Ahead of VisionQuest, Marvel’s Most Overlooked Avengers Movie is a Streaming Hit

The Avengers series is one of the most landmark blockbuster franchises in Hollywood history, and it’s easy to see why. In 2012, the first Avengers movie changed Hollywood by proving Marvel’s shared universe experiment could work, earning positive reviews and record-breaking numbers at the box office. Infinity War and Endgame served as the two-part culmination of a decade’s worth of storytelling, wrapping up plot lines and character arcs audiences had been invested in for years. Then there’s Age of Ultron. The film was undoubtedly a commercial success, raking in $1.045 billion worldwide, but compared to the other Avengers movies, it doesn’t have the best reputation. That hasn’t stopped Marvel fans from giving it a rewatch on streaming.

On August 14th, Avengers: Age of Ultron ranked as the No. 7 movie on Disney+ worldwide, per FlixPatrol. By the website’s metrics, the film has a score of 178, ahead of other popular Marvel Cinematic Universe blockbusters like Captain America: Civil War and Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Why Age of Ultron Is a Streaming Hit (And Why It’s Worth Watching)

With all the ups and downs Marvel’s experienced in the Multiverse Saga, it’s easy for fans to look back at the Infinity Saga with rose-tinted glasses and reminisce about the good times that were. There’s no denying that the Infinity Saga was a tremendous accomplishment, but the road to Infinity War wasn’t always smooth. When Age of Ultron released in 2015, it earned generally positive reviews (75% score on Rotten Tomatoes), but the response was not as enthusiastic when compared to its industry-changing predecessor. The biggest critique lobbied at Age of Ultron is that it struggled balancing telling its own story while also laying the groundwork for future MCU projects (Thor’s vision in the pool in particular came under criticism at the time). Ironically, these elements are what make Age of Ultron such a fascinating rewatch now.

In 2015, we didn’t know where the MCU was headed, so it was difficult for some viewers to become fully invested in teases that may or may not pay off down the line. But now that the Infinity Saga is complete and we have the full picture, we can see how Age of Ultron was integral in setting the stage for what was to come. It planted multiple seeds that eventually came full circle throughout Phase 3, retroactively making it a crucial chapter in the overall Infinity Saga narrative. What stood out as flaws over a decade ago go down a bit smoother now since we know how everything plays out. Plus, it’s still fun to watch the original six Avengers interacting with each other. The cast’s chemistry is unmatched and only gets better in the sequel, with the team feeling like a group of friends getting back together for another adventure (the sequence of the heroes attempting to lift Thor’s hammer at the party is a highlight in this regard).

Age of Ultron also features an interesting villain in James Spader’s Ultron, and this could be a reason why the film is seeing a resurgence in popularity on streaming. Spader is reprising his role in the upcoming TV series VisionQuest, which debuts in October. Before VisionQuest, Age of Ultron was Ultron’s lone appearance in the MCU, so fans could be cuing up the film to refresh their memory and re-familiarize themselves with Ultron’s story. Age of Ultron was also the big-screen debut for Vision, so going back to the overlooked Avengers movies allows you to see the beginning of his story again before things come to a close in VisionQuest. Fans are curious to see how Ultron fits into what’s been described as the finale to the “Wanda trilogy” that also includes WandaVision and Agatha All Along.

It’s worth mentioning that Age of Ultron isn’t the only Avengers movie that ranks in the Disney+ top 10. The other three are all on the chart as well, with Endgame and Infinity War leading the way in second and third place (behind only The Devil Wears Prada 2). Marvel is in the midst of marketing the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday, generating massive amounts of hype for the next superhero crossover. That, more than nostalgia for Age of Ultron specifically or prep for VisionQuest, could be why Age of Ultron is so big on streaming right now. Once again, Marvel fans have Avengers fever.