"We've always considered The Avengers to be sort of the world's heroes," says Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feige. "Not just America, not just any particular region, but globally - and certainly the results of the first movie proved that. When we started developing the story we knew we wanted to take it out of New York. Some of the movie does take place in New York, but we wanted to send The Avengers to the far reaches of the globe, so it's legitimately a globe-trotting adventure."
With the production in pre-production in London, the first order of business was a three-week week shoot in Joburg. The cityscape and surrounding areas will provide the backdrop for one of the biggest action sequences in the film involving Iron Man and The Hulk.
"Johannesburg has a very particular look and style to its architecture that I really liked," says writer-director Joss Whedon. "It has very much its own rhythm, its own feel, its own tones, and there's an earthiness to the way it looks. It is very different from the other locations we shot. You know immediately you're not in North America."
Setting up the sequence in the film, director Whedon relates: "The team has come to the coast of Africa to find Ultron and Scarlet Witch who has got to Banner and basically given him a nightmare experience so overwhelming that he becomes not just The Hulk but The Hulk Hulking out. He is completely out of control and he comes to the middle of the city almost by accident and then he's just overwhelmed by noise, the lights and so many people. It's not Super Hero Hulk; it's a really scary version and as much as he's fighting him, Iron Man is also making an effort to just get him out of the city and away from populated areas so he can put him down long enough to get Bruce back."
Needing more firepower then just his usual Iron Man armour, Tony arrives in his newest piece of technology, aptly called the Hulkbuster suit. "The Hulkbuster is an iconic piece of Iron Man tech and it was always something that we would talk about for each Iron Man film," says Feige. "In Iron Man 3 our amazing team designed dozens of suits of armour and a few of them they designed as sort of an homage to the Hulkbuster suit, and at a certain point Joss said: 'Forget the homage to the Hulkbuster suit, we're going to do it in Age of Ultron."
"The Hulkbuster fight is one of the big action sequences in the film and is really an awesome spectacle," says Kevin Feige. "An amazing action sequence, but it also is a best friend trying to beat down and stop his buddy. When we cut inside the HUD with shots of Tony we never lose sight of that. He's constantly saying: 'Bruce, you've got to help me out here. Come back to your senses.' Even as he's literally punching The Hulk into the concrete. You can only have that type of action in a series of films where people are following along. People understand the dynamic between the characters and the humanity between their alter egos."
For the filmmakers pulling off the sequence required a massive coordination between the local South African government and citizens of Johannesburg. "When you're bringing a movie of this size, you need a government that's going be welcoming, cooperative and give you the access to the city that you need. We looked all over Africa, for this sequence and Johannesburg was clearly the place to be," says Executive Producer Jeremy Latcham.
"It had the look and access to the streets we needed. It was really film friendly. In the downtown streets we flew helicopters, crashed cars and exploded massive pyrotechnics. It's really exciting; nice to find governments that want filmmakers to come and show off their city and that's what we have done and I think the people of Johannesburg are going to be thrilled to see their city well represented up on the big screen."
"I was told by our crew how happy they were that we shot in Johannesburg," says Joss Whedon. "The government has been great, the city has been great and people have just opened their doors to us and we couldn't have done it on this scale without that. We are so grateful because you really can't capture a place like this unless you're really there. I have to say the local background performers here were just so great and gave the same amount of energy running up and down the streets of the city take after take."
Continuing the epic, big-screen action adventure of a lifetime started in Marvel's The Avengers, the Super Hero dream team is back from 24 April to protect the world from the greatest threat mankind has ever seen.
In Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron Tony Stark tries to jump-start a dormant peacekeeping programme, but things go awry and Earth's Mightiest Heroes, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye, are put to the ultimate test as the fate of the planet hangs in the balance. As the mysterious Ultron emerges, the team must reassemble in order to stop the terrifying technological villain hell-bent on human extinction. Along the way, they confront two mysterious and powerful newcomers: Wanda Maximoff and Pietro Maximoff, as well as an old friend in a new form, named The Vision.
With the world order hanging in the balance, The Avengers must stop Ultron from enacting his terrible plans as uneasy alliances develop and unprecedented action paves the way for an epic adventure unfolding on an unprecedented global scale.
