The worst Avengers movie is still great — it’s an Avengers movie, after all — but it falls behind the other additions to the series in multiple ways. I’m referring to Avengers: Age of Ultron, which is an entertaining enough adventure in the Marvel Cinematic Universe but ranks lower than The Avengers, Infinity War, and Endgame. Its villain feels undeveloped and underwhelming by comparison, and it leans too heavily into cheesy dialogue and humor. There’s one scene that benefits from such back-and-forth, however. And with it, Age of Ultron includes something the MCU needed more of.
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It’s something the franchise has moved even further away from in Phases 4 to 6, which will undoubtedly affect Avengers: Doomsday and Secret Wars. More of it would’ve made certain character moments from the Infinity Saga hit harder too, whether they involved heroes teaming up with one another or butting heads à la Captain America: Civil War.
Avengers: Age of Ultron Is the Weakest Avengers Movie, but Its Opening Mission Is Great
Age of Ultron‘s overarching plot may be less thrilling than those of the other Avengers movies, but its opening sequence features something we, oddly, don’t see much of throughout the Infinity Saga: Earth’s mightiest heroes going on missions together. Nick Fury may put the team together to handle Earth-shattering threats, but there are plenty of those in the MCU — likely more than the movies in the Infinity Saga can cover on-screen. And the Avengers are clearly working well together after their first go-round in The Avengers, which implies they’re getting practice. This sequence makes it seem as though they’re in the field more often than we see.
Despite this, we don’t see them going on missions together often; they’re typically thrown into the field to handle crises without much warning or coordination. The only comparable scene is perhaps the opening of Captain America: Civil War. It’s a shame, as it would’ve been great to see the Avengers taking on minor villains and operations. It would have benefited the MCU in multiple ways, from better establishing character dynamics to paying off long-running storylines.
The MCU Would Have Benefited From More Avengers Team-Ups and Missions
The MCU would have benefited from more missions like the one that opens Avengers: Age of Ultron, as it highlights the dynamics of the franchise’s main team — and makes us care more about their relationships with one another as a result. There’s entertaining banter throughout this sequence (and it works here), and the heroes clearly have strong bonds. More scenes like this would have made developments like Steve and Tony falling out or Natasha’s death even more devastating. It would also have made reunions in future films more heartwarming.
Additionally, it would better pay off all the work S.H.I.E.L.D. does to bring the Avengers together in the first place, proving they’re keeping busy, even if we don’t always see it. The franchise spends so much time establishing the team and the dynamics of S.H.I.E.L.D. that it makes sense to show us these types of missions. On top of the storytelling logic, they’re also just fun. They remind us why we love the Avengers in the first place, and they wouldn’t just benefit the Infinity Saga. We also could use more moments like this in the Multiverse Saga, but Phases 4 to 6 have only made this MCU problem worse.
The Multiverse Saga Has Made This MCU Problem Even Worse
Despite all the anticipation leading up to Avengers: Doomsday, the Multiverse Saga hasn’t utilized the MCU’s team dynamics nearly as effectively as it could have — and it’s likely to hurt the upcoming event films as a result. Even if frequent missions weren’t common in Phases 1 to 3, Infinity War and Endgame had multiple crossovers to build on, from the prior Avengers projects to Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Civil War. Most of the important relationships in the MCU were well defined before the two-part conclusion to the Infinity Saga arrived. Only a handful of characters were interacting for the first time. That’s what made these movies so satisfying, and it’s something Doomsday may struggle with.
The Multiverse Saga doesn’t have nearly as much crossover as the previous chapter of the MCU, and some heroes returning in the 2026 Avengers film aren’t utilized more than once. (We’re still waiting for Shang-Chi to make another appearance.) Even opportunities where crossover would’ve made sense — like Captain America 4 — didn’t capitalize on it. The Multiverse Saga could’ve learned from Age of Ultron and brought the new generation of heroes together for more adventures, but tragically, it leaned further in the other direction instead. That might be obvious when the heroes do unite to face Doctor Doom this December.
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