Age of Ultron: Introducing the new characters, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Vision

Before you watch The Avengers: Age of Ultron, let’s go back and refresh our memory about the first film. Our favorites, Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye (eventually) form the Avengers, under Nick Fury’s watch-eye, to save the world from Loki, the Asgardian. Loki makes an arrangement with the leader of the extra-terrestial race, Chitauri, wherein if he provides them with an earth-blowing Tesseract, a powerful energy source of unknown potential, they will give him an army in return. What happens in the next 2 hours of 2012’s The Avengers is an extravaganza: with fights, visual effects, witty banter and earth-shattering action including the age-old Good vs Evil fight. Now, that all the information is slowly coming back, let’s move on to the sequel. In the The Avengers: Age of Ultron, the Avengers are going to have a tougher time. Not only do they have to fight the super-villain Ultron, an artificial intelligence character, originally created by Tony Stark but Marvel has also introduced three new ‘super’ characters in the film. Even though the history of the characters in the comic books are a bit different from the histories of characters in the movies, here’s a quick introduction: Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, the twins In the Marvel universe, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are twins, and cast-offs from Eastern Europe. Their real names are Pietro and Wanda, and they survived a bombing during World War 2, coming out with superpowers. The twins are enhanced and groomed by Magneto to fight against the X-men, and were first included in the comic book universe in 1964. [caption id=“attachment_2210788” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen respectively. Image courtesy: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Avengers-Age-of-Ultron[/caption] Quicksilver In the latest Captain America film, Quicksilver, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, was introduced on screen during a mid-credits scene. A mutant, capable of moving and thinking at superhero speed, Quicksilver’s powers allow him to create cyclone-strength winds, and run quicker than the speed of light, so to speak. Scarlet Witch Scarlet Witch debuted along with her twin brother in the same X-men comic, and is played by actor Elizabeth Olsen in Age of Ultron.  She has the ability to manipulate anyone with her “hexes”, which are concentrated spells that are also called “hex spheres” or “hex bolts”. Vision Vision, played by Paul Bettany is the third new entrant in the film, is often described as an android who is potentially a human, except for his organs that are made with synthetic materials. The Solar Jewel on the Vision’s forehead absorbs ambient solar energy to provide the needed power for him to function, and he is also capable of discharging this energy as optic beams. The red-faced character is also the only character who can pick up Thor’s hammer. In this Entertainment Weekly exclusive with Joss Whedon, the director reveals that Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch are actually on team Ultron (or the bad side, for those of you who need an introduction to the anti-hero in Age of Ultron, who wants to destroy the world) “They’re on Team Ultron, which makes things really hard for the Avengers because all of sudden they’re dealing with powers that they’re not used to,” says Whedon, in the interview, adding, “With the [first] Avengers, everybody pretty much had the power of being able to punch somebody. And now we have a woman who can get inside your head and move objects, and a boy that can move faster than anything, and a robot [Ultron] who can self-replicate and is out of his mind. So all of sudden, it’s a darker, weirder, tougher world that they’re living in.” Watch this quick snippet from Marvel, where they introduce Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch: