Well, I've seen at least one interview where Whedon stressed that there *won't* be a "Director's Cut", that the film is what was released, but that they'd be including a lot of extra scenes and people would see why they weren't used even though Whedon was proud of many of them.

But then I also know that one of the overseas Amazon sites started listing an extended Age of Ultron to be released... and then had to retract it at Disney's insistence. Whether that was because they weren't really planning on releasing one, or whether that was because they thought that people might wait to see that on video instead of going to the theaters now, I'm not sure.

Regardless of whether it's spliced into the film or just included in special features, that's a lot of extra material. Marvel has never done an alternate to the theatrical cuts of one of their films, have they? I know editing was the point of contention between Edward Norton and Marvel Studios... He wanted a longer, more character centered "Incredible Hulk" cut, and they wanted a faster-paced, action oriented Hulk film... and when he didn't get his way, he refused to do any promotion for the film beyond what he was absolutely contractually obligated to do.





Yes... Thor's little side quest seemed cut down to the bare minimum. I can understand, as it really is a bit too tangential to the story here.

I really wanted an Ultron that could take the combined beating from the team and keep coming... That molten scene suggested such a thing, but never really happened. Ah well.

I did hear that the lady in the pool was part of Thor's vision, and wasn't anyone important (much like all of the random folks surrounding Heimdal). I find it amusing that so many people spent so much internet time theorizing who she was, when it was added to the trailer simply because the marketing team thought it was a cool shot.






I loved that too. Lots of people online (likely influenced by "the Incredibles") argue that there's no reason for anyone to wear a cape. I keep pointing out that's not true for the Vision... his can be quite useful (assuming he can density shift, that is...) Besides, it's quite stylish! Who can blame him for taking one look at Thor's and accessorizing likewise?




It's true, and they play off of each other surprisingly well. I think movie Thor was happy to have another non-human on the team.

I was a bit surprised that, with the Jarvis origin, the Vision barely had any interaction with Stark following his 'birth'. I'm not even sure that they spoke to each other beyond the "It's true, he hates you most" line. I've heard that Vizh will be in Civil War, and an early rumor of the breakdown had him side with Stark (which seems odd considering his stance in this film.) If so, it'll be interesting to see their interaction.

On a side note, Stark's new armor A.I. "Friday" was a bit out of nowhere... although apparently she was in some comics sometime. I saw in a video going through the Easter Eggs in the film that one of the A.I. options he considers loading was labeled "Jocasta".





That was indeed a great scene, and I really enjoyed Hawkeye's honest assessment of the situation.





I know that there was the argument against a Hulk solo film based on keeping the chance to see him special to "Avengers" films. (Of course, apparently Universal would still hold the distribution rights to any solo Hulk movie as well, so that puts a damper on the idea too.) I though that maybe Vizh and the twins would add to that "only in the Avengers" list, but then they decided to throw everyone into next year's "Civil War" anyway.

I do wonder how much development time the Vision can get in "Infinity War" when it seems like Thanos will be ripping a chunk of his head out to assemble the gauntlet.





It's a bit weird because the Marvel stuff can mine things in both directions... past and future. Not only do they drop plenty of references to the past batch of films, but we get a really enjoyable set-up for the Black Panther film as well. I thought that Andy Serkis was great as Klaw, and I loved the little accident that befell him.

I had it pointed out to me that Marvel intentionally had someone lose an arm in every "Phase 2" film as a nod to Luke getting his hand chopped off in "The Empire Strikes Back". (The villian in "Iron Man 3", Thor (via Loki's illusions) in "The Dark World", The Winter Soldier, and Groot, respectively.)




I was surprised they skipped it as well, but I suppose this Thor doesn't break out the "thee's" too often.