Iron Man and Captain America didn’t always agree on every matter, but Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness can settle one of their biggest arguments. After the high-stakes events of Avengers: Endgame, both Tony Stark and Steve Rogers are no longer active parts of the MCU, as the former sacrificed himself to save the universe and the latter entered his overdue retirement. Even still, both Tony’s and Steve’s stories still echo through MCU Phase 4 and will most likely continue to impact the MCU for years to come.
A great example of that is the Ultron bots seen in Doctor Strange 2. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Tony Stark and Bruce Banner created the artificial intelligence that would be responsible for leading an entire army of robots in the mission of protecting the planet. The plan eventually failed and led to the almost destruction of Earth, and now Doctor Strange 2’s Multiverse is offering a look at an alternate version of Tony’s Ultron bots.
In Age of Ultron, Tony and Steve had two very heated arguments about the idea of trying to stop a war before it even happens following the reveal of Stark and Banner’s Ultron project. The creation of Ultron and the Iron Legion was one of Stark’s most controversial decisions and eventually backfired, but Doctor Strange 2 can show if the plan would have worked had the AI not gone rogue. The Doctor Strange 2 trailer indicates that one of the universes Stephen is visiting (the one where the MCU’s version of the Illuminati is set) is being guarded by Ultron bots. It seems those Ultron bots are being used by the Illuminati as some sort of police force, meaning Iron Man’s Ultron project worked in that universe at least to some degree. If those Ultron bots managed to protect that world from every potential threat and replaced the Avengers as Tony believe they would, then Stark and Banner actually had a point in Age of Ultron. However, if those Ultron bots failed to truly make Earth a safer place and instead became only a weapon in the hands of the Illuminati, then Steve Rogers was right to argue against Tony’s project.
Although one could argue that Iron Man's Ultron and Iron Legion plans were already tested in the main MCU timeline, there was never a chance to see if the idea of a “suit of armor around the world” really works due to Ultron rebelling against its creators right from the start. Had Ultron not become evil, or if there was never an Ultron AI, Tony’s concept of a defense force available anywhere at any time could have become a valuable asset. The problem, however, is how and by whom such a powerful tool would be used. Ultron was keen to use that power for destruction only, but nothing guarantees that the humans wouldn’t also use that tech for selfish, destructive purposes.
Both Age of Ultron and What If…? showed how dangerous the Ultron project can be, but now Doctor Strange 2 is offering yet another look at the concept Tony and Steve argued so much about. The Multiverse concept ensures that every possible outcome is actually valid, but it’s still not clear if Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness will reveal the Ultron project as being something successful or not. Either way, Doctor Strange will have to deal not only with the Ultron bots but also with Professor X and the rest of the Illuminati.
