So many things are going on, so many strings to get tangled in….

Fans have been waiting, wanting, yearning to see the trailer for AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON since it first awed fans at the San Diego Con back in July. Another showing at the New York City Comic Con raised desires even more. We leapt at each fake trailer, every rumor, and were repeatedly disappointed.

And then, a promise. The trailer would be shown as an “exclusive broadcast premiere” during the next episode of Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, theoretically to help boost ratings for that program. The phrasing of that promise, however, got the internet buzzing. Maybe it would “leak” beforehand.

Last night, it did.

And it is glorious.

From the incredibly effective music (kind of Black Sabbath for full orchestra), to the dissonant images (why are that lady’s breasts falling out? Ballet?), to disconcerting twists on Avengers iconography (why does Thor drop his hammer? Why does Banner look so shattered wrapped in that blanket? OMG, Cap’s shield….), this trailer teases more questions than it provides answers.

Except for Ultron. He is clearly dismissive of our heroes, sure he is right, determinedly horrific in his vision of freedom and his solution for all that ails the world.

At a time when war rules, again, and drones kill with ease, and corporate marauders are feted as the ruling class while teachers are all but run out of town, and while the Point of No Return for global climate change is just three years away but we are collectively doing nothing about it, there is a reason Ultron truly scares. In a terribly accurate way, Ultron is our unforgiving conscience, his gravelly voice confirming that we are all in serious trouble now….

Christopher Ryan is author of City of Woe, available on Kindle and Nook, and in print. For more info, click here.</em