1) A Darker Tone
The biggest takeaway from this trailer is that director Joss Whedon seems to have taken some of the criticisms of his first Avengers movie to heart – immediately, this is a much darker, scarier world than we’ve ever seen from Marvel. The trailer paints the levels of destruction Ultron wreaks as practically apocalyptic, with his sleek robot army overwhelming any defenses and laying waste to city streets. Where are the Avengers? Captain America’s broken shield doesn’t bode well for the team.
For the first time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there’s a real sense of looming disaster here. There’s absolutely none of Whedon’s trademark humor in the trailer (though I wouldn’t be surprised if he has sprinkled a little in even amidst all the chaos), and the consequences of Tony Stark creating Ultron look positively dire. Though the chance that we’ll see main Avengers perish during Ultron’s war against humanity seems slim now, really no one outside of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America (all of whom are set for upcoming titles) is safe.
And though he’s full supervillain in this first look, we’ve heard that there’s a grim, emotional undercurrent to his rise from Iron Man side-project to sentient super-robot.
