 365 million USD
MCU Movies
Source: The Numbers
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