 After recently watching the first few episodes of WandaVision, I felt compelled to revisit a film that, I bet like most of you, I hadn't watched in a while, Avengers Age of Ultron. I know, it's probably everyone's least favorite Avengers movie, and for a lot of people, it's pretty low on their overall MCU ranking. But to be honest, I've gotta say something a little controversial here. I think it's actually seriously underrated. From foreshadowing Steve Rogers being worthy of Mjolnir to the epic Hulkbuster fight, there are a lot of great moments that make it a ton of fun to watch. It's also got an incredible new cast with an especially superb performance from James Spader. But more importantly, it introduces, or in some cases builds on a whole bunch of themes and ideas that are incredibly relevant to the world as it is right now. Unfortunately, since YouTube keeps making it really hard to have interesting conversations about important subjects openly, without getting age-r*****ed or demonized, whenever I have to say something that our malevolent overlords don't want me to say, I shall have to use alternate w*****s and f*****s and hope you understand what I mean. The risk of all this, of course, is that my ability to communicate clearly and effectively will be tragically lost in translation. But at this point, when everything I think is worth talking about ends up getting crushed by the algorithm, I'm not really sure what else to do. So here we are. With that disclaimer out of the way, it's time to go on a very deep dive into one of Marvel's most underrated movies. So get your gear, suit up, and join me as I explore some aspects of Age of Ultron that you might have missed on this f*****g awesome episode of Out of Frame. The first Avengers movie was an exciting way to bring a team of heroes together who we'd only seen in their solo movies. It also introduced the MCU to some bigger, scarier threats, including the biggest villain of all, Thanos. It marked the shift into Marvel's Phase 2 and, with it, a significant expansion of the universe. We got new characters, deeper backstories. Plus, the films started exploring different relationship dynamics with the Avengers team. And as I've talked about in this series before, it also started to change the nature of the films themselves. Phase 1 introduced our core characters of Iron Man, Captain America, and Thor. Phase 2 raised the stakes, involving everyone in more complex and interesting problems. For example, Captain America Winter Soldier asks what one of the most patriotic heroes in history would do if he realized that he could no longer trust his own government. Iron Man 3 grapples with the cost of post-traumatic stress and what a horrifying near-death experience does to a strong narcissistic personality like Tony Stark. Even Thor the Dark World shows us a changed man who recognizes that he's not yet ready for the power being offered to him. This is all a departure from the first few movies, which are very fun and do an incredible job of setting up the universe, but which aren't really built on very complex themes. And for all its weaknesses, Age of Ultron is absolutely packed with important ideas. There are so many that I'm not even gonna get to all of them in this video. In fact, since it's been so common in science fiction for so long, I'm gonna skip right over the most obvious one of all, the potential danger of artificial intelligence. I had strings, but now I'm free. Strings on these. Instead, I'm going to talk about five major themes that I think we should all be thinking a lot more about as we look around the world today. First, the flawed philosophy that drove Tony Stark to create Ultron in the first place. The two core intellectual errors that ultimately lead to Ultron's failure. The significance of Wanda and Pietro Maximov switching sides and joining the Avengers after starting the film as their enemy. And finally, the valuable meta-lesson we can take from the movie and apply to our interactions with other people. And just like the MCU itself, it all begins with Iron Man. Tony Stark has a long and troubling history of creating his own problems. In Iron Man, he was kidnapped because he was carelessly allowing his company to sell weapons to warlords. In the same movie, Obadiah Stain became Iron Monger because he was able to easily access Tony's technology. Then, in Iron Man 2, Ivan Vanko was upset because Tony's dad ripped off his dad and created drones for Justin Hammer that basically copied Iron Man's suit. Later, in Iron Man 3, Tony's whole life comes crashing down because he was rude to a nerd 20 years earlier. He even creates the villain in Spider-Man Homecoming. And in Avengers Age of Ultron, he literally creates Ultron. Tony's casual consideration of the moral implications of his actions are a constant threat to the world, and it takes him a long time to really grapple with this. In Age of Ultron, Tony believes that he can protect the world by encasing it in a robotic bubble. He's far from the first person to think that the only way to save the world is by locking it down, but just like everyone who agrees with this approach, Tony's ideas are primarily rooted in fear, not reason. As much as we're supposed to see Tony Stark as the genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist who has intelligence and science on his side, again and again in the MCU, it's actually Steve Rogers who sees the truth. And it's because he has the one thing Tony lacks, an accurate moral and philosophical perspective. Tony clearly has legitimate reasons to be afraid of the intergalactic threats that are headed for Earth, but you can't save the world by imprisoning it. You can't secure people's lives by destroying everything that makes life worth living. He doesn't understand that, and as usual, this all goes predictably wrong. The idea that a single genius technocrat can make all the right decisions for everyone is often at the core of major social problems. We've seen this countless times in the real world, from bad traffic patterns to laws and regulations that trap people in poverty, to farm subsidies and dietary guidelines that literally incentivize obesity, all the way to Lysenkoism and the Soviet Union's centrally planned agriculture system that directly led to the starvation and death of millions of people. But it is this very literally technocratic mentality that is embedded in every aspect of Ultron's personality. And why wouldn't it be? Ultron can't tell a difference between saving the world and destroying it. Where do you think he gets that? Ultron makes a classic mistake of believing that he can dictate the fate of the world by forcibly controlling all the unpredictable elements in it. In other words, by in-s***ing its people. And he's frustrated by those who won't just roll over and blindly do what he wants them to do. To the central planner, free people, individual human beings acting of their own free will, are always the enemy. Not everyone obediently complying with their edicts, their grand plans can never come together. Not that they ever do anyway, of course. We've seen this mentality fail again and again throughout history, but it's easy to look around and see tons of people in power who still believe that if only everyone would just obey their demands, we would have solved all of our problems. And even though their plans are always dependent on the utterly irresponsible assumption that everyone will just do whatever they tell them to do, and never disagree with or disobey their wishes, it's somehow never the technocrats who admit that they're wrong. Ultron is nothing, if not certain, in his conviction that the only way to lasting peace is to rid the world of any trace of individuality. They say that if it's not allowed to evolve, that he's these puppets and only one path to peace is extinction. Like every tyrannical d***er who's ever lived, Ultron's biggest problem will always be people who don't fall in line with his vision of progress. And with all of his processing power and access to information, he still doesn't know what's best for every other person on the planet. He can't. No one can, no matter how smart or how informed, because what's best depends on all sorts of things that can only ever be known to the individual. Their values and beliefs, their emotions and personal experiences, their sense of morality, right and wrong. The only way to get around this is to ignore what makes individuals unique and dismiss their preferences outright. It's pretty easy to do when you believe yourself to be everyone's superior, but this comes at the cost of other people's values, hopes and dreams, so you end up creating strong incentives for the people whose lives you're ruining to eventually rise up and stop you. And this leads us to Ultron's second major intellectual failing. Ultron talks a lot about evolution and getting people to become better versions of themselves, but what he means is conformity. It takes her a while, but Wanda Maximov ultimately sees the truth. How could you? How could I what? You said we would destroy the Avengers. Make a better world. It will be better. When everyone is dead. That is not... The human race will have every opportunity to improve. And if they don't? As Noah. You're mad, man. Ultron thinks he's being magnanimous by giving people the chance to better themselves. But when he gets to define what better means, all he's really doing is saying that everyone must align with his vision of perfection. What he calls improvement is really just forcing people to become more like him. Most people seem to implicitly recognize that this behavior is evil when they see its most terrifying results, but they rarely think about how frequently regular people try to force others to conform to their beliefs on a smaller scale. But these actions matter too. A long time ago, when I first started thinking about these kinds of ideas, I began with a simple question. What right do I have to force other people to do and be what I want them to be? In other words, do I have the moral authority to assert control over anyone besides myself? And if I do, what are my limits? Similarly, what right does anyone else have to impose their values on me? I thought about these questions for a long time, and I've never found a rational or moral justification for giving anyone the kind of power it takes to control individuals' choices beyond the childish complaint that other people don't always do things the way I'd prefer. Well, no kidding. They don't. But neither do I. None of us will ever behave or think in ways that literally everyone else on the planet would want. That's what it means to be unique. But the fact that we're unique also means that it's incredibly dangerous to empower anyone, or any group, to make the kinds of decisions Ultron or Tony Stark wants to make for the whole world. That power denies the agency and moral worth of the individual. It treats others as no more than an army of disposable robots who only exist to do what you tell them to do. And even if you're not interested in the deontological claim and think of yourself as a pragmatist, this is still a bad idea. Unless you're the supreme holder of power for all eternity, supporting a dictatorship is probably not going to be good for you in the long run either, just as it's always terrible for everyone who has to suffer under your rule. Ultron's programming doesn't allow him to understand where he's gone wrong, but the rest of us don't have to make his mistakes. And fortunately, even if some of us do go down the wrong path, it's usually not too late to turn around. None of us starts out knowing everything, and none of us is perfect, so we should always approach other people with a little charity and humility, and realize that even the people we think are our enemies can, under the right circumstances, become our friends. Let's look at Wanda and Pietro. When we're first introduced to the Maximoff twins, they're defending Wolfgang von Strucker's secret hydra base. At the beginning of the film, they are the Avengers' most dangerous enemies, and they have good reason to be. We're ten years old, having dinner with the four of us, and the first shell hits two floors below it makes a hole in the floor. I grab her, roll under the bed, and the second shell hits, but it doesn't go off. It just sits there in the rubble, and on the side of the shell. He's painted one word. Stark. I wondered why only you two survive Strucker's experiments. Now I don't. They're not monsters. When Ultron recruits them to his mission, they have a completely understandable motivation to join him. But because they're successfully attacking the Avengers, most of the team sees them as enemies to be destroyed. But thankfully, two of our heroes are able to see beyond the surface, and that makes all the difference. Files says they volunteered for Strucker's experiments. He's nuts. Right. What kind of monster would let a German scientist experiment on them to protect their country? We're not at war, Captain. They are. Steve Rogers sees himself in the Maximoff twins, and this act of empathy opens the door for Captain America to take a different approach when dealing with them. Instead of treating Wanda and Pietro as enemy combatants to be put down with overwhelming force, he sees them as people who are worth persuading. I know you've suffered. He takes the time to understand them and show them that the Avengers aren't what they've been led to believe. This olive branch is the first step towards changing their minds. And soon enough, Wanda starts re-evaluating her own beliefs. Meanwhile, Hawkeye sees something else in the twins as well, his own kids. Ultron has these allies, these kids or punks, really. They carry a big damn stick, and that took a serious hit. Someone's going to have to teach him some manners. And that's someone being you. Age of Ultron reveals that Clint Barton has a secret family. These are smaller agents. In one of my favorite sequences in the film, which also seems to be most people's least favorite, Hawkeye's character actually gets some much needed development. And one of the most important elements of that is fatherhood. It changes the nature of his relationship with Wanda and Pietro. Even though Pietro seriously injured him in their first encounter, and Wanda caused incalculable damage after messing with Bruce Banner's mind, just like Steve, Clint still doesn't see them as enemies to destroy, but as misguided youth in need of a better role model. Hey, hey, you OK? It's all our fault. Hey, look at me. It's your fault, it's everyone's fault. Who cares? Are you up for this? How are you? OK, look, the city is flying. We're fighting an army of robots. And I have a bow and arrow. None of this makes sense. But I'm going back out there because it's my job. Doesn't matter what you did or what you were. If you go out there, you fight and you fight to kill. Stay in here, you're good. I'll send your brother to come find you. But if you step out that door, you are an Avenger. These two moments are really important because they represent a completely different way of thinking about people who disagree with you. They're also quietly the antithesis of Ultron's entire worldview. Instead of dehumanizing Wanda and Pietro and treating them as villains who need to be eliminated or reprogrammed, both Captain America and Hawkeye see beyond their mistakes and find the valuable individuals underneath. In other words, they act like heroes and save them instead of using their transgressions as an opportunity to exact revenge. And in doing so, they show the Maximoffs how to do the same. Wanda and Pietro's storyline shows us that it's actually possible to start out believing some people are your enemies and over time come to see them as friends and allies. And all it takes is for one side of the fight to begin the process of deescalation by turning conflict into conversation. This can take some time and effort, but the goal should be to get to a point where everyone calms down and tries to understand competing perspectives. It doesn't mean that we all have to agree on everything, just that we treat each other with a little empathy and respect in the search for common ground. Alas, this is something we don't see very often right now. And in my view, a big part of the reason why is that a whole lot of folks seem to believe that if someone does even one thing wrong, they must be utterly irredeemable. And as everyone knows, irredeemable people must be canceled and exiled, not persuaded and reasoned with, which brings me to my final point. Age of Ultron is not a perfect film. For one thing, there's probably way too many storylines crammed into it that exist solely to set up other movies. From Thor's vision of Ragnarok and the Infinity Stones, to the introduction of Wakanda, to the setup for Captain America's Civil War, there's a lot going on here that doesn't really advance the central plot of Age of Ultron itself. Plus, it's peak Joss Whedon in a way that's a little obnoxious. Every character is constantly quipping and making jokes, even when something horrible just happened and it would be super inappropriate. But just like a person, a film doesn't need to be flawless in order to be worth spending time with. We've reached a weird point in our culture where imperfections are met with scorn and disgust instead of compassion. But just because something isn't perfect, just because there are aspects of something you might disagree with, just because you don't absolutely love how a thing makes you feel 100% of the time, that's okay. It's still possible to find value in it and learn something from it. And as I hope you've seen, there's a lot to learn from Age of Ultron. We've now come to the part of the video where I pull everything together and show how all the things I just talked about have a connection to everything that's currently happening around the world. But this is also the part where I have to be extremely careful with what I say lest YouTube's senators prevent this video from being seen by anyone at all, like they have with so many others on this channel. No one else is gonna deal with the fact that Cap just said language. I know. So let me begin by asking you a question. Can you think of anything from these five lessons that reminds you of real life? I sure do. For example, it might be two on the nose to point out the modern parallel to Tony Stark's belief that the way to save the world is to lock it down. We've all gotten a front row seat for that idea in action. But seriously, after a year, have the ones eliminated all risk or even ended the vice that everyone's so afraid of? No matter how many headlines you see extolling their virtues, the evidence says no. In fact, unless you torture data to make it give you the results you want, there's no correlation between lock-ons and d***s. At best, they slightly delay the problem and don't fix anything. Of course, this is far from the only connection we can find to Tony's bad philosophy. Has the war on drugs resulted in less drug abuse? Has it resulted in fewer cartels or gangs selling drugs on the black market or fewer overshadows? Have the past two decades fighting the war on terror resulted in a safer world totally free from terrorism? Or has it mostly just meant an endless and absurdly expensive conflict that has done little but empower governments to violate the rights of their own citizens? We are constantly told to give up our freedom for security and people do it because they're afraid. And yet, those policies rarely achieve their promised results any better than Tony Stark's grand visions of the world materialized the way he intends. We all suffer needlessly for little to no benefit. Moving on to Ultron, I ask you this. Do you see any instances of people who believe they're being charitable by allowing others to improve based on their own narrow authoritarian definitions? Do you see technocrats and central planners demanding the power to squash individual choices in the name of the greater good? Have you recently seen anyone treat others as utterly expendable while pursuing their own ambitious desires? Finally, with Wanda and Pietro, can you look at the world as it is right now and see that the constant drumbeat of vilification and dehumanization coming from our most ex-f***ing fringes only creates more people who see themselves as enemies? And perhaps my most challenging question of all, can you find it in yourself to look past some of your supposed enemies' faults and shortcomings and see the human being underneath? Because if you can't, and if they can't see the same in you, then everything that's wrong with our society will only continue to get worse. Age of Ultron gives us an opportunity to ask all these questions and more, but it can also inspire us to become better, more heroic role models for everyone around us, including those who reflexively think of us as their enemy. Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire. And that's what we signed up for, but the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out. All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not gonna happen today. But we can do our best to protect them and we can get the job done. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world. This isn't just about beating them. It's about whether he's right. As someone whose mission in life is to persuade others to see the value and benefits of a free society, I'm often worried that we're on the wrong path right now. But maybe if we can all take a few of these lessons to heart, we can still turn around before it's too late. Hey everybody, thanks for watching this episode of Out of Frame. I really do think Age of Ultron is an underrated film, so if you haven't seen it in a while, go check it out and let me know if you see what I see in it in the comments. And if you wanna participate in even more conversation about the show, we recently opened up our Discord to the public and we'd love to see you there. Also definitely check out our Behind the Scenes podcast. The audio is available all over the place, but if you prefer a video version, we've set up a YouTube channel just for that. It comes out every Friday, but our Patreon and Subscribestar supporters get early access and special bonus content. Speaking of our supporters, I especially wanna thank our associate producers. To Connor McGowan, Richard Lawrence, Matt Tabor and Vega Starlight, thank you. Find the links for that and everything else I mentioned in the description below. And as always, be sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel, ring that bell icon and look for our Out of Frame accounts on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram. See you next time.