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Once The Avengers bring back the Sceptre from Strucker's facility, Tony (and JARVIS) start running some diagnostics on it. Eventually, they find some kind of AI (Artificial Intelligence) residing within the gem. This AI turns out to be Ultron which suppresses JARVIS and starts uploading it's consciousness into the Iron Legion drones.

But, how does Ultron (or his consciousness) end up in Loki's Sceptre at the first place?

Has the existence of Ultron residing inside the Sceptre ever been touched upon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe?

Update: Based on the first answer here I would like to further clarify the scope of this question.

Is Ultron a godlike being (as portrayed in the Comics) residing within the Sceptre? If yes, how did he end up there? Or is it a tech created by Tony Stark and powered by the Mind Stone?

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  • Also scarlet witch sort of gave birth to ultron since she gave stark his vision. Ultron seemed to love and fear her, and was greatful for her assist in his creation. Sep 11, 2015 at 4:45

4 Answers 4

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They don't really spend a lot of time explaining this in the movie, you have to piece it together from various bits of dialog during that scene (and others later on). But, Ultron isn't "in" the scepter, rather, the scepter contains the last piece of technology Stark and Banner needed to finish building the Ultron project.

Given that Banner was already familiar with Ultron at the very beginning, we can assume that it was the name of a project that Stark and Banner had been working on. Presumably, some form of AI that would be self-aware enough to defend Earth against previously unknown threats (particularly alien ones). Much of the work in building that was apparently in place. When JARVIS examined the scepter, it saw that there was something inside, that it interpreted as "code" to some new, advanced operating system. However, while JARVIS's OS is clearly artificial and digital, the "code" inside the scepter looked much more organic and fluid, like you might imagine a "biologically-based" computer might look.

Tony believed that he could adapt the code from within the scepter and somehow modify it to interface with the existing Ultron project. As it turns out, the "thing" inside the scepter was actually the Mind Stone, which is an object far more advanced and powerful than any Earth-based technology. So, when Tony attempted to harness that power and, essentially, plug it in to his existing technology, it rapidly took over. The combination of all those things -- the Mind Stone's power, the Stark hardware, and the existing "save the world" protocols that Tony had already built into the Ultron project, all combined to make the entity known as Ultron.

Exactly why there is computer code inside an millions-of-years-old magical artifact from the beginning of creation isn't really explained, much less how JARVIS and Tony recognize it as an operating system. If I had to speculate, I'd suspect that it was merely the way the Mind Stone chose to expose itself to Tony, in a form that it knew he would recognize. We know the Mind Stone is immensely powerful, particularly with mental abilities -- it made Strucker smarter just being around it -- so probing Tony's brain to figure out some form that would allow him to understand and use it's power would be trivial for it.

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    If I understand you correctly, Ultron is originally the initiative by Stark and Banner that will eventually replace the Avengers. And the manifestation of Ultron in it's present form is powered by the Mind Stone. Did I get that right?
    – Sayan
    May 5, 2015 at 14:36
  • Basically, yes. It's not clear how much progress Stark had made on Ultron by the start of the movie, but it is obviously a project that both he and Banner were familiar enough with that Banner immediately knew what Stark was talking about. The scene just as the party is about to start shows JARVIS trying to "interface" the Ultron project and the scepter code together, which is ultimately what created the Ultron character.
    – KutuluMike
    May 5, 2015 at 14:42
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    Sounds fair! But, the Mind Stone is needed to be wielded by somebody. I really doubt it will choose to act on its own volition and power something. I say this even more so because in the scene where Ultron infiltrates Jarvis, it is the "code" that is conversing with Jarvis, which later comes to become Ultron's voice. That's the reason I think that Ultron is residing within the gem. Moreover, Ultron in the Comics Universe is a godlike being in itself, not an entity created by Stark or anybody else.
    – Sayan
    May 5, 2015 at 15:13
  • Ultron in the comics is a robot created by Hank Pym (Ant-Man) that becomes sentient and rebels.
    – KutuluMike
    May 5, 2015 at 15:15
  • I suspect the brain-like code wasn't from the stone, but from the staff - remember the line Ultron has when he takes the stone out of the staff, something like "humans don't look deeper"?
    – Izkata
    May 6, 2015 at 14:56
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I believe that the AI OR consciousness of what would become Ultron was placed within the scepter by one of the Black Order, or by Thanos, to perform his bidding which was to rid himself of the threat known as Earth and it's Avengers. I believe this because at the end of the movie (Avengers: Age of Ultron) Thanos clearly says, "Fine, I'll do it myself." Clearly signifying that he tried to set the actions that took place with the mind stone in place.

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    Any source to backup
    – Panther
    Apr 23, 2017 at 15:31
  • Wasn't the end credit scene where Thanos says, "Fine, I'll do it myself" from Guardians of the Galaxy?!
    – Sayan
    Apr 24, 2017 at 9:40
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Well here is my take on it. The mind stone has an extremely strong and undirected "power of mind". This causes a symbiotic relationship between the the stone and the entities around it. When you are near the stone your mental abilities are increased. This made Strucker more intelligent and enhanced the psychic powers of Scarlet Witch when she was near the stone. I think this is also why Jarvis was capable of fighting back against Ultron, keeping him from getting the worlds nuclear arsenal. The stone also shares the the traits of those that it is enhancing. That is why the "stone's mind" was similar in design to Jarvis (though more organic), has the urge to save the world in a misguided way (stark wants to save the world but builds extremely destructive weapons to do it), very articulate like Bruce Banner, and took its destructive tendencies to a global level like The Hulk. This also explains why Vision turned out to be benevolent. It was not because Stark fixed the code. The stone was taking on the traits of all of the avengers when his body and mind were being completed, rather than just the initial four. That is why Vision can control Thor's hammer, he took on the traits of Thor. So there really was no mind or AI in the stone, they just found the collective imprint of their enhanced minds in the stone and copied it. If it had its own mind then it would have been self aware before Jarvis started tinkering with it. I just wonder if Fury knew this would happen when he assembled The Avengers in the first place.

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  • This is a great answer detailing what the Mind Stone is and what it is capable of! But my question, originally, is about the relation b/w Ultron and the Mind Stone. Or, quite simply about the genesis of Ultron from the sceptre.
    – Sayan
    Aug 19, 2015 at 8:15
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Not sure why I was down voted, but my short answer is that scarlett may have created ultron's hatred for stark, or merged it with tony and the gang. I like the answer about the stone being a colletion of everyone's minds. Strucker must also have some part in ultron. But why didnt anyone ask ultron about the infinity stones. I wonder if it was the mind stones will to create a vessel for the stone hence ultron put it in vision. Seems like later we will know all.

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    I'm almost certain it was downvoted because the answer seemed unsubstantiated.
    – wbogacz
    Sep 12, 2015 at 23:02
  • So scarlett had nothing to do with ultron? There is not a reason for the human form the mind stone wanted to create. Ultron from birth saw it self as a person's, but why? There is no evidence of any of our answers as far as this movie shows. Sep 13, 2015 at 16:34

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