James Spader will play villain Ultron in the new 'Avengers' movie
James Spader has been cast as the villain Ultron in the sequel 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron.' James Spader is also starring in the TV show 'The Blacklist.'
James Spader speaks at the Television Critics Association summer press tour.
Phil McCarten/Reuters
At San Diego Comic-Con, Marvel Studios came prepared with buzzworthy news and footage to share, but it was the end of their presentation that delivered the biggest surprise.聽The Avengers writer and director Joss Whedon took to the stage to unveil a teaser and the official logo for the highly anticipated sequel to his record-breaking superhero team-up and few in the audience were expecting it.
What was shown preceding聽 title card was footage of an Iron Man armored suit transforming into Ultron, the villainous robot and one of Earth鈥檚 Mightiest鈥檚 greatest foes. Little did we know that the voice and face of that character would be James Spader.
The man who played聽Dr. Daniel Jackson in the original聽Stargate film and more recently had a starring role in the latter seasons of聽The Office, also having worked with Disney in Steven Spielberg鈥檚 Oscar nominated Lincoln,聽is going to play the primary antagonist of聽The Avengers: Age of Ultron.
The news comes directly from Marvel who are continuing to embrace a trend of utilizing their own brand to promote internal news and the official casting is the second for聽The Avengers sequel having happily confirmed that Robert Downey Jr. had a few months earlier.
奥颈迟丑听Age of Ultron not beginning to shoot until next year, the timing of the casting announcement months before聽Thor: The Dark World hits theaters and while聽Captain America: The Winter Soldier 补苍诲听Guardians of the Galaxy is curious, if not timely. For the last week, headlines from both Disney-Marvel and rival studio Warner Bros./DC Entertainment have focused on high profile casting, with , having been confirmed to be in talks with Marvel while was officially announced to take on the iconic role of Batman in the聽Man of Steel sequel.
Since Affleck is official and the other Marvel-associated names are not, perhaps Marvel is attempting to turn the buzz back towards them with an official announcement of their own regarding their highest profile and most bankable upcoming project.
With a commanding voice and onscreen presence, coupled with his unique mannerisms, Spader is an unusual yet inspired choice. Yet, looking at his facial expression in the image from NBCs upcoming series聽The Blacklist above, Whedon made an appropriate and exciting selection. Our theories of Iron Man鈥檚 AI assistance Jarvis going rogue and the voice of the character (Paul Bettany) getting a chance to play Ultron is at least partly not going to be the case.
We know Spader鈥� Ultron is going to be a source of great pain and conflict for聽The Avengers and it鈥檚 becoming increasingly likely that one (or more?) of the heroes . Who will die? Did as his deadliest creation? Should the film be renamed聽The Avengers: Age of James Spader to better fit Whedon鈥檚 entirely for the character?
Rob Keyes blogs at .