But even our pole star, Chris Evans’ Captain America, finds his faith sometimes shaken here.
The characters still spark off one another and seem, for the most part, to enjoy one another’s company. Inevitably for a blockbuster sequel of this sort, it's a little darker.
Whedon deserves something easier to do next, like a musical version of War & Peace he could direct while lace making. And this is not just the finale of Phase Two but a foundation stone for the next five or so films, a mind-boggling challenge, and a stunning achievement. The cast has swollen to enormous proportions (the roll call of Avengers and allies is now 18, counting cameos) and the action has gone truly global. Age Of Ultron makes its triumphant, giddily enjoyable predecessor look like a secondary school production of Our Town. Joss Whedon’s mistake was to make the job look so easy, and his reward was an exponentially harder task. A few years back, making Avengers Assemble work looked daunting: bring together four franchise leads and two supporting characters, plus bad guy, and make it watchable for those without a PhD in Comic Book Backstories.
