Damon Smith regroups with the Marvel heroes as they battle another enemy

As the roaring succ-ess of last year’s Guardians Of The Galaxy confirmed, our appetite for films set in the Marvel Comics universe is voracious.

This eagerly anticipated sequel to the 2012 action adventure Avengers Assemble is poised to smash box office records with the same unstoppable clobber of a rampaging Incredible Hulk.

It’s business as usual really. Director Joss Whedon's film fleshes out the back stories of existing characters, introduces new friends and foes to the fray, and continues the relentless cross-pollination of this menagerie of mighty misfits.

Marvel Comics chairman Stan Lee makes his traditional cameo and Whedon’s script glisters with polished one-liners. While the sequel delivers just what we expect, it lacks the pizzazz of the first film and pacing noticeably sags in the middle, plus overly enthusiastic editing of set pieces reduces some skirmishes to an incomprehensible blur, which strain the eyes in 3D.

In the breathless action sequence which opens the film, the Avengers storm a Hydra stronghold in the central European city of Sokovia under the control of Baron von Strucker (Thomas Kretschmann) in order to reclaim Loki’s magical staff, the Chitauri Scepter.

During the melee, emotionally scarred siblings Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Pietro Maximoff (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), who have been subjected to secret Hydra experiments, are unleashed.

Wanda infects the mind of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), using her dark sorcery to convince the billionaire that he will bring about the deaths of the entire team.

Tormented by his nightmarish vision, Stark secretly plans to harness the power of the Chitauri Scepter to awaken a dormant artificial intelligence programme to protect mankind. Instead, Stark unwittingly unleashes the villainous Ultron.

Steve Evans aka Captain America (Chris Evans) clashes with Stark for control of the Avengers comprising Thor , Natasha Romanov aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Banner aka The Incredible Hulk and Clint Barton aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner).

Rivalries intensify and fragile bonds of trust fray as mankind’s survival hangs in the balance.

Thankfully, the Avengers have a new, yet familiar, ally: an android called Vision (Paul Bettany).

Spader’s vocal performance lends gravitas to his mechanised megalomaniac while Downey Jr predictably snaffles the majority of the droll quips.

Seeds of romance between Ruffalo and Johansson, sown in the first film, are heavily watered as a diversion from the bone-crunching.

Avengers: Age of Ultron is being screened at cinemas across the county, including Odeon and Vue.

Avengers: Age of Ultron (12A)   
141 minutes. 
Directed by Joss Whedon
Starring Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L Jackson, James Spader, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, Hayley Atwell and the voice of James Spader