Avengers: Age of Ultron
Christian Movie Review
[Note: after you read my “Age of Ultron” review below, if you’re a fan of C.S. Lewis, please check out my new blog Stabs of Joy or my podcast Aslan’s Paw. Both seek to crack open the surprising treasures of Christian belief — the things that Western society has forgotten, ignored, or never encountered — with the help of logic, literature, film, music, and one very unsafe Lion.]
2012’s “Marvel’s Avengers,” directed by Joss Whedon, earned a whopping 92% on Rotten Tomatoes. And it certainly deserved it.
Joss Whedon is back in the director’s chair, but so far “Avengers: Age of Ultron” — at the time of this writing — only has 75%.
Ouch. Frankly, that’s a little lower than I expected.
But sequels always have it rough.
In this review I’ll give my two cents on whether Avengers 2 is better or worse than the first one, and I’ll discuss any worldviews, subtext, or interesting themes of redemption in this highly anticipated superhero money machine — without any major spoilers.
But first, in case you need to know what kind of parental guidance content is in “Avengers: Age of Ultron”:
Parental Guidance Issues at a Glance…
Sexual Content/Nudity/Themes of Sexuality and Romance: No nudity or sex scenes. Some kissing. Iron Man uses a somewhat juvenile, semi-crude code phrase to describe a couple who he thinks might be having sex.
Violence/Gore: About 70% of the violence is done to robots. Innocent civilians are seen getting tossed aside or roughed up, with some marks of blood on their faces, but no civilians are seen dying or sustaining graphic wounds. A man is grazed by a cannon, and we do see his wound for a moment as he is getting patched up. But it’s not terribly graphic. A man’s arm is chopped off, and we do see it happen, and we see the stub afterward. A woman is seen shooting an innocent man to death. And, actually, the Hulk takes quite a pummeling in this movie. Poor guy. It’s not easy being green.
Language: No f-words. Plenty of b-words, s-words, a-words, etc. — the usual array of swear words found in the English language. Captain America, however — for the most part — frowns on any of the Avengers using obscenities, even when they make fun of him for it. Classic Capt’.
Alcohol/Drug/Smoking Content: None.
Frightening/Emotionally Intense Content: Ultron and his robot minions can be a little creepy, I suppose. If you have an overpowering phobia of robots or human-like machines with artificial intelligence, this is probably not the movie for you.
Squeamish Content: The arm getting chopped off is a little gross.
(Review continues below)
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Entertainment Value and Film Craft
There is no such thing as a bad Marvel movie. Even the weakest ones, Iron Man 2 or perhaps The Incredible Hulk, are still decent movies and are certainly better than the majority of action/adventure movies that are released each year.
With “Avenger: Age of Ultron,” it gets a little complicated. It’s not a cut-and-dry “this is the most amazing, flawless superhero movie ever” reaction, like many of us had with the first Avengers movie.
Its primary weakness?
It doesn’t have the novelty of uniting all of the Marvel heroes together on the same screen for the first time. But nothing could have helped that. No amount of film craft would have changed that. The first Avenger film — that first merging of all these legendary heroes who wowed us in all of their own movies — was a one-time event, never to be duplicated.
For that reason, “Avengers: Age of Ultron” feels just slightly less thrilling — at least in the first act, as the story warms up. But that’s hardly the whole story.
Why Age of Ultron is Still an Amazing Film
However, if you set aside that initial sense of “Why does this not feel as monumentally thrilling as the first Avengers?” and simply judge the film by its own merits, it is a fantastic entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And though it can’t recapture the freshness and novel charm of the first Avengers
, the final act and grand finale of Age of Ultron — in special effects, action, plot, and screenwriting — is much better than the ending of the first Avengers.
I’ll be honest: I resented the way the first Avengers ended. It felt, from page to page in the script, like an approximate rip-off of the ending of “Transformers 3.” In both films, a wormhole was opened and aliens were going to travel through the wormhole and conquer earth; and, in both cases, the heroes had to close the wormhole, etc. etc. The ending of the first Avengers just felt lazy and unimaginative — or just a fantastic coincidence that it mimicked Transformers. (And why would the far superior Marvel series ever feel the need to imitate the Transformers?)
As you can see I still have unresolved issues there — sort of like how Tony Stark had unresolved issues with his experience in New York.
However, I had no such problems with Age of Ultron. The ending was brilliant, perfectly executed, and carefully thought through in the script with imaginative flourishes. Of course, there’s nothing new under the sun, so there’s probably some movie out there that it resembles, but the Ultron finale bested the first Avengers.
Other Awesome Things About the Film Craft
I also thoroughly enjoyed:
1. The constant ribbing of Captain America by the other Avengers. The Capt’ has come to symbolize my culture that I grew up in — the patriotic, proudly old-fashioned, evangelical American Christian culture — and the film expands on some of the traits of the Captain’s “old-fashioned” America in ways that are comical. But somehow it’s not insulting — not to him or to the culture that he represents. Somehow it makes the ol’ Capt’ even more likeable as a character.
2. There are a couple of minor cameos of characters from the Thor films, who are some of my favorite supporting characters in the Marvel series.
3. I loved how Age of Ultron didn’t neglect the stories of the heroes. In moderate but meaningful increments, the film advanced the story lines of every Avenger and added a few more heroes to the mix in the process — an admirable screenwriting feat.
Age of Ultron does some things better than any of the other Marvel movies as it casts a wide net of introspection over everything and forces the Avengers to ask: are we a curse or a blessing to this world? (And it has some action sequences, like the Iron Man vs. Hulk scene, that will likely become legendary). With those strengths, it burns bright and stands out from the growing army of Marvel movies that have accumulated since “Iron Man” hit the screens on May 2, 2008.
Is it the best Marvel movie yet? Honestly, I’m not sure. I need a few more days to let the film sink in. Whether or not any consensus is formed among the fans, one thing is clear: it’s at least one of the best installments of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Worldviews, Subtext, Symbolism, Themes of Redemption, Etc.
The film’s plot — and some of the key moments of dialogue from the “wise sage” characters — carries the dogmatic assumption that macro-evolution, the belief that the theory of macro-evolution explains both the origin and the ultimate destiny of humanity, is fact, not theory.
The film perhaps dabbles in Monism as well — a vague version of it that perhaps draws a little from Zen Buddhism or Taoism (two very popular worldviews in Hollywood) — when one of the wise sage characters states, with a sort of know-it-all benevolence: “the humans still think that order and chaos are opposites.” If you accept the premise that chaos equates to evil, then that quote from the film might be another way of saying that any perceived dualism in the universe — order and chaos, good and evil — is an illusion. [However, one of our readers, TSK, makes an interesting argument in a comment below that good things like free will might be defined as “chaos,” and that chaos isn’t intrinsically evil; it is only evil when it is used for evil purposes.]
But then you’ve got, of course, the overarching Norse mythology of Thor that binds the Marvel Universe together. And you’ve got Captain America, a great arch-type of the noble, “old-fashioned,” Judeo-Christian persona (or stereotype, perhaps) of American’s Greatest Generation.
So what does it all add up to? Well, on the surface, it’s exactly what we’d expect from Hollywood: a mash-up collage of worldviews that synthesizes into a postmodern moral framework — a wild blender mix of this and that and a little bit of everything else.
But Wait, Did You Know the Bible is in this Movie?
But there’s some fascinating subtext in this movie and some influence from the Bible that most folks in America will probably miss (at least, judging by the man-on-the-street interviews that Nolan Lebovitz did for “Roadmap Genesis,” which exposed a very low Biblical literacy in our culture).
The Bible gets a few quotes: the use of “I Am” as a name, a mentioning of the verse that says that the earth groans and breaks under the weight of humanity’s wickedness (though the film paraphrases and tweaks it a little to fit their own context), and a few others.
But, as far as an underlying message, Age of Ultron explores many themes — too many to explore in full. I’ll simply mention my three favorite themes from the film that, in my opinion, could bear the weight of spiritual symbolism. Before I get into these, however, I should qualify the whole thing with something I wrote in the comments to one of our readers:
[Any symbolism in this film] is all very much a loose, imperfect analogy [to Biblical truth]. And I’m certain the filmmakers didn’t intend it. But that’s the kind of random stuff I like to think about after I see a movie — especially with what is essentially modern society’s version of campfire storytelling/mythology. Even if a movie is imperfect, I think it’s fun to search for the good in it and try to rework its content in creative ways — to essentially build our own parables from them — that we can use to explain the Gospel to the modern world.
With that qualifier in mind, here are some thought-provoking themes in the film:
1. The battle of the mind. Similar to Loki’s machinations in “Marvel’s Avengers,” “Age of Ultron” sees its heroes facing an internal mental battle that threatens to sabotage their mission. Although this might sound repetitive, Age of Ultron uses it to good effect. It has some interesting parallels to the Biblical concept of spiritual warfare.
2. A fascinating symbolism of our fallen nature. [Minor Spoiler] Ultron works as a powerful symbol of our fallen, corrupt nature apart from the redemptive, transforming work of Christ. Ultron is, put very simply, an extension of Tony Stark — the fruit of Tony Stark’s mind. However, that fruit falls and becomes corrupt — an imperfect version of Tony Stark — and though Ultron bears some resemblances to his creator, he has, of his own free will, transformed himself into something that Stark never intended.
As we see Ultron’s character develop, it becomes clear what Ultron loves: death. The whole situation parallels very well with Romans 8:13: “For if you live according to t
he flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Romans 8:6 works too: “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
And this leads to the third theme.
3. A symbol for the Author of Life. This is probably the most imperfect analogy/symbolism on my list, but I’ll mention it anyways. There’s a character in the film who states that he is “for life” — meaning, he is there to promote and protect life. It reminded me of what Jesus says in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (emphasis mine).
This character, who eventually becomes Ultron’s most powerful rival (I won’t say who — no spoilers), could easily work as a symbol of God/Jesus. This character even calls himself “I Am” at one point.
I Am is the name that God gives Himself when He speaks to Moses. Jesus also referred to Himself as “I Am” (which was one of the reasons the Pharisees wanted to kill Him because He was claiming to be equal with God).
As John 8:57,58 says: “’You are not yet fifty years old,’ they said to him, ‘and you have seen Abraham!’ ‘Very truly I tell you,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I Am!’ At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds” (NIV).
This character in the film reminded me of some of the qualities of Jesus. This character also had a loose symbolic analogy to the fully human, fully divine dual nature of Jesus. Can’t say much more without spoiling stuff, so I’ll leave it at that. And it is an imperfect analogy. I get into it in more detail in the comments section.
Why Age of Ultron Could Spark Some Life-Changing Conversations
Between these three themes alone, there are some fascinating spiritual parallels and conversation starters. You can sit around with your friends and ask questions like this:
1. How do the mental battles that the Avengers face mirror the spiritual warfare that the Bible teaches about?
2. How does Ultron’s flawed nature resemble the corruption of what the Bible calls our “flesh,” and how do the Avengers symbolize the Body of Christ coming together to help each other overcome our fallen natures?
3. How does the “creation” drama of Ultron’s rival symbolize humanity’s futile efforts to make themselves righteous and “in touch” with the divine by their own works-based efforts? When Ultron’s rival does finally come to life — in a very dramatic way — how does that symbolize God’s intervention in our lives as He works to fill us with His life and transform us “from glory to glory?”
Conclusion: Age of Ultron Stirs Profound Themes and Questions In the Imagination
I’m not claiming that the filmmakers of “Avengers: Age of Ultron” intentionally set out to embed this spiritual subtext and symbolism into the film. But, in my opinion, it’s more subtle proof that:
A) The Bible still has a tremendous subconscious influence over popular culture — as Kevin Harvey’s new book (All You Want to Know About the Bible in Pop Culture: Finding Our Creator in Superheroes, Prince Charming, and Other Modern Marvels) proves in a compelling way
and/or
B) God has planted His image and the eternal hunger for the True Superhero (Christ), into the heart of every human being, whether they realize it or not. Therefore, even when secular people make films, these spiritual themes find their way in.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 says it best:
“Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.”
Although Avengers, on the surface, has the typical comic book mash-up of secular/postmodern worldviews, beneath all of those things I can still feel the pounding pulse of people made in God’s image who, whether they realize it or not, carry eternity in their hearts and hunger for the One who put it there.
But, whether you’re in it for the deep layers of meaning or not, one thing is true: “Avengers: Age of Ultron” is one heck of a movie (as Captain America would say).
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Wow! Never expected the review to go near that deep but glad it did. Awesome job!
Cool, thanks! Appreciate it. Yeah, the movie kind of puts you in an introspective mood (well, besides the tons and tons of action scenes). Or maybe I was just in an introspective mood — haha.
*Spoilers*
Interesting, another thing I picked up on was when Ultron answered Scarlet Witch’s question about creating the better world if people choose not to evolve.
His answer? “Ask Noah.”
And then he goes on about how every time humanity is about to evolve or progress, God hurls a stone at it.
But the most profound line was when he said “And let me tell you, he’s winding up.”
Whoa.
*Spoilers*
Good catch, Leighton. Ultron is definitely borrowing Biblical references, but then pasting them onto his apparent naturalist/evolutionary worldview, like in that scene you mentioned. He sort of subverts the Biblical account of Noah — misappropriates it. The Biblical account tells that God sent the Flood as judgment because the wickedness of humanity had reached an indescribable level of evil. Ultron borrows the Noah reference to sort of justify his view, which is a take no prisoners application (some might say logical conclusion) of the “survival of the fittest” worldview in evolution theory. Ultras says he wants to “remove the weak.” In another scene a character says that Ultron “can’t tell the difference between saving the world and destroying it.” Ultron is sort of the extreme poster child of eugenics (which is a diabolical philosophy, in my opinion). Ultron quotes the Bible in other places: “Upon this rock I will build my church” — referring to the metal he obtains. In another scene he tells Iron Man, “Have you come here to confess your sins?” And then the subtle “I Am” reference from Vision is another notable one. The Bible finds its way into this movie a lot — though, not surprisingly, tweaked and used for different purposes for the film’s story. It’s amazing, however, how much subconscious influence the Bible still has on pop culture, which was Kevin Harvey’s point in his new book. Even when the movie reworks terminology for its own use, these Bible references give many opportunities for people to engage in conversations about the Bible when talking to their friends and explain the real meaning of those quotes and engage in meaningful talk about God and spiritual topics, etc.
MARVEL WENT TO FAR IN CREATING ITS NEW AVENGER AS IT INTRODUCE HIMSELF AS SOMEONE HE CAN’T BE. THERE IS ONLY ONE AND IT’S NOT MARVEL. HOW DID YOU MISS THIS DURING THE MOVIE? SURE THERE’S LAYERS BUT NO ONE SHOULD UTTER THAT ABOUT THEMSELVES.
The new Marvel character isn’t literally saying he is God in the same sense as “I Am” is used in the Bible. My point was that the film borrows from Biblical terminology, and that makes it possible to speculate about interesting symbolism.
I’m still concerned the writer knew the meaning. If the writer had wanted to express the dawning of his new nature. Than he could have expressed it as, “I, I, hmmm” but I believe the utterance came as one saying their given name. The tone definitely sounded more of all knowing not just trying coming to grips with its new reality. My spirit felt torn.
I see your point, Ted. It did kind of come across that way didn’t it, the more I think about it. I’ll have to ponder that. Interesting point — thanks for sharing.
*Spoilers*
Here is the actual quote from the film “I’m not Ultron, I’m not J.A.R.V.I.S. I am… I am” -The Vision
Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I Am! Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him, but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple.” – John 8:58-59
When Jesus referred to himself as I AM he was saying he was God and that’s why they wanted to stone him. Because in the old testament when Moses asks God what his name is God says.
God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” – Exodus 3:14
I have watched movies where characters refer to themselves as god or referencing something as God, so really the word “god” can mean anything. I guess when you use the words I Am it’s directly referring to The Holy Trinity. I guess what I’m wondering is where the symbolism comes in the play because the man made AI said he was I AM when he was asked who he was. The beginning of the film no one deemed worthy to put up Thor’s hammer then the The Vision is born as a result of Thor’s lighting and he is seen as the only one who is worthy to hold Thor’s hammer. Is the symbolism supposed be that Thor is God almighty and The Vision is Jesus?
*Spoilers*
Travis: Yeah, I think I was hinting at an analogy — just in that scene with Thor and Vision, not throughout the whole movie — with Thor as God the Father and Vision as Jesus. You could say that Vision sort of mirrors the fully human, fully divine traits of Jesus. Vision is made of flesh and man-born A.I., but he also has a wholly non-human “divine” component in him “from above” (referring to the infinity stone that was placed in him) — and the way Thor, who is also “from above,” brought Vision into the world. It’s definitely an imperfect, loose analogy. I’m sure the filmmakers never intended it. I just think it’s an interesting coincidental comparison and perhaps an interesting “parable” that one can use to explain Jesus’ fully human, fully divine dual nature.
But more interesting, perhaps, is how Ultron could symbolize the “fruit of the flesh” and the “wisdom of man” and how Vision could symbolize the opposite: “the fruit of the Spirit” and the “wisdom of God.” I think Ultron is an interesting analogy for the fallen nature, and Vision — who, yes, is made by the “will of man” when he is constructed, but is transformed by something “from above” when the infinity stone is placed in him — could be an analogy of the “new creature” that a person becomes when Christ indwells and transforms him or her.
It’s all very much a loose, imperfect analogy. And I’m certain the filmmakers didn’t intend it. But that’s the kind of random stuff I like to think about after I see a movie, haha — especially with what is essentially modern society’s version of campfire storytelling/mythology (i.e. comic book heroes). Even if a movie is imperfect, I think it’s fun to search for the good in it and try to rework its content in creative ways — to essentially build our own parables from them — that we can use to explain the Gospel to the modern world.
I do think the film makers had a clear idea of what they were trying to depict in the creation of the Vision character. The name choice and how he was brought to life was not coincidental in the least bit. The underlying biblical parables as well as the statements were woven into the story.
The order versus chaos thing isn’t false. The mistake is applying as media has worked very hard to suggest that order equates to good and chaos equates to evil. Many chaotic actions are good and many ordered actions are capable of being evil. Rather both are abused quite more often. The evil is in what humans do in reaction to or in causing of the two. The two co-exist and are co-dependent, and as such not different. You are imprinting the modern popular imagery of chaos as evil when you give it an evil context. The act of accepting salvation via Jesus Christ is an act of free will and hence chaos. If it was ordered entirely we would maintain as slaves of our sinful nature. I need make no argument for why order can be good I should hope.
Interesting point, TSK. I’ve added a notation/revision in my review that references your comment.
I totally agree with you TED!!! When he said he was “I am” I immediately said aloud, ” The devil is a liar!” No one should ever claim to be our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I don’t care if it is a movie. That is the spirit of anti-christ.
*Spoilers*
When Ultron is bringing his horde of robots against the Avengers they are fighting in a church. That may symbolically represent a few things:
The avengers are all made up of different heroes to create the whole team, much as the body of Christ is all made from different parts to create the church.
Also, Vision, after taking on the persona of Jesus, tells the “church” they cannot defeat Ultron unless they are together. The entire idea of a union of many different parts, joined to fight against evil is quite a parallel to the war of God vs Satan.
Speaking about the Scarlet Witch, when she is a tool of Ultron (the enemy), he tells us that he does not need to do much to destroy the Avengers (church), they in fact divide against themselves with simple confusion/suggestion. In fact, her mind control can be seen as deception which is Satan’s number one trick.
Ultron also desires to be beautiful, he is full of vanity and desires to be seen, to be above his creator, Stark, to the point he rages against anyone who calls him similar. Ultron represents Pride comes before the Fall quite well, he reflects Satan and his character traits quite accurately.
All in all, I do not believe the makers of the movie tried to put all this Biblical symbolism in the movie, they merely knew some quotes from the bible and took some themes out of context.
In the end I believe when someone creates a story that removes shades of grey from the scenes, i.e. Good VS Evil, you will naturally invent a character like Jesus and the Devil for it is within all of us to recognize the truth when we hear it, even if some of us choose to ignore it, our spirits carry within us the truth. This world is black and white, with no shades of gray. The enemy would like us to believe there is gray but God is perfect and holy as is Jesus and His church will be blameless and perfect and WE are the church. The Spiritual world is an unending war and this movie reflects that truth. I think anytime we tell a story that reflects the truth of this world we will inevitably bring out themes from the bible without even trying.
Wow, BenR, extremely well said!! I wholeheartedly agree, and your point about the eternal Biblical truths that will exist innately within a good vs. evil story like Avengers really hits the nail on the head.
I love this review and the comments, I am actually thankful for it. I believ e your review is an answer yo prayer. I have recently been doing my best to commune with the Holy Spirit, and was concerned to go to this movie due to the potentially violent nature of it. However I am a HUGE marvel fan, for a bunch of reasons, including the Xmen days of futures past timeline stories and their parallels to the end times. I have always seen many parallels in marvel with stories from the Bible. I don’t know for sure if they were intended per say but I believe the closer we are in communion with the Holy Spirit we will start to perceive this world and its media from Gods perspective. I found the movie funny and witty as always. But I was concerned at some of the attempts at Biblical messages. ‘I AM’ specifically. However, that being said your review helped me to understand that the Truths of Gods word, even used in media are still living and cannot be twisted or changed. The character you speak of (No spoilers) seems more connected with the Holy Spirit to me than anything. Especially considering the name of the source of his power :-). Of course it needs to be remembered that this all needs to be filtered through Gods Word, and not through our hearts. (Jer 17:9) And let Gods Spirit, the Spirit of Truth reveal his meaning in all things..
Thanks again for your review 🙂
Incredibly encouraging to read your comment, James. You put it really well — filtering everything through God’s word — and, honestly, I am writing these reviews for people like yourself. So I’m just relieved it is connecting with the kind of folks I thought would really be blessed by it.
I also would likey you Kevin to elaborate on when Ultron takes the “uranium” (i believe it is) and quotes Jesus while taking the uranium and says “upon this rock I will build my church”
*Spoilers
Yeah, that was an interesting one, Marc. It’s also interesting (though not for spiritual reasons) that Marvel Comics invented a fictional metal called vibranium to be the substance that is used to make Captain America’s shield (and the same substance Ultron wants). I think that line with Ultron quoting Jesus — at least from the filmmaker’s perspective — was intended to create irony, which added emphasis to Ultron’s evil but also gave Ultron an eerily human vibe (since sarcasm and irony are one of the hallmarks of society’s humor). And because we (including myself) sometimes forget the actual definition of “irony” (we often misuse the word), I looked up the official definition: “the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect.” I think Ultron’s use of Jesus’ words is a perfect example of unintended irony (from Ultron’s point of view). He’s quoting Jesus — the Savior of the world — but using the words to signify an opposite intention: he plans to use the vibranium to destroy the world and cause a mass extinction event. In Ultron’s mind, he is saving the world, so perhaps Ultron really means the words sincerely and not ironically; he’s deluded and twisted enough to think that he really is saving the world. But, to everyone else — the Avengers and the audience — it’s a completely ironic statement.
If we were to try to pull some symbolism from it, I think it might work legitimately as an allegory of how the pride of human nature can blind a person until they genuinely think that right is wrong and wrong is right. It reminds me of when Jesus said this: “…the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service” (John 16:2).
So that whole scene could work a little bit, perhaps, as a cautionary tale of how we can be susceptible to self-delusion and pride to the point of causing harm (emotionally or physically) to others, and we use all sorts of seemingly righteous (in our own eyes) reasons to justify our behavior. Pharisaical religious people can be guilty of this, of course, in a variety of ways, but I’ve seen this principle bear out in every corner of culture — i.e. from secular, anti-Christian activists at the very liberal college where I attended. A professor at my alma mater was a rabidly, radically pro-choice activist, and as she passed a pro-life booth on campus she physically assaulted the pro-life person (and actually drew blood at one point). She was arrested for assault. She believed wholeheartedly, however, that she was justified to do that.
But the pride/self-delusion angle is probably just one angle on that particular scene. I bet there are quite a few other angles.
I know I’m over-thinking all of this, haha, but frankly that’s half (or more than half) the fun of seeing films like Age of Ultron.
Thanks much for taking time to reply, your insight claryfied what looked kinda blurry in my mind
Spoiler:
How about when Tony Stark said “Jarvis take the wheel ” (Jesus take the wheel??)” . Lol!! Jarvis appears to fit the “savior” roll. Dies and comes back to life. I think that’s why they had him say “I am” as Jesus did. And how about how he could have wiped out the adversary at any moment, but he allowed the avengers to be a part of the glory story. And finally destroys him in the end. And the enemy, ultron, twisting Bible stories like Noah, mocking and copying the words of God. Interesting commentary!
Ooh those are good ones, Lauren! LOL – “Jarvis take the wheel”) The bumper sticker “Jarvis is my co-pilot” also made me laugh (and fits with what you pointed out). Great insights — didn’t even notice those. Awesome!
By the way, I can’t even BEGIN to tell you how much I love your post about the whole Christians leaving the church thing: http://theapologista.com/2015/05/14/the-real-real-reason-people-are-leaving-the-church/ Finally, someone put into words what has been drifting in a wordless nebula in my head. THANK YOU!
What a kind thing to say! I am glad! I totally missed the copilot bumper sticker, when was that??
Sure thing! Yeah, the bumper sticker is seen in a quick shot (I think) when the Avengers board Stark’s aircraft in the beginning after they retrieve Loki’s scepter, and they’re flying back to headquarters. And when Stark goes up to the cockpit, the camera lingers on a yellow bumper sticker next to his control panel for a second or two.
First of all, thank you for the review. I have been championing the idea that all the stories we tell are (with varying degrees of accuracy) retellings of the over-arching Biblical salvation narrative among my friends and family ad nauseum. It is refreshing to hear these ideas coming from another voice 🙂
I didn’t read all of the comments, but what I did read, both within and in the review itself, I found incredibly insightful. I found myself here in response to a Christian brother of mine ranting on Facebook about Vision’s use of the phrase “I am”. It shocked me that I had totally missed it in my viewing of the movie, and I wanted to get some perspective.
In reflecting on the scene I believe that the reason my brain glossed over it was because I viewed the reference as less theological in nature and more in line with Descartes’ famous line “I think, therefore I am.” Obviously there are HUGE salvific overtones in the character of Vision, with his dual created-yet-wholly-other nature and the fact that an outside incredible force was needed to save a humanity that was impotent to do so even with its greatest heroes assembled. But I didn’t perceive Vision as viewing himself as a Messianic figure. I don’t even think he knew what he was. But he was falling back to the principle that he WAS. He was alive and real and autonomous and that put him on a path of self-discovery which each of us has to walk.
I understand the outrage at a figure being set-up in place of God. It is interesting to me that the outrage is inspired not by a villain, say Ultron, who often purposefully set themselves up as divine figures, but rather a hero who is legitimately trying to do the right thing, but that is an idea for another post. I see the connection that people are drawing between the scripted line and the passages of Scripture mentioned above. But I think that if we look at the context, it is more about a new type of being discovering its identity than it is about a blasphemic portrayal of an antichrist.
Those are my two cents, for what they are worth.
Amazing observations, Jameson. When I read the part about Descartes, I slapped my forehead, and said, “Of course! How did I miss that? That’s so true!” (Okay I didn’t really slap my forehead, but I wanted to.) I was, frankly, a bit surprised by the outrage too (though I can see where they’re coming from emotionally). But I think there is some confusion about the difference between literal and figurative. Because Avengers is technically in the sci-fi/fantasy (emphasis on the fantasy) genre of entertainment, that immediately removes it from a literal interpretation, in my opinion. Personally I thought Vision was one of the most likeable characters in the film. Anyhow, it’s all my two cents too. I tried not to get dogmatic about my interpretations because later I usually find better ones from readers in the comments, and I learn new things. Thanks for the kind words — really appreciate it!!!
Saw this movie last night and my wife and i both noticed most of the religious elements mentioned here. Found this page this morning by Googling “allegory Age of Ultron” out of curiosity. It was very high in the results.
Several here expressed some level of doubt that Christian symbolism/subtext was intentional. It would almost be insulting to the storytellers to suggest that they created these phenomena by accident or coincidence.
It would take an insane leap of faith to assume that the messianic character sequence of Jarvis and the repeated Christ-references, along with Ultron’s self-descriptions recalling the fallen angel Lucifer, his mockery of biblical characters/passages, his deception and subversion of the human race, and the entire Revelation-esque narrative of a god-figure coming to earth to defeat evil and save humanity, weren’t all assembled by design and are instead just bits and pieces of biblical text deposited from cultural ethos into the story through the unconscious minds of the writers.
Also, whether you believe in evolutionary theory/natural selection or not, let’s keep in perspective this is a sci-fi/fantasy, comic based film where the central premise is that the heroes are mutated humans. In order to have this film, we all had to suspend any disbelief that may have existed in the possibility of human evolution via genetic mutation. This is non-negotiable, even for Christians such as myself, so it’s hardly fair to accept the heroes’ inborn genetic transformation into The Avengers as necessary premise, and then later criticize dialogue referring back to “evolution” as supportive of a particular worldview. You may as well criticize Tolkien for writing about elves, dwarves, and hobbits since God only created one being in his own image, according to the Bible. Yet Tolkien is revereed by Christians worldwide as a writer of allegory of the faith.
I enjoyed reading the original blog entry here as well as all of the comments. I hope this response doesn’t sound angry, argumentative, or judgemental, because none of those are the spirit intended. I only meant to add to the discussion a differing perspective.
My main point I guess is that biblical truth can be digested, reflected, and expressed by people with or without salvation, with an endless variety of worldviews. As has been discussed here, the expressions are sometimes imperfect. But does this matter if we ourselves are all imperfect spokespersons for God, studying a work of fiction which claims no biblical authority for itself? I would argue this is the greatest earthly testament to his word imaginable.
Really, really interesting comment, Ralph. I was particularly struck by your insight into the “evolution” question and the whole approach to analyzing worldviews in a film. I use Brian Godawa’s book Hollywood Worldviews as a guide, but the worldviews section is always the hardest to write, and I never feel like I get it quite right. I’ll be digesting what you wrote and will be thinking about different ways to approach the worldview section. It’s often tempting to approach it in a simplistic way — i.e. looking for certain buzz words and checking off boxes. Very thought-provoking — thanks!