Countdown to Doomsday - Avengers: Age of Ultron

The countdown reaches the most divisive Avengers title. Adam makes the case that Avengers: Age of Ultron isn't a bad movie so much as a conflicted one, the first Marvel tentpole that put serving the wider universe ahead of being its own thing. Along the way: the tonal whiplash that kills every death scene, the Whedon dialogue problem, and a deep dive into how the Agents of SHIELD and Inhumans experiment, a Perlmutter mandate born of X-Men envy, was the original dry run for the "homework" problem that would later sink the Multiverse Saga. A solid but bottom-of-the-Avengers 4 out of 5. Next week: Civil War.