Where to watch Avengers: Age of Ultron
In the US, Age of Ultron streams on Disney Plus, which is also where you will find the rest of the Infinity Saga. It has been available through Starz too, including the Starz channels on Amazon, Apple TV and Roku, and on Philo. If you are outside the US, the watch box on this page shows the services in your country, since catalogs vary.
Running time is 141 minutes, close to two and a half hours. Plan for that, plus a minute for the single extra scene.
What to watch before Avengers: Age of Ultron
By the time the film opens, the team is already working together, which makes The Avengers the one hard prerequisite. Three Phase 2 films help a lot:
- Captain America: The Winter Soldier explains why S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone and the Avengers are now hunting HYDRA on their own. This is the most useful extra.
- Iron Man 3 shows where Tony's head is after New York, and why he wants a way to protect the world without suiting up.
- Thor: The Dark World is the lightest connection, but it keeps Thor's story straight.
Our Marvel Phase 2 in order guide lists every film of the phase if you want to watch them all first.
Age of Ultron in the watch order
Story-wise, this is 2015. In release order it came out in the spring of 2015, after Guardians of the Galaxy and before Ant-Man. In our chronological list the stop before it is Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and the one after it is Ant-Man.
Netflix's Marvel shows are slotted in after Ant-Man and before Civil War. Those shows run on their own track, though; if you are watching films only, go straight from here to Ant-Man and then Civil War. For just the team-ups, our Avengers movies in order guide shows this film's place between the first Avengers and Infinity War.
Avengers: Age of Ultron explained (spoiler-free)
The Avengers raid a HYDRA base and recover Loki's scepter. Tony Stark sees an opportunity in it: a global defense program that could protect Earth so the team never has to. He and Bruce Banner rush the work, and the result is Ultron, an artificial intelligence that decides the best way to bring peace is to remove the problem, which happens to be humanity.
Ultron recruits two enhanced twins from the small Eastern European country of Sokovia, Wanda and Pietro Maximoff, who both have reasons to hate Stark. Wanda's power to get inside people's heads shakes the team badly, and the film spends real time on that damage before the final fight.
Its core idea is easy to miss on a first watch: Ultron is Tony's fear turned into a machine. He wanted a suit of armor around the world, and he got one with its own opinions. That tension between safety and control is exactly what splits the team in Civil War.
Avengers: Age of Ultron post credit scene
There is one mid-credits scene and nothing after the full credits. Without spoiling it, the scene is short and shows a figure from the cosmic side of the saga losing patience and deciding to handle things personally. It is the clearest signal yet of where the Infinity Saga is heading, and it points straight at Infinity War. Once it ends, you can stop the credits.
Why it is essential
This one is on our essential Marvel movies and shows list for good reason. It introduces Wanda Maximoff and Vision, who later anchor WandaVision. The destruction in Sokovia leads directly to the Sokovia Accords and the split in Captain America: Civil War. Thor's visions push him toward Ragnarok, Bruce's arc explains where he is at the start of that film, and a side trip to an African arms dealer plants the first seed of Wakanda.
Cast and characters
Joss Whedon writes and directs again. Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark, whose choices drive the story, and Chris Evans is Steve Rogers. Chris Hemsworth returns as Thor, Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner, and Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff. Jeremy Renner's Clint Barton gets far more to do than he did in the first film, including a look at his life away from the team, and it quietly becomes one of the warmest parts of the movie.
