Avengers unleash Ultron footage at Comic-Con

Robert Downey Jr. , Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo and Jeremy Renner were on hand with other cast members from The Avengers: Age of Ultron, including Samuel L. Jackson and Cobie Smulders.

The footage kicked off with the Marvel superhero team attempting to pick up Thor’s mighty hammer before launching into a barrage of action-packed imagery, including Hulk battling a giant robot resembling Iron Man and Thor grabbing Tony Stark by the throat. The footage ended with a bleak scene of all the Avengers fallen with a haunting close up of Captain America’s shield split down the middle.

“If I lift it, do I get to rule Asgard?” Stark asked while trying to lift Thor’s hammer — both with and without an Iron Man gauntlet.

The cast were joined on stage at the San Diego Convention Center by newcomers Elizabeth Olsen, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Paul Bettany and James Spader, who personifies the villainous mechanical force Ultron in the sequel.

“I play an 8-foot robot,” Spader joked. “I’ve always played human up until this point.”

Age of Ultron is set for release May 1, 2015.