Ultron Will Be Funny. Joss Whedon Made Ultron Funny!

Gahhhhh…

Why, oh why, must Ultron be ‘funny’? The adamantium shelled robot is a mass murdering, cold hearted, Oedipal super villain who’s never shown an ounce of wit in his entire 50 year history as a comic book character. So why, oh why, would such a compellingly evil nemesis require humor? And rest assured, fandon, situationally funny Ultron is what we’re going to get.

Joss Whedon’s proclaimed as much in a recent interview about Avengers: Age of Ultron…

“”But last time I had all of Earth’s Mightiest Heroes versus one British character actor, and I needed more conflict. I’m having a blast with Ultron. He’s not a creature of logic – he’s a robot who’s genuinely disturbed. We’re finding out what makes him menacing and at the same time endearing and funny and strange and unexpected, and everything a robot never is.””

Hasn’t Marvel Studios learned anything from Captain America: The Winter Soldier? That movie was debatably the best solo outing the House of Ideas has produced since its inception, and it relied on plot and character development instead of basic humor. With every other movie, Marvel’s relied on humor to sweeten their otherwise drab flicks.

“I know this is just another superhero movie, and I know they’re ridiculous characters with ridiculous costumes, but here’s a handful of laughs to make it all that much better.”

And I get it. Most movie goers love Marvel films because of the humor, but The Winter Soldier proved that we’re perfectly capable of tackling even the CHEESIEST of characters in a very sincere, compelling way. Humor is the easy way out. It’s what Marvel scoops onto their flicks when the risk of this goofy supervillain or that wacky space hero is just TOO bizarre. But they shouldn’t.

That’s why a ‘funny’ Ultron really grinds my gears. The character’s an absolutely menacing, blood-curdling murderer in the comics. I’m not one to bash silver screen adaptations for their fidelity to the source material, but the whole appeal of Ultron is the “creation kills creator”. Any humor surrounding Ultron — whether flat out jokes, those awkward pauses Whedon loves so much, or unrequited one-liners — is contrived. Inauthentic. Unnecessary.

It’s not within the character to be funny. It’s not within the situations to be funny.

I know Whedon loves humor, and I know the general public will eat up another funny Avengers flick, but I’m “meh”. Call me spoiled, call me rotten, but I can’t wait for the day when a more serious set of Action film makers like the Russo Bros to inherit the reins.