Our James Spader Ultron Return Exclusive Confirmed
James Spader has been confirmed to be returning as Ultron for Armor Wars movie.
Two months ago, GIANT FREAKIN ROBOT exclusively broke the story that James Spader would return as Ultron for the Armor Wars movie. Now, our original report has been confirmed by r/MarvelStudiosSpoilers on Reddit.
Originally, Armor Wars was supposed to be a series on Disney+ led by Don Cheadle as War Machine. But, as is the nature of things with the MCU, things changed, and the series was canceled and revamped into a feature film. The movie is still expected to feature Don Cheadle, as well as Dominique Thorne as Iron Heart, and now we can expect to see James Spader return as the villain Ultron.
In the comic books, Ultron is one of the biggest baddies to ever come up against the Avengers. No matter how many times the superheroes defeat this AI beast, he always seems to return. Considering that he’s such a powerful foe, it was kind of disappointing to see James Spader’s Ultron taken out so quickly in just one movie… Unless he didn’t actually die in Avengers: Age of Ultron. After all, we never saw Vision kill his “dad” on screen.
Even if James Spader’s Ultron was officially deceased at the end of Age of Ultron, as Mark Ruffalo has confirmed, there are always ways to bring characters back. Ultron was essentially born from JARVIS and is a computer technology, and, as we know, you can never completely get rid of something digital. With Tony Stark out of the picture, it would be easy for the Marvel writers to work up a story around how whatever lock was keeping Ultron kept away is now open, unleashing the terrifying AI fiend.
In the comic books, Armor Wars was a segment that focused on Tony Stark’s concerns about other people using his armor technology. So far, we know that Don Cheadle will play James Rhodes, wearing his own Iron Man-esque suit called War Machine, and Dominique Thorne will play Riri Williams/Iron Heart, who also has her own suit. It’s not yet clear what other Stark Tech shenanigans the film will encompass, but James Spader’s Ultron seems right on par to reappear as the big bad.
It honestly feels as though James Spader’s Ultron deserves a second try. While Spader did an amazing job portraying the robot villain, Ultron in the movie doesn’t even come close to comparing to the capabilities Ultron has in the original source material. It will be interesting to see how far the MCU execs decide to go, how powerful they will make Ultron, and what stories they will weave around the self-aware computer intelligence.
James Spader’s return doesn’t necessarily mean we will get the same Ultron we saw before. Marvel has opened up the multiverse, which means that they’ve opened up infinite possibilities. Spader’s Ultron could be much more powerful than what we saw in Age of Ultron, or he might not even be evil at all. It’s entirely possible that an Ultron from another timeline will appear in the film, and he could even be a human.
Currently, all we know is that James Spader has indeed been confirmed to return as Ultron in Armor Wars, but how that happens is anyone’s guess. The action film is still a ways away from release, with the earliest expected release date to happen sometime in 2024.
