First Look at Ultron and His Army in 'The Avengers: Age of Ultron' (PHOTO)

The Avengers: Age of Ultron is one of the most anticipated movies since...well, the first Avengers movie. And this sequel is looking to be even more impossibly epic than the first, as the superhero team takes on its most formidable foe yet in the form of Ultron (James Spader).

And now, thanks to a pretty awesome cover for this week's issue of Entertainment Weekly, as we're getting our first look at Ultron and his army.

Check out the cover below via Entertainment Weekly:

Credit: Entertainment Weekly

The issue also explains some of the details of the plot, including the origin of Ultron himself.

(MINOR SPOILERS)

"For better or worse (trust us, it’s worse), his Tony Stark has devised a plan that won’t require him to put on the Iron Man suit anymore, and should allow Captain America, Thor, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the Hulk to get some much needed R&R as well. His solution is Ultron, self-aware, self-teaching, artificial intelligence designed to help assess threats, and direct Stark’s Iron Legion of drones to battle evildoers instead."

The only problem? Ultron (played by James Spader through performance-capture technology) lacks the human touch, and his superior intellect quickly determines that life on Earth would go a lot smoother if he just got rid of Public Enemy No. 1: Human beings. “Ultron sees the big picture and he goes, ‘Okay, we need radical change, which will be violent and appalling, in order to make everything better’; he’s not just going ‘Muhaha, soon I’ll rule!’” Whedon says, rubbing his hands together.

So Tony is essentially responsible for all this, which adds an extra layer of depth and pathos to the story. So not only is it going to be an all-out war between The Avengers and the army of Ultron, it could be a war between Ultron and all of humanity. Basically, this sounds much heavier than your standard summer fare, and we absolutely can't wait.

The Avengers: Age of Ultron hits theaters on May 1, 2015.