14 DAY TRIAL // “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and the final step before Phase 3, opened wide in theaters on May 1. Despite unprecedented pre-release hype, it was welcomed with mixed reviews because it could not rise to the bar set by the original, the first “Avengers” film.
Still, it was a solid release and will go on to make hundreds of millions. It also laid the grounds for events in the aforementioned Phase 3, which will see a new team of Avengers being formed and way more action coming our way.
In this context, it makes sense for fans to wonder: what will Quicksilver’s involvement in future films be?
*Please be advised that this piece contains spoilers about events towards the end of “Age of Ultron.” If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t proceed any further.*
Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, the latest additions to the MCU
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen have joined the already very impressive cast of Marvel’s superhero franchise, as twins Pietro and Wanda, aka Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch. They are two orphans who volunteered for testing that helped them develop superhuman powers.
They plan to use these to get revenge on Tony Stark / Iron Man, for which reason Ultron’s crusade against the Avengers will prove very appealing to them.
A version of Quicksilver also appeared in Fox’s most recent “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” but it’s not to be confused with this one, even if their powers are the same: Quicksilver can move with incredible speed, so quickly that he’s barely visible to the naked eye. This makes him ideal for surprise, deadly attacks.
Scarlet Witch, on the other hand, is one of the most powerful beings in the Marvel universe, being able to bend matter and influence reality by gaining access into her victims’ brain.
Scarlet Witch is an Avenger now, but what about Quicksilver?
In the final moments of “Age of Ultron,” Quicksilver sacrifices himself to save Hawkeye and a little boy he was trying to carry to safety. He is shot and he dies. Wanda lives, rips Ultron’s mechanical heart out and joins the new Avengers team to fight the forces of evil for the rest of her life.
It seems like that’s the end of Quicksilver, and that he was merely introduced in the story to offer more weight to the Scarlet Witch story, the right incentive for her to turn good.
Taylor-Johnson says he doesn’t know if his collaboration with Marvel is really that short-lived, but even if he knew, he was probably not at liberty to say.
According to director Joss Whedon, speaking with Empire recently (listen to the full podcast below), he wrote Quicksilver’s death as definitive: this was a war the Avengers fought and won, but it couldn’t have come without costs and sacrifices. Someone had to die to make the story more convincing, and he wanted that someone to be this newly introduced superhero.
Marvel has the final say
However, Marvel may have other plans for the character, Whedon concedes. This was his second and last Avengers movie with the studio, so he can’t speak for what might happen once he’s completely out of the picture.
Here’s how Whedon explains it: “I said, ‘The only thing that would keep you alive is if the Disney executives say, “Idiot, it’s a franchise and we need all these people and you’re not allowed to kill them”.’… We did actually shoot [Quicksilver] in the last scene, in an outfit with his sister. And we did shoot him waking up from his, ‘Ahh! I didn’t really die from these 47 bullet wounds!’ but the intent was always that we were going to earn this and then you have to stand by it.”
So “Ultron” has an alternate ending, where Quicksilver doesn’t die and where he’s shown training with the new Avengers team. Whether Marvel will pick up this story remains to be seen.
In May 2016, the studio will release “Captain America: Civil War,” which will pick up after “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” and see Captain America go up against Iron Man. If Quicksilver miraculously “survived” in “Ultron,” we’ll probably know then.