I had a weird moment midway through Inherent Vice when I realized that the last time I'd seen Josh Brolin (he's one of the greatest things about Inherent Vice, funny and weird and scary and insane and constantly fellating frozen chocolate bananas) was when he was Thanos in that clunky, shoehorned-in scene from Guardians of the Galaxy, sitting on his little floaty chair and musing about how tough he is (even though he sure doesn't seem that tough). That scene exists pretty much just to set up some Avengers sequel down the road, and now that I think about it, it's not even Brolin—it's a CGI Grimace that happens to growl with Brolin's voice.

Maybe by the time Avengers: The Legend of Squirrel Girl's Gold comes along in 2042, Brolin will have made Thanos into something resembling a respectable villain, something that the Marvel movies desperately need (so far, Loki is the only one who's been even remotely interesting). Which leads us, fairly torturously and meanderingly, to the new trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron, which, kind of interestingly, stresses the bad guy: Now that the Avengers have assembled, they're about to be disassembled, thanks to a robo-jerk named Ultron that's played by James Spader. Or has James Spader's voice coming out of him, at least.

That's a pretty good trailer! Even if it does seem a little dour.

I get it, Guardians of the Galaxy was so fun because it sucked all the fun out of all subsequent Marvel trailers. It makes sense now.
— Graeme (@graemem) January 13, 2015

Look: I'd be lying if I said I still wasn't excited. In Whedon we trust.

But here's what I keep thinking whenever I see Ultron or his army of drones, though: Wouldn't it be cooler to have Spader actually playing a robot? Like, clunking around in a tinfoil costume with a silver spray-painted ice-cream bucket on his head? When performance capture is good, it can be really good (Andy Serkis in the Apes and Lord of the Rings movies, Zoe Saldana in Avatar, and... that's all I can think of, really), but there's a sense of ennui this Ultron trailer hints at: Here's another CGI army, here's another CGI villain. It just makes me want to watch a real Spader performance. Even if it's one where he has to dress up in an old-school Gort costume. Especially if it's one where he has to dress up in an old-school Gort costume.