Warning. Spider-Man: Homecoming spoilers follow…
Having originally been earmarked for Sam Raimi’s abandoned Spider-Man 4, Adrian Toomes, a.k.a. The Vulture, finally made his big screen debut this month in Marvel and Sony’s Spider-Man: Homecoming, and chatting to Yahoo screenwriters Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley have revealed how they originally envisioned their take on the character.
“Once we started talking about Vulture, it was clear that the version in the comics wouldn’t do, where he was this bald old man,” said Goldstein, revealing that they chose the Vulture from a possible 40 characters. “It just never felt terribly scary on film to us. So we thought, ‘All right, let’s make him more of a middle-aged guy.‘”
Daley went on to state that the original plan was to have the Vulture as a science teacher at Peter’s school: “He was still stealing from Damage Control, but we had a different way into it. No, let’s separate him fully from the school — or at least so it seems.’ And that’s I think when we decided to make it the love interest’s dad.”
“We wanted to make it to personal to Peter,” added Goldstein. “This is a guy whose ambitions are not world domination, they’re fairly small and limited. So how do we make it mean something more to Peter than just being a random bad guy?”
SEE ALSO: Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Tom Holland wants Tobey Maguire to play Uncle Ben
A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.
Spider-Man: Homecoming sees Tom Holland and Marisa Tomei reprising their roles from Captain America: Civil War as Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Aunt May, alongside Marvel veterans Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts and Chris Evans as Captain America. New additions to the cast include Michael Keaton, Zendaya, Donald Glover, Jacob Batalon, Laura Harrier, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, Tyne Daly, Michael Barbieri, Abraham Attah, Hannibal Buress, Kenneth Choi, Angourie Rice, Michael Chernus, Michael Mando, Logan Marshall-Green and Jennifer Connelly.
Originally published July 17, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
