Marvel is continuing their streak of casting great actors in their films.  The studio has announced that they've cast three-time Emmy winner James Spader as the villain Ultron in Joss Whedon's The Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Naturally, there are no details beyond the casting.  Since Ultron is a humanoid robot, will Spader do motion-capture, or will he just be providing the voice?  How will it fit into Spader's schedule if his new series The Blacklist (which looks quite good) is picked up for a full season?  Obviously, we have no idea how Spader will voice the part, but he's an actor I like, and I'll be curious to see what he does with the role.

Hit the jump for the press release.  The Avengers: Age of Ultron opens May 1, 2015.

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Here's the press release via Marvel.com:

James Spader will face off against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as the villain in Marvel’s "Avengers: Age of Ultron," the sequel to 2012’s record-breaking "Marvel’s The Avengers." The Emmy Award-winning actor will play Ultron in the Avengers’ much anticipated return to the big screen from writer/director Joss Whedon. The film comes to theaters on May 1, 2015.

Spader earned three Emmy Awards for his role as Alan Shore on "Boston Legal" and "The Practice," and will return to television this fall in NBC’s highly anticipated series "The Blacklist." Most recently Spader was seen in the critically-acclaimed film "Lincoln" directed by Steven Spielberg and has previously worked with a long list of accomplished film directors including David Cronenberg, Curtis Hansen, Sidney Lumet, Mike Nichols, Tim Robbins, Robert Rodriguez, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone.  David Mamet also directed Spader in the Broadway play Race.

"Avengers: Age of Ultron" will bring the Marvel Universe’s biggest heroes together again to face one of their biggest villains, with "Marvel’s The Avengers" director Joss Whedon returning to write and direct the sequel. "Marvel’s The Avengers" was released in 2012 and went on to earn $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the third-largest grossing movie of all time.

Spader is represented by ICM Partners and his lawyer Melanie Cook at Ziffren Brittenham.

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