Before Avengers: Infinity War arrives to redraw the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it, it’s important to take a moment and remember how far we’ve come.
Take Age of Ultron as an example. Initially released back in 2015, the Joss Whedon sequel forced Earth’s Mightiest Heroes into a messy conflict with Ultron, James Spader’s malevolent A.I. that threatened to turn the fictional nation of Sokovia into an immense planet killer.
Thankfully, Spader’s self-propelled doomsday machine was stopped in the nick of time – at the expense of Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Quicksilver, sadly – and the Avengers went their separate ways. But now that an Infinity War is afoot, Comic Book Movie has today rolled out a massive gallery of concept art focusing on the villains of Age of Ultron.
It’s by no means the first time that Joss Whedon’s follow-up has been ushered into the limelight; in the past fortnight alone, CBM has served up a smattering of concept art designed to bring us closer to the Incredible Hulk and Ultron himself. This one, in particular, is a deep cut, containing a number of never-before-seen pieces of artwork for the divisive sequel:
It’s an incredible showcase of the sequel’s baddies, beginning with the creepy Hel demons that haunt the nightmares of Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder – you can thank Scarlet Witch for that one. From there, we circle into Baron Strucker’s high-tech HYDRA forces, before arriving at the fearsome Ulysses Klaue, Andy Serkis’ arms dealer who will be making a small appearance in the forthcoming Black Panther movie.
And after that? Marvel Studios will have all hands on deck in preparation of Avengers: Infinity War. It’s expected to drop on May 4th, and the MCU will never be the same again.
