Hulk smashes through new ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ trailer

Anyone disappointed by last week’s premiere of the first Ant-Man trailer will have their faith in Marvel Studios restored with the debut of the second trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Packed with new images from the anticipated blockbuster set for release May 1, this version includes much more action — though our favourite superheroes appear to be on the losing end of most of it.

Premiering during last night’s college football national championship on ESPN, the one-minute-and-forty-second preview ups the ante while expanding on the dark tone set by the first trailer, including additional samples from the creepy version of Pinocchio’s “I’ve Got No Strings” heard previously. And if you were still unconvinced of Ultron’s (voice of James Spader) villainy, perhaps hearing him say, “I’m going to tear you apart — from the inside,” will confirm his status as extreme bad guy.

As far as the battle is concerned, Black Widow’s (Scarlett Johannson) “Oh boy” sums it up nicely. Captain America (Chris Evans) is shown being pummelled by Ultron, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) is either being zapped with or channeling some sort of hazardous looking energy and Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) is standing in a forest surrounded by explosions. And then there’s the moments of the Avengers turning on each other with Thor lifting Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) by the throat and the ultimate fight between a seemingly out-of-control Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) and the machine created to stop him — Stark’s aptly named Hulk-buster. Though it remains to be seen what could have angered Bruce Banner so considerably, he does end up smashing everything in sight. The only relief to the calamity displayed is a brief scene in which Hulk and Black Widow experience an intimate pause.

This video also provides the first glimpse of Andy Serkis‘ yet to be named character pointing a gun. Rumours suggest he is playing Ulysses Klaw, a physicist-turned-supervillain who designed a weapon that could turn sound into physical matter. In addition, there is a mysterious woman who disrobes in a cave but there’s no indication who she might be.

The trailer opens with Stark saying, “This vulnerable world needs something more powerful than any of us.” That’s likely why he attempts to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program to protect it in the wake of the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. However, he instead creates Ultron, an artificial intelligence that decides eliminating the human race is the only solution.

“No matter who wins or loses, trouble always comes around,” says Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). Of course there is truth in his statement as shown in the confirmed “Civil War” premise of the next Captain America picture, which will pit superhero against superhero as Marvel’s phase 3 rollout continues.

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