At Comic-Con on Saturday, Marvel Studios threw the crowd a curve ball by revealing that the killer automaton Ultron would be the villain of the upcoming sequel, The Avengers: Age of Ultron.  As we previously reported, the movie will not have the same story with the recent Marvel Comics arc even though they share a title.  “We came up with a few titles, but every month a new comic book appeared, and that’s a great title,” Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige told Empire.  “Age Of Ultron is a great title. We had a few other 'Of Ultrons', but that was the best one. So we're borrowing that title, but taking storylines from decades of Avengers storylines.” Ultron had been in the words for “seven or eight months,” but some ideas in the sequel will be from ideas Feige and writer-director Joss Whedon had been kicking around during filming on the first Avengers.

Hit the jump for what Feige had to say about fan-favorite character, Loki, appearing in future Marvel movies.

On Saturday in Hall H, it took an entire panel for X-Men: Days of Future Past to get the room’s first standing ovation of Comic-Con.  Tom Hiddleston dressed as and acting like Loki did it in less than ten minutes.  He’s one of the most popular characters in the Marvel Movie Universe, and while Whedon said last month that fans shouldn’t expect the villain in The Avengers 2, Feige possibly has a more open approach.  “We think Loki could be the 'big bad' for us, for a long time," Feige told Empire, and the number of cosplaying Lokis at Comic-Con is a big hint to Marvel "to keep following their instincts..." Personally, I don’t think, “Keep utilizing wildly popular character to make more money,” is an “instinct” as much as it’s common sense.

Of course, Feige and Whedon’s statements don’t conflict.  Assuming Loki makes it out of Thor: The Dark World alive, he could appear in future Marvel movies other than The Avengers: Age of Ultron.  Failure may be in his nature, but he does have a knack for survival.