If James Spader couldn't play Ultron in Avengers: The Age of Ultron, no one could, according to director Joss Whedon.

The actor was Whedon's "first an only choice" for the role, he told Marvel's Web show The Watcher, which has got to make anyone else who auditioned for it feel like a real chump.

Whedon continued:

He’s got that hypnotic voice that can be eerily calm and compelling, but he’s also very human and humorous. Ultron is not Hal. Spader can play all of the levels. He’s the guy to break The Avengers into pieces. Muwahaha.

To hear someone who is not Joss Whedon give the full statement, check out the video:

 

 

It's interesting to hear that Whedon wants Ultron to have a degree of humanity and humor to him. (We'll assume that by "Hal," he means Hal 9000, the computer from 2001: A Space Odyssey, not Hal Jordan.) Certainly the comic version of the character has some classically human desires -- Oedipal ones -- but without Hank Pym in the movie to serve as the targeted father figure, someone else is clearly going to have to take the spot (the safe money seems to be on Tony Stark).

We'll just have to see when Avengers: The Age of Ultron hits theaters May 1, 2015.

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