The MCU's Ultron Returns In A Non-Canon Story, But He's Not Played By James Spader

Joss Whedon's large-scale action picture "Avengers: Age of Ultron" was released in theaters in the spring of 2015, and it featured a gaggle of Marvel superheroes teaming up to fight the eponymous evil super-robot. Ultron (voiced by James Spader) was an artificial intelligence accidentally created by Iron Man while he was constructing a global, spacebound security system intended to make superhero-ing easier. Upon achieving consciousness, Ultron spends about two minutes on the internet and instantly decided that humanity needed to be wiped out, shunting its own consciousness into a series of robot bodies and going about its wicked business. The Avengers, naturally, smash up all the Ultron bots.

Ultron is destroyed at the end of that film and has only shown up in additional Marvel Cinematic Universe entries in smaller roles since then, including the animated TV show "What If...?" However, Spader will reportedly reprise Ultron for the upcoming "WandaVision" spinoff series centered on Paul Bettany's android Vision. (Recall that death is basically impermanent in this universe.)

Those who pay close attention to Disney theme parks might also be aware of "Avengers: Quantum Encounter," an Ant-Man themed short film that shows in the dining rooms on the Wish cruise ship and features an appearance by Ultron (as voiced by Ross Marquand). "Quantum Encounter" isn't canonical to the rest of the MCU, but it does star some of its more notable actors.

The Wish ship made its maiden voyage on July 14, 2022, and it features a variety of Disney-related themes, including the movie "Wish," Minnie Mouse, and some "Star Wars" stuff. "Avengers: Quantum Encounter" is a special 15-minute dinner show that stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Iman Vellani, and Brie Larson, each reprising their superhero roles from the MCU (that is: Ant-Man, the Wasp, Captain America, Ms. Marvel, and Captain Marvel respectively). When Ultron attacks, the heroes have to fight him off.

"Quantum Encounter" is staged as if it is taking place on the Wish cruise ship in real time. As guests dine, Ant-Man looks through the screen, addressing them directly and quipping about their eating habits. Ant-Man and the Wasp are there, in costume, to give a lecture, essentially hosting a live TED Talk about how Pym Particles can change the world. Ant-Man also makes a reference to "Avengers: Infinity War," explaining why (as some fans have suggested) he didn't shrink to a tiny size, climb into Thanos' anus, swim into Thanos' abdomen, and then grow to an enormous size, ripping apart Thanos' body. "First of all," Ant-Man says, "gross."

Naturally, Ant-Man's presentation goes badly and he creates a massive seagull, requiring him to talk to the captain of the Wish ship. The machine also attracts Captain America and Ms. Marvel, who found the high energy levels from the cruise ship distressing. This energy further attracts an army of Ultron robots who have selected that moment to attack. It's not really explained where the robots were hanging out or why they chose that moment to attack, but I suppose this is the world of superheroes. Ultron then arrives on the ship and Marquand has a few villainous lines of dialogue. Marquand, incidentally, also played Ultron in "What If...?" and "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness."

The performances in "Quantum Encounter" are all stagey and awkward, as they tend to be for theme park attractions; it's better to be demonstrative and obvious for such a medium rather than subtle and understated. It also looks like each actor may have filmed separately against green screens; they rarely look each other in the eye and they never touch. Resourceful Disney fans have filmed the entire experience (videos of which can be found on YouTube).

Ultron is ultimately defeated when Captain Marvel arrives and smashes all the robot clones. She makes a few quips and flies off. Ant-Man then confronts the "main" Ultron and lures him into a death trap. The day is saved. The filmed portion of "Avengers: Quantum Encounter" ends and two live actors, wearing Ant-Man and Wasp costumes (their faces covered by masks), then walk out into the dining area and greet guests. They also reveal that they can use their Ant-Man technology to make giant Mickey Mouse ice cream bars and chocolate chip cookies.

While "Quantum Encounter" was filmed as a lightweight lark for people to enjoy over their cruise ship meals, some Marvel purists have wondered if the events of the film fall in line with the canonical films in the MCU. It seems that even Disney has acknowledged, via an article by The Direct, that it doesn't. Indeed, the heroes one sees in any of Disney's theme parks are from a universe parallel to the MCU. This was confirmed by Danny Handke, one of the Disney Imagineers interviewed by The Direct. Handke was clear, saying:

"We are kind of in our own theme park universe, and the Multiverse concept's great because we're a Variant of the main MCU timeline, so it helps everyone understand that. Canon is the official canon we see on screen and our park universe mirrors that, but our stories go in different directions, mainly because we as the audience are protagonists."

This is a diplomatic way of asking nitpickers to cool it. If you're wondering how they eat and breathe and other science facts, then repeat to yourself, "It's just a show, I should really just relax."