Even those whose nerd blood runs lukewarm should acknowledge the skill with which The Avengers did its thing, throwing together multiple franchises into a jumbo combo pack that somehow didn’t feel like a letdown. Age of Ultron is, it must be said, a clunkier affair than its predecessor, shoehorning too many new characters into a narrative that devotes more time to setting up future conflicts than to resolving the ones in the constantly exploding now. And yet, while you’re watching it, none of these deficits really seem to matter all that much. Warts and all, this is one of the all-too-rare preordained blockbusters that doesn’t take the audience’s enjoyment for granted.
Opening with a confidently show-offy battle scene, director Joss Whedon’s script finds Iron Man, Black Widow, Hulk, and the rest putting aside their ideological bickering…