Avengers: Age of Ultron saw our favourite Marvel Cinematic Universe heroes going up against the powerful robotic villain.

Of course, as you would expect, the heroes prevailed – defeating Ultron, with Vision landing the decisive final blow and ending the threat of the titular villain.

Or did they?

Nothing is ever certain in the world of comic book superheroes and supervillains – you only have to look at the “deaths” of the likes of Phil Coulson, Loki and Nick Fury in previous movies to know that – and Ultron could well return at some point.

This article will look into some potential ways that could happen. Here are seven ways Ultron could re-emerge in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Vision Being Corrupted

Ultron came to be when code from the Mind Gem was input into Tony Stark and Bruce Banner’s previous programming code – programming code which had been written in an attempt to make a sentient A.I.

When he awakened, he encountered J.A.R.V.I.S., whom he attacked, before building himself a crude body, attacking the Avengers and heading out into the world.

He built himself a body – the Vision – but the body was brought to life as a hero by Thor’s lightning, with J.A.R.V.I.S. acting as its A.I.

With that in mind, Vision is essentially made up of three things that Ultron has encountered – the synthetic body, the Mind Gem and J.A.R.V.I.S.

There could still be traces of him inside Vision and, as such, he could eventually override Vision’s current consciousness and re-emerge in Vision’s body (or somebody else could make that happen).

Thanos Using The Infinity Gauntlet

Thanos appeared in the mid-credits scene of Avengers: Age of Ultron, expressing his dismay at the failure of his lieutenants in their attempts to gather the Infinity Stones for him (“Fine, I’ll do it myself!”).

Some people thought the scene was out of place, because nobody in that movie actually was one of Thanos’ lieutenants – but was that actually the case?

Thanos gave Loki the sceptre which contained the Mind Gem that ultimately helped to create Ultron – could it be that it was part of the Mad Titan’s plan for that to ultimately happen?

If that is indeed the case and Thanos wanted Ultron to be his agent on Earth, he would be disappointed that the robotic villain was defeated by the Avengers.

So, when Thanos gets his hands on the Infinity Gauntlet and all of the Infinity Stones, could he simply reality-warp Ultron back into existence? It’s certainly a possiblity!

Rebuilt By Another Ally

It should go without saying that audiences didn’t see every little thing Ultron did during his short time on Earth, so he may well have some allies that we don’t know about.

Perhaps, for example, he built his mate from the comic books – Jocasta – and she may well be in a warehouse somewhere, missing him to the extent that she is rebuilding him in secret.

Or there could be another villain who was impressed with Ultron and wants to utilise him in the future – perhaps to create a live action Masters of Evil.

Maybe there are individuals who saw him as some kind of god (the Sons of Yinsen, perhaps?) and worshipped him to the point of wanting to bring him back.

Either way, Ultron may have allies out there that weren’t shown on screen and they may well have plans to bring him back.

Tony Stark Being Stubborn

It doesn’t take a genius (billionaire, playboy, philanthropist) to realise that Tony Stark is a stubborn man. If he wants to do something, he does it – regardless of what other people think – and he will stick to his views regardless of the conflict it may cause (look no further than the Captain America: Civil War for proof of that).

With that in mind, it’s not hard to imagine that – in spite of the fact that his previous attempt at creating Ultron resulted in the robot trying to destroy humanity – he might have another attempt at putting “a suit of armour around the world”, just to prove to himself that he can do it successfully.

It seems like a very unlikely scenario, but don’t put anything past Stark. If he sets his mind on doing something, it will happen – especially given how guilty he must feel for what Ultron did in Avengers: Age of Ultron.

Hank Pym

Quite a big deal was made of the fact that it was Tony Stark and not Hank Pym who created Ultron in the Marvel Cinematic Universe – as it was famously Pym who did so in the comic books.

However, could Pym still have a part to play in Ultron’s existence? In fact, could he already have done so?

The synopsis for Avengers: Age of Ultron stated that Tony Stark was attempting to restart a dormant peacekeeping project – meaning that someone had attempted to start it in the past – and, although it wasn’t really referenced in the movie, it could actually have been Hank Pym who had started it previously.

Pym has confirmed dealings with Stark’s father Howard, so there’s every chance that Howard could have had the Ultron blueprints in his possession and passed them on to Tony.

If that’s the case and Pym did come up with the idea for Ultron, he may well have been disappointed with what Stark did with the idea and end up trying to correct it, only to find that it’s too difficult a task and that Ultron will always be hostile – resulting in the robotic villain rampaging again.

He Might Not Be Dead In The First Place

Ultron was super-intelligent – the plans he put into action in such a short period of time were evidence of that – so is it really possible to believe that he didn’t have any form of contingency plan?

Would he really have sent out every last drone – every single possible source for his consciousness to inhabit – knowing that they would all come under attack by the Avengers?

It seems unlikely and, bearing that in mind, there may well be additional Ultron drones/bodies hidden away for the purposes of keeping himself alive should he have lost the Battle of Sokovia – which, of course, he did.

Even though it was specified that the drone Vision destroyed was Ultron’s last remaining body, that could just have been a ruse to keep the Avengers off his back while he devised a new plan. There’s basically every chance he isn’t dead at all.

In Space

In the comic books, Ultron has been in space before. The Annihilation: Conquest arc saw him revealed as the leader of the techno-organic alien species known as the Phalanx – an arc which also saw him go up against the Guardians of the Galaxy, amongst other space-based heroes.

Could it be that, as a contingency, Ultron sent a drone away from Earth so that he could find other planets to inhabit in the event of his defeat?

Could it even be that Hulk inadvertently took him into space? Perhaps Ultron implanted his consciousness into the Quinjet that Hulk flew away in and – assuming Hulk went to space (which is by no means certain) – he could have unleashed the robotic villain into the cosmos without even knowing it.

One thing’s for sure – an Annihilation: Conquest movie would be cool. Seeing the Marvel Cinematic versions of Ultron and the Guardians of the Galaxy going at it (especially with the Phalanx in the mix) would be awesome. It was an arc in which Groot sacrificed himself and Rocket Raccoon took a cutting to regrow him – so perhaps the Guardians of the Galaxy movie was even foreshadowing it!

What do you think? Is Ultron gone for good? Could he come back in one of these ways? Which other ways might he return? Have your say below.