“Avengers: Age of Ultron” delivers action, skimps on characters

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” delivered an action-packed sequence of events from the start to the finish.

The movie begins with the team moving in on Loki’s scepter in a snow-capped, mountain Hydra base somewhere in Europe. How the scepter manages to be the center of this film is not surprising.

But somewhere along the way, all of this started feeling like an ongoing saga. Did we start with “Iron Man?” If that is the case, what number are we on,11?

There is no denying Marvel has made its stamp. The best comparison I can think of is James Bond; the franchise gets to go on and on. The difference this time is that there are multiple versions of Bond, each with their own demeanor and tragic, yet hair-raising back story.

In this latest installment of “Avengers” we get four new characters. Two of these were introduced in “The Winter Soldier,” the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver, which are everywhere all at once.

Somehow the Scarlet Witch is creepy and awesome rolled into one. She can move in and around like a ghost. She also seems to have the same ability as Loki’s scepter where she can make people believe they are in an alternate universe.

The Scarlet Witch and her brother are like the cherries on top of a delicious ice cream sundae. Their presence, ironically, also help bring into existence the other two characters. The long-awaited villain, Ultron, and the timely good guy, the Vision, played by Paul Bettany.

An evolved version of Ultron, but with the persona of Jarvis; the Vision brought to life another Infinity Stone. His worthiness of power only Thor seemed to match.

We can’t forget Ultron either. This artificial intelligence — given the persona of Tony Stark gone bad — is a comedic villain at best. It can’t be helped to hate the guy though, as he is out to Matrix the world.

“Age of Ultron” was bloated with Marvel hero favorites from the last “Avengers.” Joss Whedon had hoped to add other characters such as Spider-Man and Captain Marvel, but it would have been too much if he succeeded.

Marvel has changed the way we anticipate movies. This one, however, lacked sensible character development and felt more like a Comic Con’s fantasy slapped onto the big screen.