July 20, 2013 by Paul Curtin
Being the current top dog in the superhero movie scene, Marvel had to bring their big guns to this year’s Comic-Con and show off more than just first looks at the sequels to Thor and Captain America.
In addition to revealing the roles of the cast of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn film (Karen Gillan is Nebula, Djimon Hounsou is Korath the Pursuer, Lee Pace is Ronan the Accuser, Benicio del Toro is the Collector, Dave Bautista is Drax the Destroyer, Zoe Saldana is Gamora, and Chris Pratt is Star-Lord.) — which will basically be The Avengers in space — Marvel also went on to announce the title of The Avengers sequel, which they’re calling Avengers: Age of Ultron.
As the title suggest, the film will be focusing on Ultron, a well known villain in the Marvel universe who leads the Masters of Evil against the Avengers in the comics. A short teaser was also shown to those in attendance, which involved a close-up of metal being poured into a shape that as the camera pulls back is revealed to be the head of Ultron.
Before today’s reveal, many had expected that after the post-credits scene in The Avengers, Thanos would be who the team of heroes would be battling against in their next film. However, it seems as if Marvel is once again setting up something far more thought out and that Thanos will likely be more involved in Guardians of the Galaxy for now and be the final bad guy in third Avengers film.
As fans of the comics know, Age of Ultron was originally a limited series comic book crossover storyline that was published in early 2013. The story involves the return of Ultron and his conquest of the Earth. With so little being known about the film’s story, it’s unclear how close the movie will end up being to this year’s comic series.
Also, there wasn’t any news today about Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man that’s set for release in 2014; however, Age of Ultron will likely be linked to Wright’s film considering that in the comics Ultron was designed by Henry Pym, aka Ant-Man.
Announced at Comic-Con last year, Guardians of the Galaxy will hit theaters next summer, and Avengers: Age of Ultron is still on track for its release in Summer 2015.
Check out the latest art for Guardians below and be sure to stay tuned as we wait for all of the footage from Comic-Con to be released by Marvel online.
