Forget all the rumors you’ve been hearing about who’s going to be playing the lead villain in Avengers: Age of Ultron. The most persistent rumor this Renegade Reporter saw as of late was that Ultron would actually be an incarnation of Tony Stark’s Jarvis gone bad, and would be voiced/played by Paul Bettany, who serves as the voice of Jarvis in the Iron Man flicks.

While that sounded like a decent enough idea (ducks from rotten tomatoes and heads of lettuce being thrown at his head), turns out that’s not the case. Marvel has just announced that James Spader, film (from Pretty in Pink and Less than Zero all the way up to Lincoln — and don’t ever forget Stargate) and television (Boston Legal, The Practice, The Office) extraordinaire will be lending his acting chops to Ultron of the Avengers sequel title. From the official Marvel press release:

James Spader Ultron“James Spader will face off against Earth’s Mightiest Heroes as the villain in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, the sequel to 2012’s record-breaking Marvel’s The Avengers. The Emmy Award-winning actor will play Ultron in the Avengers’ much anticipated return to the big screen from writer/director Joss Whedon. The film comes to theaters on May 1, 2015.”

Not sure how many folks are going to take this news, but I’ve always been a big fan of the guy. It’s cool to see someone like James Spader cross over into the Marvel Universe. What do you guys and gals think?

Source: Marvel