Movie News

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON (2015): James Spader is Ultron in AVENGERS 2

James Spader

James Spader cast in Avengers Age of Ultron. The casting of James Spader in Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) answers the question of who will play the main villain in the Joss Whedon directed film. James Spader will play the character of Ultron and will face off against The Avengers.

The official announcement from Marvel on James Spader’s casting:

Advertisement
 

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.

Spader earned three Emmy Awards for his role as Alan Shore on “Boston Legal” and “The Practice,” and will return to television this fall in NBC’s highly anticipated series “The Blacklist.” Most recently Spader was seen in the critically-acclaimed film “Lincoln” directed by Steven Spielberg and has previously worked with a long list of accomplished film directors including David Cronenberg, Curtis Hansen, Sidney Lumet, Mike Nichols, Tim Robbins, Robert Rodriguez, Steven Soderbergh, and Oliver Stone.  David Mamet also directed Spader in the Broadway play Race.

“Avengers: Age of Ultron” will bring the Marvel Universe’s biggest heroes together again to face one of their biggest villains, with “Marvel’s The Avengers” director Joss Whedon returning to write and direct the sequel. “Marvel’s The Avengers” was released in 2012 and went on to earn $1.5 billion worldwide, making it the third-largest grossing movie of all time.

Spader is represented by ICM Partners and his lawyer Melanie Cook at Ziffren Brittenham.

On James Spader:

Spader’s first major film role was in 1981 as Brooke Shields’ brother in Endless Love, and his first starring role was in Tuff Turf alongside good friend Robert Downey, Jr. However, he did not rise to stardom until 1986, when he played Molly Ringwald’s arrogant rich playboy foil Steff in Pretty in Pink. He starred opposite Andrew McCarthy, another friend, in Mannequin, and in the film adaptation of Less Than Zero, where he played a drug dealer named Rip. Supporting roles in movies such as Baby Boom and Wall Street followed until his critical breakthrough in 1989. In Sex, Lies, and Videotape, he played a sexual voyeur named Graham Dalton who complicates the lives of three Baton Rouge residents. For this performance, he received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival. His roles in the early 1990s included playing a young, affluent widower opposite Susan Sarandon in White Palace, John Cusack’s best friend in True Colors, and a poker-playing drifter who collides with Mandy Patinkin in The Music of Chance. In 1994, he starred as Egyptologist Daniel Jackson in the blockbuster film Stargate. He played car-accident fetishist James Ballard in the controversial Canadian film Crash in 1996 and assassin Lee Woods in 2 Days in the Valley. In 1997, Spader guest starred in an episode of Seinfeld as an angry recovering alcoholic who refuses to apologize to George for making fun of him. In 2000, he played a drug-addicted detective tracking down serial killer Keanu Reeves in The Watcher. In 2001, he starred as Maggie Gyllenhaal’s sadistic boss in the critically acclaimed Secretary.

From 2004 to 2008, Spader starred as the lead character Alan Shore in the television series Boston Legal, in which he reprised his role from the television series The Practice. Spader won the Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series Emmy Award for his portrayal of Alan Shore in 2004, on The Practice and won it again in 2005 and 2007, for Boston Legal. With the 2005 Emmy Win, Spader became one of the few actors (along with co-star William Shatner as Denny Crane) to win an Emmy award while playing the same character in two different series. Even rarer, Shatner and Spader each won a second consecutive Emmy while playing the same character in two different series. Spader also won the Satellite Award for Best Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical for Boston Legal in 2006.

In October 2006, Spader narrated China Revealed, the first episode of Discovery Channel’s documentary series Discovery Atlas. Boston Legal castmate Candice Bergen would follow him in narrating France Revealed. He has also done the voice-over in several television commercials for Acura.

Spader starred as a lead character in Race, a play written and directed by David Mamet, alongside Richard Thomas, David Alan Grier and Kerry Washington. It opened on December 6, 2009 at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on Broadway. The show closed on August 21, 2010 after 297 performances.

In March 2011, Spader was named to star in By Virtue Fall, a film written and to be directed by Sheldon Turner. Also set to star in the film are Eric Bana, Carla Gugino, Ryan Phillippe, Treat Williams and Kim Coates. As of June 2011, the movie is in pre-production, and set to be released 2013.

Spader was one of a number of prominent guest stars in “Search Committee,” the final episode of season 7 of The Office. He portrayed a man named Robert California. On June 27, 2011, Ricky Gervais (an executive producer on the show) announced Spader was to join the cast on a permanent basis. Spader planned to stay only through the eighth season, and while the original plan was just to do the guest appearance, executive producer Paul Lieberstein said, “those two scenes became a season.”

In September 2013, Spader will star on NBC’s television series, The Blacklist, portraying the fictional Raymond “Red” Reddington, one of the FBI’s most wanted fugitives.

We previously published these Avengers: Age of Ultron articles:

Advertisement
 

The Avengers (2012): Ending Explained, The Avengers 2 Plot Details

The Avengers 2: Joss Whedon directing, producing live Marvel TV Series

Robert Downey Jr cast in Marvel’s The Avengers 2 + The Avengers 3

Avengers: Age of Ultron: Ant-Man, Villains, Avengers 2 Title Revealed

Avengers: Age of Ultron cast also includes Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Hemsworth, Robert Downey Jr., Elizabeth Olsen, Cobie Smulders, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Samuel L. Jackson, and Anthony Mackie.

Leave your thoughts on James Spader’s casting in Avengers: Age of Ultron in the comments section below. For more The Avengers: Age of Ultron photos, videos, and information, visit our The Avengers Page, subscribe to us by Email, “follow” us on Twitter, Tumblr, or “like” us on FacebookThe Avengers: Age of Ultron opens in US theaters through Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures on May 1, 2015.

Source: Slashfilm, Wikipedia, Marvel

FilmBook's Newsletter

Subscribe to FilmBook’s Daily Newsletter for the latest news!

Thank you for subscribing.

Something went wrong.

Rollo Tomasi

Rollo Tomasi is a Connecticut-based film critic, TV show critic, news, and editorial writer. He will have a MFA in Creative Writing from Columbia University in 2025. Rollo has written over 700 film, TV show, short film, Blu-ray, and 4K-Ultra reviews. His reviews are published in IMDb's External Reviews and in Google News. Previously you could find his work at Empire Movies, Blogcritics, and AltFilmGuide. Now you can find his work at FilmBook.
Back to top button
Share via
Send this to a friend