Marvel Raises Possibility Ultron Could Return in MCU

Few of the villains in the Marvel Cinematic Universe have staying power, as many of them are dealt with a sense of finality over the course of the films. But there have been a few surprising returns over the years.

A new prelude comic for the Captain Marvel movie shows what happens with Nick Fury and Maria Hill during the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, and Avengers: Infinity War. And in recapping a scene from the second Avengers movie, they might teasing a possible return of Ultron.

In the movie, Ultron is defeated by the Avengers and his prime body is destroyed by Vision. But the film previously established that Ultron was able to transfer portions of his consciousness wireless, taking over the Iron Legion and attempting to obtain control of the world’s nuclear arsenal.

In the recapped scene, it shows the Ultron drone crashing into the helicarrier as Nick Fury and Maria Hill attempt to evacuate Sokovia. They stop the drone before it can hurt anyone, with Fury stabbing it through the head with a piece of scrap metal, and the drone’s eyes flicker.

There’s no major reason to show this scene in the context of setting up Captain Marvel, so it could be that this comic is just setting the stage for a possible Ultron return.

And before you discount that idea, recall that the Avengers: Infinity War prequel comic recapped the events of Captain America: The First Avenger and specifically showed him being blasted into the sky while trying to wield the Tesseract. In the movie, it made it seem as if the Red Skull disintegrated, but this comic set the stage for the character’s return in Avengers: Infinity War.

Because Captain Marvel is set in the ’90s, before Ultron’s creation, it is very unlikely that we will see the character return in the upcoming film. However, Carol Danvers is set to play a major role in Avengers 4 and, to be honest, this comic does more setup for the big crossover movie than it does for Captain Marvel.

Is Marvel Comics priming readers for the return of Ultron in the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Time will tell.

Captain Marvel premieres in theaters on March 8, 2019, while Avengers: Infinity War is scheduled to premiere on May 3, 2019.