James Spader has revealed his titular villain in Avengers: Age of Ultron is “batshit crazy”.
The stars of TV series The Blacklist voices Tony Stark’s (Robert Downey Jr) crooked creation Ultron in the Marvel superhero sequel released next summer.
Comparing his villainous character in the Avengers sequel to his portrayal of Raymond ‘Red’ Reddington in The Blacklist, Spader told Total Film: “Ultron takes abrupt turns in scenes. Red isn’t pyschopathic but Ultron is. Yes, he is psychopathic. He’s really batshit crazy!”
“There’s a humerous aspect to him, which is something that drew me in from the very first conversation I had with Joss [Whedon],” Spader added. “In many ways he’s a child, this character, because he’s a brand new being who’s just come to be. And yet, through artificial intelligence, he has an incredible capacity for knowledge. So he’s a very powerful, smart child.”
In the Marvel comics Ultron’s origin story saw him built by scientist Hank Pym (AKA Ant-Man). However, for his big screen outing Ultron, created as a force for protecting the world, is re-imagined as the brainchild of Tony Stark to be the ultimate drone, a way for Iron Man to abdicate his duties and offload them onto a fully mechanized protector but his creation turns bad.
The first trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron riffs on the puppet theme. It is soundtracked by a sinister reworking of the Pinocchio theme ‘I’ve got no strings’. The film is released in UK cinemas April 24, 2015. Watch the trailer below.