San Diego Comic-Con 2014 is imminent, but the goodies have already begun to be unveiled.  In this week’s Comic-Con issue of Entertainment Weekly, the first Avengers: Age of Ultron image is revealed in the form of a rather tantalizing cover that gives us a first look at the titular robot baddie.  Played by James Spader via performance capture, Ultron's origins are actually rooted in Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark, as he invents the artificially intelligent robot as a sort of replacement hero given his reluctance to keep donning the Iron Man suit.

Hit the jump to check out the full image and for much more info on Ultron and the plot of Age of Ultron straight from director Joss Whedon and Downey Jr.  And click here to see even more new images from Avengers 2.

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Speaking with EW, Downey Jr. says the beginning of Age of Ultron sees Tony Stark just wanting to take a break:

“What you said about abdication is apt, but I think it’s also about recognizing limitations. The downside of self-sacrifice is that if you make it back, you’ve been out there on the spit and you’ve been turned a couple times and you feel a little burned and traumatized.”

The magazine reveals that in Age of Ultron, Stark invents the self-aware, self-teaching Ultron as a way to keep himself from having to put on the Iron Man suit—it also allows for the rest of the Avengers team to take some well-needed time off.  As one can surmise, things don’t exactly go according to plan:

Ultron (played by James Spader through performance-capture technology) lacks the human touch, and his superior intellect quickly determines that life on Earth would go a lot smoother if he just got rid of Public Enemy No. 1: Human beings. “Ultron sees the big picture and he goes, ‘Okay, we need radical change, which will be violent and appalling, in order to make everything better’; he’s not just going ‘Muhaha, soon I’ll rule!’” Whedon says, rubbing his hands together. “He’s on a mission,” the filmmaker adds, and smiles thinly. “He wants to save us.”

An evil robot with a nefarious plan to save humanity by destroying it?  Sounds like the perfect kind of material to be handled by Mr. Joss Whedon.  The article adds that Ultron becomes a formidable foe not just because he’s a robot, but because he’s a program capable of uploading himself into the Cloud and rebuilding stronger, deadlier forms.

More info on Age of Ultron is promised to be revealed in the full EW issue, on stands this weekend, and we’ll also learn even more about the pic at Marvel’s big Comic-Con panel next Saturday.  Be sure to come back to Collider then for our full, extensive recap.

Click here to catch up on all of our Avengers: Age of Ultron coverage, or peruse the recent links below:

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