For all of the critical acclaim garnered by the Marvel Cinematic Universe – not to mention the record-shattering box office cume – the one common complaint often directed at the studio’s intricate body of films is that Marvel tends to fumble its villains. Loki notwithstanding, you’d struggle to identify another well-rounded antagonist that struck a chord with the viewers. But director Jon Watts is hoping to change all that with the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming.
And though previous Spider-Man movies have introduced the likes of Doctor Octopus, Electro and Green Goblin (twice) to the moviegoing masses, Watts and Co. have elected Vulture to be the primary villain of Spider-Man: Homecoming – and the Powers That Be cast a bona fide Hollywood A-lister in Michael Keaton. So far, so good. Vulture may not be the most iconic villain to come out of Spidey’s rogues gallery, but Homecoming‘s pair of trailers have teed up Michael Keaton’s nemesis remarkably well, and we know that he’ll be tapping into alien weaponry in order to seek his revenge on Tony Stark.
And it’s that act of vengeance that came up in conversation during Keaton’s recent interview with Screen Rant. Naturally, the actor skated around story details, but he did shed some light on what makes Vulture (AKA Adrian Toomes) tick.
I don’t want to give away too much because the approach that Jon has chosen – the director Jon [Watts] – is a really interesting one, and kind of risky. Which was appealing because – this will kind of give you something – he (Adrian Toomes) is somewhat of a victim. He takes things in that he feels like a victim, and some of it is justified actually. He believes that there’s an upper echelon of society, of people who are getting away with a lot and have everything. And there’s a whole lot of folks who are working hard, and don’t have much. Does that sound familiar? To anybody, given the political climate? Which I think is an interesting way to go about this.
In a supplementary interview with Screen Rant, Homecoming‘s executive producer Eric Carroll pinpointed the Vulture’s family dynamic, and how it’s this character trait that will ultimately give Keaton’s villain the ability to resonate with the audience.
No, no. He is a businessman with a family. He wants to look out for who his kids. He’s got sort of a Tony Soprano mentality. He doesn’t have these big delusions of grandeur where he wants to take over the world, or replace the government, or even defeat the Avengers or anything. He just wants to… he wants his shot at the good life, and he thinks it’s not fair that someone like Tony Stark can make a fortune selling weapons and find the light, turn away from that, and be looked upon as a hero and then even worse, help found – as you’ll see – he gets paid to clean up the mess. … So he’s one of those guys. ‘I’m doing some shady stuff, but I’m not really hurting anyone,’ you know?
Spider-Man: Homecoming makes a beeline for theaters on July 7th, and you may want to hang around after the credits roll. If you’re pining for more Spidey content, you’ll be able to catch a new glimpse of Tom Holland’s Web-Head in action via these stills, just don’t hold your breath for Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) to pick up where things left off after Civil War.
