As production on the highly anticipated Marvel sequel The Avengers: Age of Ultron looks to get underway in March, writer/director Joss Whedon is nearly finished casting the film.  The biggest news we’ve heard thus far, though, is that James Spader will be playing the film’s villain, the titular evil robot Ultron.  It was an inspired bit of casting and extremely fitting when you have someone like Joss Whedon running the shots, and now the filmmaker has spoken briefly about how he settled on Spader to play the chief antagonist.  Hit the jump to read on.

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Image via Marvel Studios

Speaking on Marvel’s The Watcher show (via /Film), Whedon revealed that Spader was his choice to play Ultron from the word “go”:

“Spader was my first and only choice. He’s got that hypnotic voice that can be eerily calm and compelling, but he’s also very human and humorous. Ultron is not Hal (from 2001: A Space Odyssey). Spader can play all of the levels. He’s the guy to break The Avengers into pieces. Muwahaha.”

It remains to be seen just exactly how Ultron will be portrayed in the film, so it’s unclear whether Spader will be doing motion-capture work or if his performance is mainly just voice work.  Whatever the case, I can’t wait to see the finished product.  The Avengers: Age of Ultron opens May 1, 2015.

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