Joss Whedon Explains Ultron As A "Genuinely Disturbed" Robot

It's fair to expect that a killer robot in a film written and directed by Joss Whedon won't be your average killer robot. Ultron isn't going to be merely a logical machine bent on destruction. He'll be pretty messed up in general, and from a human perspective at that. After the break, Joss Whedon explains Ultron in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Empire spoke with writer/director Joss Whedon, who gave up a great summation of Ultron, or his state of mind, at least. It will be great to see James Spader bring this character to life.

I'm having a blast with Ultron. He's not a creature of logic – he's a robot who's genuinely disturbed. We're finding out what makes him menacing and at the same time endearing and funny and strange and unexpected, and everything a robot never is.

He also addressed the plethora of other new characters in the film, from Baron Wolfgang von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) to Quicksilver (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and the Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen).

I fiercely dislike the idea of just throwing in more people for the sake of doing that. But last time I had all of Earth's Mightiest Heroes versus one British character actor, and I needed more conflict.

And while we're here, let's see Whedon's enthusiasm for shooting in the UK (among other places) which is helping differentiate this sequel from the first film:

The number of different looks and textures and moods we're getting from the British locations is stupid awesome. Because this, palette-wise, is very different. I'm trying to make a different film. Because why would you make one movie twice? That seems weird.

Avengers: Age of Ultron opens on May 1, 2015 in the US.