James Spader as Ultron Avengers star Tom Hiddleston approves poll

James Spader left has been cast as the titular villain in The Avengers Age of Ultron. Spader is a prolific actor with three Emmy Awards under his belt. Click through the gallery for a look at some of his previous roles. (Frederick M. Brown / Getty Images Marvel)

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James Spader left and Robert Downey Jr. in Tuff Turf a 1985 film about a street gang. (New World Pictures)

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James Spader plays popular rich Steff in John Hughes' 1986 film Pretty in Pink. (Paramount Pictures)

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Andie MacDowell left and James Spader in Steven Soderbergh's 1989 drama Sex Lies and Videotape. (Miramax)

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James Spader in Steven Soderbergh's 1989 drama Sex Lies and Videotape. (Miramax)

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James Spader left and Kurt Russell team up in the 1994 sci fi adventure Stargate. (Claudette Barius / NBC)

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James Spader left Kurt Russell and John Diehl in the 1994 sci fi adventure Stargate. (Claudette Barius / NBC)

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James Spader in David Cronenberg's 1996 drama Crash. (Jonathan Wenk / Fine Line Features)

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James Spader stars as Dr. Werner Ernst in the 1997 dramedy Critical Care. (Live Entertainment)

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James Spader stars as Nick VanZant the pilot of a deep space hospital vessel who must uncover the destructive force that threatens his ship in the 2000 sci fi thriller Supernova. (United Artists)

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James Spader and Angela Bassett in Supernova. (Stephen Vaughan / United Artists)

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Spader portrayed a retired FBI agent tasked with tracking down an elusive serial killer on the streets of Chicago in the 2000 thriller The Watcher. (Universal Studios)

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James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal portray a lawyer and his secretary who share a sadomasochistic relationship in the 2002 dramatic comedy Secretary. (Bruce Birmelin / Lionsgate)

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In the 2003 TV movie The Pentagon Papers Spader played Daniel Ellsberg the defense worker who leaked a 7 000 page classified Vietnam War document to newspapers in 1971. (Sophie Giraud / FX Network)

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James Spader right played attorney Alan Shore in The Practice. The series about a Boston law firm ran from 1997 to 2004. (Bob D'Amico / ABC)

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James Spader accepts his 2004 Primetime Emmy Award for his lead role in The Practice. (Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

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William Shatner left and James Spader in Boston Legal a spinoff of The Practice. The series ran from 2004 to 2008 and Spader won two Emmys for his performance. (Danny Feld / ABC)

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James Spader is surrounded by applause after winning his 2007 Emmy for his performance in Boston Legal. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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James Spader left portrays W.N. Bilbo a Tennessee lawyer and lobbyist in Steven Spielberg's 2012 drama Lincoln. (David James / DreamWorks)

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James Spader as Red Raymond Reddington in NBC's The Blacklist which premieres this September. (David Giesbrecht / NBC)

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James Spader arrives at the NBC 2013 summer press tour at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills on July 27. (Dan Steinberg / Associated Press)

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This morning s news that James Spader will play the titular villain in Marvel s Avengers Age of Ultron has the Internet abuzz with many Marvel fans applauding the casting decision.

One of the Emmy winning actor s biggest endorsements comes from Tom Hiddleston whose villainous shoes he will have to fill. Hiddleston portrayed Loki the power hungry demigod who faced off against Marvel s mightiest in The Avengers last year. He also played Loki opposite Chris Hemsworth in 2011 s Thor and is reprising the role for this year s sequel Thor The Dark World.

On Thursday Hiddleston tweeted encouragement to Spader one Marvel villain to another.

Go on James Spader. Go get 'em. Avengers AgeOfUltron Tom Hiddleston ( twhiddleston) August 29 2013

Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon also tweeted support for Spader teasing fans who had referenced a Spader Robert Downey Jr. reunion the pair played a drug dealer and a junkie respectively in the 1987 film Less Than Zero. Whedon however recalled an earlier collaboration

All these old Spader Spader/Downey references and NO LOVE FOR TUFF TURF Step up your game people madthrilledbtw Joss Whedon ( josswhedon) August 29 2013

Hiddleston and Whedon weren t the only ones chatting about Spader. Following is a sampling of online voices expressing their reaction to the news.

James Spadet cast as Ultron. It s like Marvel got my letters. Spectacular Spader man. Scott Kurtz ( pvponline) August 29 2013

I'm psyched for Spader's Ultron. He'll bring the scary. Avengers. Brad Meltzer ( bradmeltzer) August 29 2013

Guess that kills the evil Jarvis theory going around. Sorry Paul Bettany fans. (They watch a lot of bad films but they do exist.) ultron Andrew Ellard ( ellardent) August 29 2013

First RDJ. Now James Spader. Which '80s heartthrob actor is next to star in a superhero film How about Judd Nelson Mel Caylo ( melcaylo) August 29 2013

James Spader is Marvel's perfect choice for Ultron Recognizable and probably relatively cheap Chip Zdarsky ( zdarsky) August 29 2013

considering what james spader made robert downey junior do in less than zero the stakes for the new avengers seem a lot more urgent now. javi grillo marxuach ( OKBJGM) August 29 2013

ChrisJonesArt I just keep thinking about how Rob Lowe was Billy Batson and how we need to get all the Brat Pack into superhero roles. Katie Schenkel ( JustPlainTweets) August 29 2013

Ugh. Wait James Spader is playing ULTRON So just his voice They've successfully made Ultron a boring human Marvel comicbooks Vanessa Olivia Isley ( VanessaMsMarvel) August 29 2013

Remember this from the Buffy pilot

Cordelia James Spader Buffy He needs to call me.

It was all part of a long world building plan Jaime Weinman ( weinmanj) August 29 2013

Hey Jeanne what do you think of James Spader being cast in the new Avengers movie Related Duckie Steff or Blane The Editors of WORN ( wornjournal) August 29 2013

James Spader will be in the Avengers sequel. I hope he becomes radioactive and bites someone. Matthew Baldwin ( matthewbaldwin) August 29 2013

James Spader and Robert Downey Jr on screen together That should be awesome even if it s only Spader s voice. I don t care. Augie De Blieck Jr. ( augiedb) August 29 2013

The overall positive reception of the news stands in stark contrast to DC s announcement last week that Ben Affleck will portray Batman in Zack Snyder s upcoming Man of Steel sequel. That casting was met with a barrage of skepticism though the Oscar winner was not without his supporters Whedon among them.

Then again Ultron isn t as well known as Batman and moviegoers in general have fewer preconceived notions about how the character should be portrayed.

In the comics Ultron is an insane sentient robot who tries to destroy his creator Dr. Henry Pym the original Ant Man. It s unclear how closely the film will tie to the recently finished Age of Ultron story in Marvel Comics or whether Ant Man (the protagonist in another upcoming Marvel film directed by Edgar Wright) will be part of the movie which is set for release May 1 2015.

What do you think about Spader s casting as Marvel Studios next supervillain Take the poll below.

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