Episode #799: Avengers: Age of Ultron
Added 2025-05-06 04:00:04 +0000 UTC“Whedon at the line….oh, no, another brick!” - Steve, on the screenplay clunkers
On this week’s episode, the 2025 Summer Blockbuster Extravaganza kicks off with a trip to Franchise Town as we discuss the fun, Spader-tastic sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron! How great is James Spader with this Ultron performance? Are there too many characters in this fully-loaded movie? Should they have written mutant characters when they couldn’t use the word ‘mutant’ anywhere in the script? And would Ultron have been more menacing if he was given a big, mechanical mustache? PLUS: What in the world is going on with the Maximoffs’ accents here?
Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Cobie Smulders, Anthony Mackie, Hayley Atwell, Idris Elba, Linda Cardellini, Stellan Skarsgård, Claudia Kim, Thomas Kretschman, Andy Serkis, and James Spader as Ultron; directed by noted jerk, Joss Whedon.
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Original cover art by Felipe Sobreiro.
Comments
Universary-doo
Julien Schwab
2025-06-01 03:30:27 +0000 UTCHey guys, I’m new here. Great episode. The Paul Giamatti character bit had me in hysterics. I decided to watch AoU today. This movie would have dramatically improved if almost the entire first half hour didn’t exist and it started with the black screen and Ultron coming online and talking with JARVIS. Add a little bit more during that conservation about what the Iron Legion was. We get enough exposition during the party scene that Stark and Banner were secretly working on the Ultron project. All of the setup before that happens screams of a studio that still had the jitters after audiences accepted a space raccoon and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn all of the Hydra base/Strucker stuff was a giant reshoot. You don’t even need Stark’s nightmare to get the plot moving his mental state was already established during Iron Man 3. Sigh. Anyways it’s obvious why Whedon can’t find work anymore.
James D
2025-05-16 16:37:34 +0000 UTCJoss Whedon should do stand up
Bolo Santosi
2025-05-13 04:35:38 +0000 UTCHollywood issue 101 they just can't separate womanhood and motherhood. My frenemy James Cameron is up there.
Tala Hobballah
2025-05-10 21:53:18 +0000 UTCHi!!! Indica joint for y'all in solidarity. OK now IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN HAWKEYE HERE AND ENDGAME. That fucking demon.
Tala Hobballah
2025-05-10 21:52:43 +0000 UTCPeople are saying that Chris should calm down, but I'm just wondering where I go on Patreon to buy him an iced coffee for next week's recording 😁
Tim O'
2025-05-10 02:11:04 +0000 UTCGreat pod guys! So if the Avengers needed to stop every robot from leaving fucking Xanadu or whatever floating Island their on to stop Spader spreading, does this mean Ulrra-Spaderbot doesn’t come with WiFi and Bluetooth as standard?
Enrico Palazzo
2025-05-09 21:38:47 +0000 UTCI don't blame anyone for not remembering but at the end of the D+ She-Hulk series, Hulk introduces his CGI biological son Skaar.
Jake Kroker
2025-05-09 01:26:57 +0000 UTCEric was on fire this whole episode lmao
Miguel Sanchez
2025-05-08 04:47:43 +0000 UTCAwesome episode! Love the Scarlett 2 pack a day voice. One note: I checked and Johansson was pregnant with the kid she has with her second husband (Romain Dauriac) while filming this. Her kid with Jost is only like four or five years old.
Matthew Bolin
2025-05-08 04:06:24 +0000 UTCThere is a deleted scene that explains how the twins got to the marketplace... but it's pretty dreadful
RaggyB
2025-05-08 02:22:14 +0000 UTCThe Marv Albert impersonation sounds more like Don Patdo and now I wish Don Pardo had called some NBA games
James C Harris
2025-05-07 23:29:21 +0000 UTCHoly shit 8mm one of my favorite movies by one of my favorite directors. Saw that in theaters as a family with mom stepdad stepbrother and stepsister and none of us were prepared for that.
Infinite Terror
2025-05-07 23:08:55 +0000 UTCYes! That's also my strongest memory of this movie. Those two robots just keep mindlessly flying away with that truck was such a great piece of shitty editing.
Thomas Friedlander
2025-05-07 18:52:47 +0000 UTCNerd guy is from Captain America the winter soldier
Matthew Lloyd
2025-05-07 16:22:40 +0000 UTCListened to the episode yesterday with a fever, so relistening today is like getting two drops this week!
Matt
2025-05-07 13:32:55 +0000 UTCI’m gonna stand up for Agatha All Along. It’s the only Marvel show I managed to sit through since the pandemic and having it release around Halloween (whether coincidence or not) really helped the vibe.
HockeenightsCT
2025-05-07 12:27:46 +0000 UTCSorta James Spader ASMR Robert California as Ultron 😂🤣 https://youtu.be/Tf-_230SjbM?si=B1XBG0AQd6wa-M91
Jonathan Kimsey
2025-05-07 12:06:42 +0000 UTCGreat episode!!
Paul Heidtman
2025-05-07 10:41:29 +0000 UTCGreat episode!!
Paul Heidtman
2025-05-07 10:39:46 +0000 UTCJust need to say that the Scarlett Johansson impression is up there with Elon Musk, Christopher Lambert and Andrew Shue for being totally inaccurate yet instantly recognisable and utterly hilarious.
Craig
2025-05-07 10:39:08 +0000 UTCNot to be "that guy", but how does Steve not know Jack Kirby's wife's name was Roz
James C Harris
2025-05-07 00:52:31 +0000 UTCA Ghost Story is one of my favorite movies of all time so… in the words of Whedon, I understood that reference.
Rhea
2025-05-06 23:43:33 +0000 UTCI didn't mind it, but I do think Whedon severely beefed it with the whole "I feel like a monster too because I can't have kids" concept. Like...no, the idea is that they both lack bodily autonomy because of "the other guy"/what she went through in the Red Room and they've both been 'used' to commit harm, etc. It's not *just* the fertility part. Like, so close...but no.
Rose Esposito
2025-05-06 22:04:59 +0000 UTCand I was ON. BOARD. with that ship. I had at least one fic on my Kindle at one point. lmao
Rose Esposito
2025-05-06 22:02:50 +0000 UTCI don't remember the Cameron Klein guy getting much fandom shine but Hawkeye/Phil Coulson was a huge ship with absolutely insane amounts of fanfic to the point that some tumblr folks who were pissed that Hawkeye had a wife and kids. It was a wild time lol
arsonarsenal
2025-05-06 20:37:13 +0000 UTCUltron/Spader: There are no strings on me Me: There are no clothes on me
Eren Keskin
2025-05-06 20:31:43 +0000 UTCI didn't realise until this episode that when we catch back up with Hulk, he's totally living in a sexpad on Jeff Goldblum's junk planet. I guess the chance of breaking Black widow during sex was too dangerous, but some gleep glops? Collateral damage to Hulk getting his rocks off. Or, for Eric, Cum-lateral damage.
Jason
2025-05-06 20:05:47 +0000 UTCI think it's been good sense endgame. (Except for the marvels and half the d+ shows.)
Mark D Myers
2025-05-06 20:00:49 +0000 UTCLike them or not the Marvel movies are mostly entertaining. Always love your guys takes, it’s fun and keeps my work day moving.
Josh
2025-05-06 19:58:16 +0000 UTCSpader is far and away the best part of this movie
Robert
2025-05-06 19:53:19 +0000 UTCMy favorite part of the episode was Cabin saying, “Indood we do” when promoting Melro210
Rod
2025-05-06 19:27:09 +0000 UTCThe Prima Nocta line is one of the biggest “telling on yourself” moments in cinema history
BBB
2025-05-06 17:00:54 +0000 UTCYeah it’s wild but at least the pandemic caused studios to readjust their expectations.
Lar
2025-05-06 16:40:22 +0000 UTCThe studio may be afraid of intimacy but brother the fans sure aren’t. I’ve seen the mcu fans writing fan fic lololol. Idk, I just think Joss should have never been allowed to write women, a lot of are still in disbelief they thought Natasha comparing herself to a monster because she can’t have kids was a good idea. Black widow handled that whole thing a lot better, I think.
Lar
2025-05-06 16:38:40 +0000 UTCI feel like I'm the only one that liked the hulk/black widow pairing. If anyone other than whedon was responsible for that, it would've gone down better. Both of them feeling like weapons really works on paper. And then whedon did what he did best: he fucked everything up and made people hate him and his work. Jupin nailed it: you don't have to advertise that you're a feminist. Nice people don't tell you they are nice.
Jonathan Lyons
2025-05-06 16:27:36 +0000 UTCI really liked AOU as Ultron was a well done villian. James Spaders voice is just perfect. Why I gave Black list a chance too, dude does good villian.
Kureigu
2025-05-06 15:44:33 +0000 UTClol what legislation was I proposing on the episode? Sorry, we've recorded like 12 things since we laid this down! - Andrew
We Hate Movies
2025-05-06 15:27:57 +0000 UTCAll due respect, Steve, this is the worst fucking movie I've ever seen. God, I wanted to shoot myself in the face.
Brandon
2025-05-06 15:15:48 +0000 UTCWhy not give it a listen? Half the guys actually enjoy it and recommend people watch it? - Andrew
We Hate Movies
2025-05-06 13:57:21 +0000 UTCTo channel my inner Cabin, my anger or rage at the MCU comes from Thor 4. Gods are being killed left and right by Gorr and nothing of consequences happens to the universe at all. It would have been interesting to see Gorr kill the god of something and then see even just a cut away gag of the impact of that God being killed. Especially since it was a Taika Waititi directed movie and it would have fit in with his snip snap bullshit in that movie.
DMAC
2025-05-06 13:34:18 +0000 UTCAh yes, one of the infinity pills.
MarkNM
2025-05-06 12:59:11 +0000 UTCI say this with all the love I have for you guys: I winced when I saw the episode title. Something about doing MCU titles just sets everyone off
I'd Rather Have No Name
2025-05-06 12:49:33 +0000 UTCJoss Whedon was a +1 at my friends wedding and was there with a girl at least half his age. He was playing with a bubble machine.
Rod
2025-05-06 12:39:32 +0000 UTCI appreciate the Marv Albert impression.
Gary isabelle
2025-05-06 11:48:37 +0000 UTCI enjoyed Marvel movies that came after this (though I am struggling now) but I can also fully admit that this movie is where the wheel started to come off of the MCU. This one was a one and done for me utterly forgettable. The only thing I remember is a bunch of robots flying a semi truck and the audience laughing at it.
Michael Daniels
2025-05-06 10:49:47 +0000 UTCWhen it's unrelated to the movie at hand, I get it, but if they're signing up to listen to an avengers age of Ultron episode, I don't know what the fuck to tell them to expect
Michael Daniels
2025-05-06 10:48:46 +0000 UTC1 Cabin vs 100 reddit nerds. Now that's a matchup
Paterick Caddery
2025-05-06 10:35:05 +0000 UTCDefinitely not understanding the Redditors having a problem with Cabin getting worked up. Sorry, it's a feature, not a bug. You gotta accept every member of the WHM crew for all their good times and bad times. Not entirely sure why anyone would listen if one or more of the guys bothers someone *that* much.
Busiris
2025-05-06 07:27:51 +0000 UTCI enjoyed this one for the most part but holy hell is it over-stuffed.
David
2025-05-06 06:25:14 +0000 UTCCan someone give Cabin a Xanax
Chris Knutson
2025-05-06 05:03:48 +0000 UTCNever forget this is the first superhero movie to hit a billion dollars. From then on studios expected all of them to hit that billion dollar mark.
Jessica
2025-05-06 04:47:37 +0000 UTCis there a Todd Haynes exception to Andrew's legislation?
Convincing John
2025-05-06 04:38:23 +0000 UTCSun’s getting low, guys.
Paul
2025-05-06 04:16:15 +0000 UTCThis film just left me cold the moment I left the theater. I didnt hate but didnt love it either. The problem is that Whedon's bullshit clashed with Feige's horseshit here, as oppose to the 1st Avengers when they kept eachother in check. Here everything is overblown and you can see the weight of the MCU begin to slowly collapse in itself.
CharlesGrodin'sToupee
2025-05-06 04:09:35 +0000 UTCOoooo, this is gonna be a goodin!!! 😁
Evan
2025-05-06 04:04:33 +0000 UTCLet's goooo! Really looking forward to this one. Stayed up just to catch it when it dropped!
Joey T
2025-05-06 04:02:15 +0000 UTC
