In the past, when a new Marvel movie is announced, we don’t know anything about it for a while. However, with ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’, we started to learn details about the film right off the bat as soon as the subtitle was unveiled. As soon as writer/director Joss Whedon stepped off that Hall H stage, he started talking about what characters are in, what characters are out, and what characters would be stepping up. He also mentioned a pretty big departure from the original source material when he said that someone other than Hank Pym would be creating the crazed robot. But now, one of the architects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe explains why he chose Ultron as the next big bad for the Avengers.

In an interview with Total Film from their upcoming issue, Whedon revealed that bringing in the crazed robot was an idea swirling around in his head even before he signed on for ‘The Avengers’. Since the evil automaton had been a fixture for him while reading comics in his youth, he figured that Ultron should eventually take on Earth’s Mightiest Heroes on the silver screen:

“I was pitching Ultron before I took the job on the first movie. I was like, ‘I don’t know if I want to do this, but for the second one, you should totally do Ultron.’ Because he’s been a thorn in their side as much as any other character over the years and particularly back in my history.

He was great. He’s somebody who can juice things up and he’s a real problem for the Avengers. That’s not always easy to find. It’s not like the Vulture is really going to give them a hard time for 20 minutes.”

Sure, a robot probably doesn’t seem all that threatening, but Ultron doesn’t sit on the list of greatest Avengers villains for nothing. This robot is one very sophisticated piece of machinery that is composed of Adamantium (like the metal coating of Wolverine’s bones) and possesses the ability to repair and upgrade itself as it learns. And that’s not even going into the various weapons and intellectual capacity. If you’re unfamiliar with the character, you just gotta trust me that he’s one bad dude. And if you don’t trust me, then trust Joss Whedon. Because let’s be honest, when does he ever let us down?

Do you think Joss Whedon made the right choice when he chose the villain for ‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’? Are you excited to see Ultron take on Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, and the other Avengers onscreen? Sound off in the comments

‘The Avengers: Age of Ultron’ assembles in theaters on May 1, 2015.