When it came to returning to his MCU role after 11 years, James Spader had a request about how his character should look in Marvel's VisionQuest. The world was first introduced to the MCU's Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron, in which Spader portrayed the villainous robot. After lying dormant within Vision's code, Ultron has now returned in the Disney+ series VisionQuest, in which Spader portrays the character as a new human avatar.
Ultron is one of several AI's living within Vision's mindspace, along with FRIDAY, EDITH, DUM-E, U, and JARVIS. All of the programs appear within Vision's head in human form, and for Ultron, that allowed Spader to portray his robot character out of the motion-capture suit for the first time. When it came to designing Ultron's human look in VisionQuest, Spader had a few notes that the showrunner, Terry Matalas, said the team took on board.
Speaking to New Rockstars, Matalas confirmed that Ultron's human appearance, which depicts Spader with a long beard, glasses, and a regal suit, was heavily influenced by Spader, particularly the facial hair. "He just showed up to set this way," Matalas shared, saying initially he'd pictured Ultron to be similar to Spader's previous role in The Blacklist, Raymond 'Red' Reddington.
When Spader mentioned he was growing a beard, Matalas thought it might be closer to a "Hans Gruber" look, Alan Rickman's Die Hard villain, with a closer-cropped goatee. However, Spader went far beyond Matalas' expectations regarding the beard, calling it "a mane."
Terry Matalas: "Beard is all Spader. He just showed up to set this way. When I wrote it, I imagined him more as Reddington, as you do. And he called me and he's like, Just so you know, I'm growing a beard.’ I was like, ‘Great.’ And I'm thinking it's Hans Gruber, right? This clean cut, Alan Rickman-esque villain thing… And then, I had more calls. We talked about the script, and we were having such a great time even before we got to London, and he's like, ‘You know, it's really grown out.’ I was like, ‘I wonder… We'll have to give it a trim when we get to set.’ And then, when he came to set and it was a full– He referred to it as a mane. And I was like, ‘Should we talk about this beard?’ He's like, ‘I’m a prisoner.’ "
Spader came prepared with another justification for Ultron's beard, saying that the character needed to be "god-like," even in human form. Spader also put in the request for Ultron to wear a top hat, which resulted in something that Matalas described as "this iconic thing that I never would have dreamed of:"
"He also had a very good perspective on… 'I'm not a 9 foot tall robot' and he needed to be Poseidon-like, god-like. And so I called Kevin [Feige] and I was like, ‘I think we're going to have a really interesting take on Ultron here.’ And [James] said, just as he sold me on the beard, I was like, ‘Okay,’ and he goes, ‘And I'm going to wear a top hat.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, [laughter] all right, let's start rendering this.’ And every time we kind of put together, it became this iconic thing that I never would have dreamed of. It's great. And that's what's wonderful about making television is that collaboration where writers or actors come up with these ideas that you never would have come up with."
Spader reiterated a similar philosophy to The Direct during an interview for VisionQuest, saying Ultron's long beard helped to establish "he's been a prisoner here for 12 years." The new look also became a "complete dichotomy from this sleek metallic robot."
James Spader: "One of the things you want to establish is that he's been a prisoner here for 12 years or however long it is, and you can establish that with long hair and a big beard, and that he looks very different, and so on and so forth. I also wanted him to look so surprising, like a complete dichotomy from this very sleek metallic robot.
Instead, he's really sort of scruffy. Like you don't notice, but he's constantly got paint all over his clothing, and he wears sort of scruffy clothing, and he just is, this is who he aspires to be."
Spader added that Ultron's aspirations are linked to his relationship with the idea of gods and being a god, so he modeled his human self after the Greek deities "Poseidon or Zeus."
"So, like, I love that he looked like Poseidon or Zeus. You know, he looked like one of the— because those are the gods that he would have consumed enormous amounts of [knowledge] reading... and so on, and he would have, if he were to aspire to that, he'd aspire to them. He aspired to Zeus. He'd aspire to it because it's dramatic and theatrical, and he is too."
VisionQuest premiered on Disney+ on October 13 and releases new episodes on Tuesdays. Spader stars alongside Paul Bettany as Vision, Ruaridh Mollica as Tommy, and Todd Stashwick as Paladin.
Ultron: New and Improved?
Ultron's appearance in VisionQuest did exactly what Spader intended it to do by surprising audiences. The tall, menacing robot who fought the Avengers looks vastly different in VisionQuest, yet the human avatar still works well for Ultron, conveying the character's intelligence, wit, humor, and intimidating presence.
The decision to use human avatars for the AI programs in VisionQuest was a matter of necessity to provide visual manifestations of what had previously often been only voice-over roles. Ultron and Vision are two rare exceptions of AIs with physical bodies in the MCU, and while Ultron could have appeared as a human synonymously with Spader's typical look, the addition of longer hair and a beard added to the distinction of the character.
Ultron's not always been at peace with his human form, finding Vision's need for human avatars silly, which sometimes leads him to appear in his robot form throughout VisionQuest. However, this is not the only form fans will see Ultron in, as the series has now revealed that Ultron has nefarious plans to take over White Vision's body, opening another avenue for the villain to wreak havoc in the MCU.
