First official images for The Avengers: Age of Ultron

I'm a bit surprised this is hitting now and not at Comic-Con later this month, but I'll take it.

Marvel has released, via Entertainment Weekly, the first images from The Avengers: Age of Ultron. The film is the featured story in the upcoming magazine issue and includes an interview with director Joss Whedon.

With these images we get the first official look at Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch along with confirmation that Colonel James Rhodes, aka War Machine/Iron Patriot, will be in this Avengers film. We also see Banner working closely with Stark and what seems like an Avengers party in the Stark tower.
Joss Whedon also elaborated a bit on what role the villain robot, Ultron, will play in the film. There is already confirmation that Ultron is being portrayed by James Spader via motion capture, but he originates directly from Tony Stark as he creates an AI robot to replace the necessity for him to physically wear the Iron Man suit. Seeing that Ultron is AI and much smarter than the average human, he determines that Earth would be better without humans and aims to destroy them.

I am sure we will know more after Comic-Con next week and that we might even get another teaser like we did last year. However, it is possible that Marvel will do what they did with the first Avengers film and save the teaser for the post-credits scene of Guardians of the Galaxy. Either way, I'm sure we will see some footage soon. The Avengers: Age of Ultron opens on May 1, 2015.

Guardians of the Galaxy will tie into The Avengers 3

Curiosity is rising regarding Marvel's next release, Guardians of the Galaxy, in terms of how it will tie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Director James Gunn recently spoke on the subject and said it will tie into the third Avengers installment.

Captain America once again served as a prequel to The Avengers with The Winter Soldier going right into The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Speculation about how Guardians of the Galaxy will tie into everything has been elaborated on a bit by director James Gunn.
Gunn made perhaps the biggest statement by confirming that Thanos will be appearing in GOTG via motion capture. Thanos is described to be the "head of the snake." Many assume the villain would appear in the second Avengers film, but he was passed over for Ultron and now it seems that reason was so he could appear in Guardians of the Galaxy.
In addition to this, the Infinity Stones have been teased in the existing Marvel films. In the comics, Thanos collects the stones to power The Infinity Gauntlet which gives him ultimate and unlimited power. So far the "stones" we have seen are the Tesseract and the Aether. From what we have seen from Guardians of the Galaxy so far, the orb sought after by Star-Lord might be serving as another piece of the Gauntlet. I also wouldn't count another piece appearing in Ant-Man.

The one thing we need to remember regarding this movie is it is a precursor and introduction to Marvel Phase Three which is moving away from the main heroes we have been dealing with since Iron Man's debut back in 2008. We are dealing with different villains, different heroes, and different stories. I am sure there will be some things from Phase Two that will carry into Phase Three, but for now this is what we have and it is mighty exciting.

First look at The Avengers: Age of Ultron

We got some set photos from Italy today regarding The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Within these we got a first peek at Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen), Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), and Ultron (James Spader).

I will admit I wasn't feeling the whole emo, goth thing at first for Scarlet Witch but I have warmed up to it. I still do not like the Quicksilver look, but at least it looks better than the Ramona Flowers lookalike in X-Men: Days of Future Past.

[Updated] Paul Rudd in talks for Ant-Man

So it appears the rumors were true. Paul Rudd is apparently in very early talks to play Ant-Man in the upcoming Marvel film. Hank Pym (aka, Ant-Man) is being brought to us by Edgar Wright on July 31, 2015.

It was originally rumored that Simon Pegg was being considered for the role, but those were shot down after word got out that Wright was leaning towards Rudd for the lead role. Rudd's direct competition was Joseph Gordon-Levitt who just signed on to direct and star in an adaptation of Sandman. It is assumed that Hank Pym will be dealing with the backlash of The Avengers: Age of Ultron seeing that the sequel opens just three months prior to Ant-Man. There are no plot details as of now and no villain set, but it has been said that the main villain from Age of Ultron will not play a part in Ant-Man.
In the comic world, Pym was a founder of The Avengers along with his girlfriend, Janet Van Dyne (aka, Wasp). In the cinematic universe it appears he will be joining the party a little late as we already have Thor, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain America, and Hulk in the group. However, I wouldn't be surprised if they add in a Pym cameo seeing that Ultron is his own creation. Either that or Ultron will ultimately be saved until The Avengers 3.

[UPDATE] Marvel has confirmed that Paul Rudd will play Ant-Man. The studio says this deal has been finalized for quite sometime, it just hadn't been officially released. They also cited that Rudd has been their frontrunner since Wright's film was approved.
After letting this sink in a bit, I don't think Paul Rudd will do a bad job. Similar to the other heroes they have a decent mixture of comedy and seriousness and Paul Rudd is great at balancing both. Welcome aboard, Paul.

James Spader to play Ultron in The Avengers 2

Three-time Emmy winner James Spader has been cast to play the big villain, Ultron, in The Avengers: Age of Ultron. This casting is rather unexpected and we have no further information other than the actual casting.
There is some speculation about exactly how Spader will play Ultron seeing that he is a robot. Some are guessing Spader might do some motion capture and voice work. Others speculate he could just wear a robot costume and be assisted by CGI, similar to what they have done with Iron Man.

When I read this the first thing I thought of was Pretty in Pink. Yes, the John Hughes movie. Since then he has appeared on Boston Legal and The Practice. He was also in Lincoln which was popular around awards season. I think Spader will be a good addition to the Marvel Universe. I give them credit for getting some really great actors in these movies.

Guardians of the Galaxy main villain announced

Kevin Feige has confirmed that Ronan the Accuser (played by Lee Pace) is the main villain in Guardians of the Galaxy. However, Thanos will have a part in the movie. Feige describes the scene as Ronan being the big villain with Thanos sort of overseeing it all and that we will see more than just a couple seconds of him like we did after The Avengers. 
There is still no word on casting for Thanos. Some are suggesting that James Gunn and Marvel could pull another trick on the audience like Shane Black did with Iron Man 3. If you didn't know, the reveal of The Mandarin wasn't really what people expected. Could other characters like The Collector (Benicio del Toro) and Yondu (Michael Rooker) potentially be Thanos in disguise? Nothing is impossible as far as Marvel goes. I think they have proved that by now.
Seeing that Ultron has been revealed as the main villain for The Avengers 2 (aka, The Avengers: Age of Ultron) it is possible that they will tease us with Thanos for years to come. Some are speculating Thanos might not meet his final battle until The Avengers 3. Seeing that this movie leads directly into The Avengers: Age of Ultron, I wouldn't be surprised to see Ultron in one way or another. Even if it's just a post-credits scene.

Aside from villain news, Feige also confirmed that Guardians of the Galaxy takes place in the same timeframe as the other Phase Two films. I suppose that means there could potentially be subtle tie-ins or references to Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Guardians of the Galaxy hits theaters on August 1, 2014 and is the last part of Phase Two before The Avengers: Age of Ultron hits in 2015.