Joss Whedon comments on the casting of James Spader for The Avengers: Age of Ultron

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

The recent announcement of James Spader taking on the villainous role of Ultron in THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON was met with resoundingly positive feedback and director Joss Whedon was recently quoted on the topic in the latest episode of Marvel's The Watcher. With rumors of Paul Bettany's JARVIS potentially being the voice of Ultron being quashed with Spader's casting, Whedon clears up that it was never in the cards.

“Spader was my first and only choice. He’s got that hypnotic voice that can be eerily calm and compelling, but he’s also very human and humorous. Ultron is not Hal (from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Spader can play all of the levels. He’s the guy to break The Avengers into pieces. Muwahaha.”

It may be the popular thing to agree with Whedon, but so be it. The casting of Spader is spot on, especially since it's for voice work. I don't suspect we'll see Spader in a robotic suit (perhaps a mo-cap one?), which is fine as what we really need from him is that smooth, evil voice to embody the "unkillable" villain. As per the usual, Whedon seems to have the pulse of this moving forward, in what will likely be one of the three biggest films of 2015 (can you guess the other two?)

THE AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON hits theaters on May 1, 2015.

Don't know shit about Ultron? Here's your guide…