Some people may not realize this, but the villain of ‘Spider-Man: Homecoming,’ the Vulture, is actually one of Spider-Man’s oldest enemies (no pun intended), as Stan Lee points out in a recently released clip from the “Homecoming’ Blu-Ray special features, saying that Vulture was “one of Spider-Man’s first villains.”
General audiences may not be aware of this because after 5 previous ‘Spider-Man’ films, we had never seen the man, mainly because no one had been quite sure how to make the character believable and engaging up on the big screen, especially since he is basically a bald old man in a green leotard who develops wings so he can fly in the comics, not exactly the most down-to-earth storyline for a movie. As to why the character was so unusual, we have to turn to the words of Stan Lee himself from the video.
According to Mr. Lee, the idea behind the Vulture was to create a villain who was just different than anything he had come up with for previous comics:
“I liked the idea of somebody who is not very muscular but who has the ability to fly. The idea of this middle-aged Vulture — there had never, as far as I know, been a villain like that before.”
Of course, once the filmmakers decided on using the Vulture for ‘Homecoming, ‘ they quickly realized that the comic version of Vulture just was not going to work that well in a live-action movie, well, at least not work in any way that was believable. According to co-writer Jonathan Goldstein:
“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.”
Hence the redesign of the flight suit and full head of graying hair, which of course was enhanced by the menacing facade of Michael Keaton. I personally think they made some excellent choices there, as the Vulture turned out to be one of my favorite Spider-Man cinematic villains, and his entire look was pretty incredible. But that’s just my opinion, what were your thoughts on the character? Feel free to share your opinion in the comments below!
