An Avengers supervillain just returned to Disney+, and not in a way that fans would've expected. In a dedicated episode of Meet Iron Man and His Awesome Friends, Marvel offered audiences a bizarrely different version of James Spader's original AI murder bot introduced in Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Following Ultron's appearance in Disney+'s What If...?, Marvel revealed perhaps the strangest version of the metal menace to date in the Disney Jr. preschool series, Meet Iron Man and His Awesome Friends. In Episode 9 titled "Meet Ultron," Ultron's appearance is dramatically different, and for MCU fans familiar with the monologue-loving, extinction-obsessed AI, it's just bizarre to see the villain presented as a cuddly troublemaker.
In addition to his silly voice and childlike design, this Ultron gets even weirder when he strikes a certain pose, a reference to the anime JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Diamond is Unbreakable. Clearly, the animators responsible for Meet Iron Man and His Awesome Friends were having fun with this episode.
Furthermore, this take on Ultron is teddy bear-obsessed. In fact, the episode centers around Ultron's mission to confiscate everyone's toys, specifically cuddly plush animals. It's only when Tony Stark decides to use a teddy bear as bait that he's able to stop Ultron before forcing him to return all of the kids' belongings.
Ultron's role in Meet Iron Man and His Awesome Friends stands as the supervillain's second appearance on Disney+, following his Multiversal variants' world-destroying runs in What If...? and voiced by Ross Marquand. However, the Disney Jr. series won't be the last time audiences will see the metal antagonist on the streamer.
Produced by Disney Jr. and Marvel Studios, Meet Iron Man and his Awesome Friends stars Mason Blomberg as Tony Stark (Iron Man), Kapri Ladd as Riri Williams (Ironheart), and Aidyn Ahn as Amadeus Cho (Iron Hulk). New episodes of the animated series are available to watch on Disney Jr. and on Disney+.
Ultron’s Next Disney+ Appearance Is Also Confirmed To Be Weird?
Fans caught off guard by Disney Jr.'s playful, bumbling Ultron should know that his streak of Disney+ appearances has only just begun. The villain is confirmed to return to the streamer in 2026 for Marvel Studios' Vision Quest, along with a cast of Marvel AI characters.
But once again, the antagonist isn't expected to appear as he did in Age of Ultron, What If...?, or even Disney Jr.'s Meet Iron Man. Instead, Ultron is reported to appear in human form and played by James Spader, his Age of Ultron voice actor. Therefore, once the series premieres, this means the MCU antagonist will have appeared in three different forms across three separate Disney+ shows, with the latter two appearances being the weirdest and most dramatic departures from the villain audiences first encountered in 2015.
