Joining one of the most popular film franchises in the world must be daunting.
Indeed, for Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who plays Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver in Marvel Studios' Avengers: Age of Ultron, it was "super surreal and overwhelming...but it's been great."
"Stepping on set with these guys, it feels like a real family," he told E! News' Alicia Quarles during an exclusive set visit in London last year. "A bunch of them already, it's like their fifth movie."
The sequel brings back the star-studded cast, including Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Evans as Captain America, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, Mark Ruffalo as The Hulk and Cobie Smulders as Agent Maria Hill.
The movie also sees Iron Man's butler Jarvis (Paul Bettany) becoming Vision.
Taylor-Johnson joined the cast with Elizabeth Olsen, who plays his twin sister, Wanda Maximoff/Scarlett Witch. James Spader, meanwhile, plays the technological terror Ultron.
How did the original cast treat the newbies? "I thought there'd definitely be some sort of initiation tests and we'd go through a lot of stuff, but no," he said.
Really? "They're all good," he promised.
Before Taylor-Johnson signed on to star in the film, he needed time to consider the character. "I think straightaway it was flattering to be asked to join the Avengers. It's like the biggest sort of compliment in your career, I suppose. But yeah, I think for me, I was kind of cautious because there was a few things that needed to...I just wanted to know about the character and kind of research as much as possible. It wasn't just like a superhero that was like, 'OK, his power is that he runs faster than the speed of sound.' I needed to have [answers to] where he comes from before all that, and what's the relationship between him and his sister, and how is it going to sort of help shape the film. Otherwise you're just like another element that doesn't mean much."
"There was a lot of things that I wanted to question and ask. I just spent a lot of time in communication with [director Joss Whedon] and [Marvel Studios president] Kevin Feige and the guys at Marvel. It was just really easy and really nice, and we just threw ideas back and forth, you know?"
With Whedon and Feige's input, Taylor-Johnson also updated his character's look a bit. "If you look at the comic books, he's got kind of white, silvery hair," he told E! News. "There were a few comic books that we took reference from."
Watch the video above to learn more about Taylor-Johnson's stunt work.
Avengers: Age of Ultron also stars Hayley Atwell (Peggy Carter), Don Cheadle (James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine), Idris Elba (Heimdall), Anthony Mackie (Sam Wilson/Falcon) and Stellan Skarsgård (Erik Selvig).
Be sure to check out Avengers: Age of Ultron, in theaters May 1. Visit E! Online daily at 8 a.m. PT through May 1 to watch more exclusive on-set interviews.