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Ka-pow! Wham! Bang!: 'Avengers' sequel promises romance, bromance & action
Hulkbuster: Iron Man sports his âHulkbusterâ armor for a showdown with the gamma-irradiated superhero fueled by anger
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span class="caption">Hulkbuster: Iron Man sports his 'Hulkbuster' armor for a showdown with the gamma-irradiated superhero fueled by anger. ©Marvel 2015
Activity in the nerd universe has performed a delicate crescendo recently.
Trailers for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: Battlefront videogame were released, fans got a look at the Fantastic Four reboot ' and The Avengers: Age of Ultron goes into wide release across the planet on April 22.
Four of the film's stars ' Robert Downey, Jr. (Iron Man), Chris Evans (Captain America), Cynthia Kim (Dr. Helen Cho) and Mark Ruffalo (The Incredible Hulk) ' and director Joss Whedon were in Seoul for a packed press conference on Friday. Here's a quick guide to what was shared.
Puppetmaster: Joss Whedon (standing) pretends to pull the strings of (left to right) Mark Ruffalo, Chris Evans, Robert Downey, Jr. and Claudia Kim Soo-hyun.
THE SET-UP
According to the film's press kit ' there were no sneak previews in Seoul ' the sequel begins after Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
SHIELD, which oversees the Avengers, has been shut down after Cap and the Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) discovered it was infiltrated by bad guys from the super-secret organization Hydra.
Our heroes, busy saving the world without government supervision, look forward to a break after Tony Stark, a.k.a. Iron Man, creates Ultron, a peacekeeping robot. Things go awry when Ultron decides to keep the peace by slaughtering the Avengers ' and the human race.
Whedon says that the film explores what goes wrong when superheroes try to solve human problems. 'The Avengers are now ' in their only little way ' a world power,' the director said during a roundtable interview. 'It's about how much power can you wield before you become separate from the people you're wielding it over? When does it stop being about the people you're trying to protect?'
ACADEMY AWARDS
'Oh, that's a lock,' Whedon said, with self-deprecating humor, when asked about Age of Ultron's Oscar prospects. 'They've never had 'Best Ensemble', but I'm sure they'll make that one up.'
Evans, however, leapt to Whedon's defense against a system that's skewed against epic films.
'What is required to make these movies work is a mind-blowing accomplishment of art,' Evans said. 'I, for one, am disappointed when films like this are not acknowledged. There's a lot more that goes into this, especially in directing.'
HULKBUSTER FIGHT
Get ready for an epic superhero showdown, as Iron Man, wearing his tank-like 'Hulkbuster' armor, slugs it out with a less-than-jolly green giant on location in Johannesburg.
The scene was part of comic lore, according to Downey.
'It was up to Joss to put it into the film. We talked about the 'Hulkbuster' fight like it was Ibsen,' Downey said at the press conference, referring to the founder of Modernist theater, before adding 'that's a terrible reference.'
'We took this fight so seriously,' Downey said. 'We wanted it to be good.'
'The idea of Tony Stark in the Hulkbuster suit is a conflict that is fun for fans,' Whedon said, according to the film's press kit. 'It's just a 'duke-'em-out,' like you don't care situation, which is juxtaposed against the deep friendship between Tony and Banner.'
Robert Downey, Jr. - Courtesy of Disney
A FOCUS ON CHARACTER
According to Whedon, the sequel will give the actors more screen time to interact.
'My main focus in making this film was to do better than I did the first time ' to spend more time with these characters, get to know them better, build bigger and more exciting action pieces,' Whedon said. 'But more importantly, find out more about the characters ' and let these guys have fun being together, as they did not get to as much in the first.'
Meanwhile, the Hulk is set to continue his bromance with Iron Man ' and maybe even embark on a romance with a super-heroine, with his alter-ego, Bruce Banner, set to receive a kiss. 'It's the first time in a very long time that he's felt comfortable and a little bit safe, which could be problematic for him,' according to Ruffalo.
Mark Ruffalo - JP/Christian Razukas
GOOD FUN
After the press conference and several roundtable interviews, it's clear that Whedon and the actors enjoy their work ' and working with each other.
It's something that shows on Instagram, where Downey teased Evans, Ruffalo and Whedon for not meeting him in the hotel gym after a night of Korean BBQ before the press conference.
'It's not an easy job for anyone on set ' especially for Joss ' because this isn't the get-to-know-you phase anymore. We're all good friends,' Evans said. 'If you get more than three or four of us together, it's going to get hard to wrangle us. Sometimes you have to remember, 'OK guys, we're here to work.''
Kim agreed. 'They make it so playful and fun ' like they're at home. They get along so well.'
Chris Evans - Courtesy of Disney
HOLLYWOOD DEBUT
Making her Hollywood screen debut in Ultron is Claudia Kim Soo-hyun, the star of Korean dramas, such as 7geup Gongmuwon (7th Grade Civil Servant).
The 30-year-old said that it was 'pretty mind-blowing' to be offered the role of Cho, a renowned geneticist and lab partner to Bruce Banner.
'Sadly, being the only human being amongst the superheroes, I did a lot of running away,' Kim said. 'But the greatest thing about Joss Whedon is he loves to make all the female characters really powerful and Helen had a moment when she really had to step up and face her fears.'
Kim, who plays the daughter of a warlord-cousin of Kublai Khan in the Weinstein-company produced Marco Polo miniseries, won praise from her peers.
'I look up to Claudia ' all the time, because she's so much taller than me ' and because she's a great actress,' Ruffalo said.
Downey echoed his co-star. 'Claudia did a fantastic job. We were very impressed. We were not surprised at all of the talent and entertainment from Korea, but we were delighted.'
Claudia Kim - Courtesy of Disney
RUMORS AND POST-CREDITS SCENES
'I'm making just the one film, Whedon said, when asked about Internet rumors that a major character would die. 'It's not about whether or not somebody gets killed. It's about whether or not you're worried that they might.'
However, Whedon did previously confirm that there would be no follow-up to the 'post-post-credit' shawarma scene in the first film. 'There is nothing at the very end. And that's not a fake-out,' he told Entertainment Weekly. 'We want people to know so they don't sit there for 10 minutes and then go: 'Son of a bitch! I'll kill them!''
The Avengers: Age of Ultron opens on April 22 at theaters throughout Indonesia.
Assembled: Hulk (Mark Ruffalo), Captain America (Chris Evans), Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr.), Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) and Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on the attack. ©Marvel 2015
