I finally got to watch Avengers: Age of Ultron over the weekend. It was good. The fact that I agree with Rotten Tomatoes’ score probably says it all- it wasn’t my favorite so far, and you could tell that there was a bunch of things that were edited out. However, there is a LOT of criticism for the “mid credits” ending flying around the internet, and THAT was one thing that I think is getting a bad reputation.
WARNING- if you HAVEN’T seen Age of Ultron, do not go any further- MASSIVE SPOILERS are below the break.
To take into account why the mid-credit scene is so important and so short, you have to remember what has gone on before:
- New Avengers: You see Captain America and Black Widow set up shop, along with Fury, at a completely new Avengers Facility, training new Avengers: Vision, War Machine, Scarlet Witch, and Falcon. Stark has left completely, which sets up Captain America: Civil War– the split between Tony and the Avengers, the thinking about what further can be done to protect the world and what is too far to protect it, etc. etc.
- Destruction and decimation: Not only did the Hulk and Iron Man take out an entire city thanks to Scarlet Witch, but also Ultron took out Sokovia. Yes, SHIELD saved as many lives as they could- but really, is that going to to help anything? Hello, more Civil War plot. Avengers are in hiding, Hulk is AWOL, Tony is off somewhere else, Hawkeye has KIDS.
- New super-villain: If you’re not into the comics as much as I am, you may have missed the birth of a new super-villain. On the freighter during the discussion between Ultron and Ulysses Klaue (the smuggler who had the vibranium), Klaue loses his hand to Ultron, and then states, “Kill them all” during the fight. Later on in the comics, he ends up becoming Ulysses “Klaw” with a sonic emitter that creates things out of sound. And obviously, being a smuggler out of Wakanda, it sets up the introduction of T’Challa (Black Panther).
- Romance on the horizon: The Vision rescues Scarlet Witch from certain death as Sokovia is being destroyed from within- if you look at her face, it’s completely filled with wonderment, and could be leading up to the romance that plays out in the comics.
- Thor dream cave: this was super completely confusing to a bunch of people I went with. Thor found Erik to take him to a lake where he electrocuted himself? Um, not exactly. It is a place between worlds, and he was supposed to be talking to the Norse goddesses of Fate, but that didn’t get shown. What did get shown is part of all the pieces that we knew before, and that Asgard is in major trouble. Set up for Thor: Ragnarok.
- Hulk go where: the off-handed comment that Hulk swam to Fiji or somewhere? They never do anything without a purpose. That’s going somewhere, mark my words.
So not only did we kill off evil robots, set up enhanced humans *cough* mutants *cough*, and set up Thor: Ragnarok, Captain America: Civil War, the Black Panther, the New Avengers, reinstatement of a hidden S.H.I.E.L.D., there’s also wheels still turning.
Now, to the mid-scene.
Thanos (big purple guy) pops up, grabs the Infinity Glove and says, “Fine, I’ll do it myself.” And everyone is completely let down.
But wait, think about it for a minute.
- HOW did he get the glove? Last we (movie goers) saw it, it was safely in the vault in Asgard. So has Loki has been doing things we don’t know about? Because as we saw in Avengers, Loki was working for Thanos. And in Thor: The Dark World, he took over Asgard.
- Where are the other two stones? There are six stones, and we know the location four: Space (the blue Tesseract, which is on Asgard last we knew- reference Thor and Avengers), Mind (the yellow, currently within The Vision, and one that THANOS GAVE UP), Reality (the red Ether, in the hands of the Collector last we knew- reference Thor: The Dark World), and Power (the Orb, currently with Nova Prime on Xandar, reference Guardians of the Galaxy). We’re still missing Soul and Time. There’s huge speculation that one will appear in Doctor Strange and his amulet. I’m wondering if the other will appear in Guardians of the Galaxy 2, and then well get all the nastiness together in Thor:Raganok (Loki, Thor, portents and mystical things, etc.) right before the start of Infinity Wars.
- I’m not done yet. And remember, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man (coming later this summer) are the LAST movies in Marvel’s PHASE TWO. Everything else is setting up PHASE THREE which goes from 2016’s Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange to Avengers: Infinity War Part II and Inhumans.
- Not my secret to reveal. Joss Whedon isn’t doing anything else Marvel right now (or anything for that matter). Where would a trailer come from? Normally the teasers come from the next movie coming down the pike or the next one that’s coming from the director- Ant Man is too close to have teasers, Captain America: Civil War has just started filming, and Doctor Strange is in pre-production. There isn’t much to tease about.
Another thing you have to remember is that while we’re watching these in a long, drawn out order, chronologically they’re overlapping in the Marvel universe, and everything is as interwoven as a finely created lace.
This is just Phase One’s Chronological Time Line (Up to the first Avengers):
Or, if you want the character connections, an awesome infographic from Marvel Movie Maniac:
So while Thanos grabbing the glove may not be much- yea, we knew he was going for it and was going to do it anyway- there’s a LOT to think about between how he got the glove and how he’s getting the stones.