New Avengers: Age Of Ultron poster tells all

Masters of creating hype, Marvel released an official poster for the upcoming Avengers Assemble sequel, Age Of Ultron, yesterday and whilst it's annoyingly similar to the first movie's promotional material and doesn't quite pack the same punch as action-packed concept art revealed at last year's Comic-Con, this new insight into the film gives superhero fans a lot to take in.

Most obviously, the cast listed at the bottom of the official poster confirms members that have merely been rumours up until now. Hayley Atwell will be returning as Peggy Carter, Captain America's love interest in his first solo movie. Her involvement in the picture has no doubt been spurred on by the success surrounding the character's spin-off TV series Agent Carter, that has been met by very positive reviews from critics.  

Another character featuring in Age Of Ultron who was originally seen in a Captain America instalment is Falcon, played by Anthony Mackie, a name also at the bottom of this poster. Ex-war veteran Sam Wilson made for a humourous and charming ally against Steve Rogers and is a welcome edition to the highly-anticipated movie. 

Idris Elba and Stellan Skarsgård also seem to be reprising their Thor-niverse-based roles as Asgardian gatekeeper, Heimdall and human scientist Erik Selvig.  

Skarsgård as Professor Selvig in 2012's Avengers Assemble

Now, this can only be described as complete nerd speculation but the character's positioning within the poster is also fascinating when looking at the upcoming Marvel movies on the horizon. Captain America: Civil War is set to be the next Avengers-based movie after this one with a May 2016 release and from the above poster, it appears they are already gearing the characters up for the events that will evidently take place. Comic-book fans will already be aware that 'Civil War' sees both Iron Man and Captain America go head-to-head on opposite sides of supporting a government-billed Superhuman Registration Act, which would see superheroes act more like police officers than world saviours. 

Their body language here and the way they are turned against each other may be symbolic of these actions unfolding and give fans a little taster of what it will be like to see these two no longer in strong team-like unit. 

The bill in the comics is passed after Hulk causes several casualties whilst on a rampage in Las Vegas. Maybe that's the reason behind the extra angry expression here, eh! A sign of what's to come!

Most intriguing however, is not the concrete cast listing or hints to the storyline, but the fact that we have now seen two indications that there is another character with questionable ties to James Spader's Ultron in the sequel. We first saw him in the Comic-Con art right in the left-hand corner, back in 2014, and the yellow-caped figure can be seen once again in the new poster (just above The Hulk). 

A few months ago, Paul Bettany was said to be playing Vision (as well as lending his voice to his regular role as Jarvis), but the extent of his participation was never certain, especially as Marvel love to indulge in short end-credit cameos. However, the fact that is now on both promotional platforms means Vision's part must be an important one.

For those who aren't familiar with Marvel, in the comics Vision is an android (yes, Bettany will be playing yet another computer of sorts), created by Ultron to help him in his battle against the superhero dream team. His intentions are short-lived however, as Vision is persuaded to fight alongside the good guys rather than aid Ultron. Now, his plot hasn't been hinted to at all in the movie but chances are high that they may stick to this story!

Avengers: Age Of Ultron is released 23rd April in the UK.