‘Avengers: Age Of Ultron’ Adds Second Villain To Cast

The Avengers: Age Of Ultron has announced that it is adding a second villain to the impressive line up.

Dracula star, Thomas Kretschmann — who plays Abraham van Helsing in the NBC series — has landed the huge role of one of the villains in Joss Whedon’s sequel. He will portray Baron Wolfgang von Strucker, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Von Strucker is an antagonist to both Captain America (Chris Evans) and Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). The original character in the comics was a Nazi officer who becomes one of the heads of HYDRA, a terrorist organization.

In HYDRA, Strucker fights S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Avengers, and has been genetically altered in a way that he is both ageless and immortal.

Avengers: Age Of Ultron has also added the likes of Elizabeth Olsen as the Scarlett Witch and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Quicksilver.

Whedon is writing and directing the film, which brings back all the main characters from the original 2012 mega blockbuster.

We also know that James Spader will play the main villain, Ultron, via motion capture and at the San Diego Comic-Con Avengers panel, Joss Whedon shared that his powers would be somewhat diminished from the comic book.

HitFix (via /Film), has some additional information about how Baron Wolfgang von Strucker will appear in The Avengers: Age Of Ultron:

“In Age Of Ultron, Baron Von Strucker is the initial threat, the guy they’re fighting at the start of the film. He does not have a major ongoing role in the film, but he is responsible for bringing Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch into contact with the Avengers in the first place, since they start the film working either with or for the Baron. If you look at this like a James Bond movie, Von Strucker’s the bad guy they’ll take care of in the pre-credits sequence before they move into the main story. Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch have a complicated journey in this film, and the question of whether they’re good or bad is one of the big things driving the movie overall.”

Even though Ultron is defeated in The Avengers: Age Of Ultron, reports indicate that Thomas Kretschmann has been signed for multiple movies, which could suggest the character will take the direction of the comics, where he is not altogether destroyed.

The Avengers: Age Of Ultron opens in theaters May 1, 2015.