Pity our American cousins for a moment. While the rest of the world have finally laid their eyes on the most anticipated movie since… well, the first Avengers, movie fanatics in the US still have to wait a whole extra week before they too can watch Avengers: Age of Ultron in all of its action packed glory.
The hype has been understandably huge for Joss Whedon’s second take on the Avengers and the movie is guaranteed to HULK SMASH box office records left, right and centre over the coming weeks. The critical reception has also been overwhelmingly positive, which is fortunate as Marvel Studios has a lot riding on Age of Ultron, not just fiscally, but also as part of a key step in the development of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (known from now on as the MCU, for those of you who saw daylight in your childhoods).
Marvel’s latest movie was always going to be a game changer, but not even the most ardent of fans could have predicted the cataclysmic ways that Avengers: Age of Ultron has changed the MCU forever. Join us, then, as we count down the seven most important changes and predict the impact that these events will have on future movies in the rest of Marvel’s phase three and beyond.
Be warned, though, there will be a few spoilers here. If you want to go into the film completely fresh, perhaps bookmark this page for later.
