James Spader Talks Playing Psychopathic Villain in Avengers: Age of Ultron

As you may have learned yesterday in the awesome teaser trailer (and our 75 screengrabs) for Avengers: Age of Ulton, the title villain has no strings to hold him down, and like Pinocchio, his voice actor James Spader cannot lie about just how nutty the character is in an interview with Total Film.

“There’s a humorous aspect to him, which is something that drew me in from the very first conversation I had with Joss [Whedon],” Spader revealed. “In many ways he’s a child, this character, because he’s a brand new being who’s just come to be. And yet, through artificial intelligence, he has an incredible capacity for knowledge. So he’s a very powerful, smart child.”

The cybernetic baddie enjoys the sound of “everyone screaming for mercy,” but Spader is quick to deny too many similarities with his Golden Globe-nominated role as criminal-turned-FBI profiler Raymond “Red” Reddington on the hit show “The Blacklist.”

“Ultron takes abrupt turns in scenes,” Spader explained. “Red isn’t pyschopathic but Ultron is. Yes, he is psychopathic. He’s really batsh*t crazy!”

When Tony Stark tries to jumpstart a dormant peacekeeping program, things go awry and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the villainous Ultron emerges, it is up to The Avengers to stop him from enacting his terrible plans, and soon uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure.

Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Robert Downey Jr., who returns as Iron Man, along with Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor and Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk. Together with Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow and Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and with the additional support of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill, the team must reassemble to defeat James Spader as Ultron, a terrifying technological villain hell bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two mysterious and powerful newcomers, Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Pietro Maximoff, played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and meet an old friend in a new form when Paul Bettany becomes Vision.

Avengers: Age of Ultron hits the big screen on May 1, 2015.

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