Why Avengers: Age of Ultron Didn’t Use Mega Ultron

Avengers: Age of Ultron almost included Mega Ultron as part of the film’s finale, but here’s why the giant version of the villain wasn’t used. Expectations were high for Marvel Studios’ sequel to The Avengers leading up to 2015, as director Joss Whedon returned to bring the Avengers together again and have them face off with a prominent Marvel villain: Ultron, voiced by James Spader.

While Hank Pym created the killer robot in the comics, the MCU changed Ultron’s origin to make him a creation of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. Ultron was built to protect humanity but quickly turned against them and plotted how to use Sokovia to kickstart an extinction-level event. This plan led Ultron and the Avengers to have a showdown on the floating city, where Ultron had a suit made of Vibranium and hundreds (or thousands) of Ultron bots to throw at the heroes. The bots proved to be good cannon fodder for the Avengers to defeat, while Ultron was eventually defeated with their collective powers.

Ultron is used effectively in Avengers: Age of Ultron, but there were originally plans for him to be a much bigger threat in the literal sense. Back in 2018, artist Phil Saunders revealed an early piece of concept art for Age of Ultron‘s ending that included Mega Ultron, which was a collection of Ultron bots working in unison to create a giant version of Ultron. The concept is similar to the idea of a Rat King, and the art shows Hulk and Iron Man trying to take down Mega Ultron, but it didn’t make it into the movie. The reason for Mega Ultron’s absence, according to Saunders, is likely due to the swarm not making much tactical sense.

As cool of a concept as Mega Ultron would’ve been for Avengers: Age of Ultron to use, Saunders is right about the collection of bots not giving Ultron a tactical edge. Thanks to the Ultron bots, Ultron managed to split the Avengers up and keep them busy while he focused on specific parts of his plan or handled a few of the Avengers at a time. The swarm of his robots might have grabbed the Avengers’ attention even more, but their collected powers could’ve been used to defeat it quicker.

Since Mega Ultron wasn’t explored in Avengers: Age of Ultron, there is always the chance that Marvel Studios could revisit this concept later on. Saunders noted that this idea was scrapped before he even finished the design (so he completed it on his own time), but that doesn’t mean Marvel didn’t like it. Vision defeating Ultron at the end of the movie effectively put an end to him as a threat, but Spider-Man: Homecoming did set up a possible way for Ultron to return. If Ultron does come back and fight a new superhero team, perhaps he’ll try to learn from his possible mistake in Avengers: Age of Ultron and use the Mega Ultron formation.