It has already been officially confirmed that the main antagonist in Spider-Man: Homecoming is going to be The Vulture, and we've also got an idea of what the supervillain will look like. The upcoming July 7, 2017 release will be the first live-action venture in which the supervillain appears.
Initially, after signing the historic deal with Sony Pictures, Marvel Studios made it clear that they will use a supervillain who hasn't appeared in the previous Spider-Man movies. But why did they specifically pick The Vulture? Now we have an answer to that question!
In a recent interview with Comic Book, Spider-Man: Homecoming director Jon Watts explains why they made The Vulture the first big baddie that Tom Holland's webslinger confronts.
According to the director, they wanted to go back to "the origins of what made Spider-Man and Peter Parker so unique" and that is why they introduced him in his teenage years. He explains:
He has to keep his identity a secret, which a lot of the other characters in the MCU don’t, um, and just, in general, going back to those origins, ya know. The Vulture is really the first supervillain that Spider-Man ever fights in Amazing Spider-Man, the second issue, after the Chameleon, so it just felt like the right thing to do, to go back to the roots in that way.
Well, there's one more reason for the decision to go with The Vulture for Spider-Man: Homecoming. Watts adds:
We talked about a lot of different things, but The Vulture always sort of rose to the top, and just the opportunity to have Spider-Man versus a guy that can fly really lends itself to some pretty cool visuals.
Many might not know the fact that Sam Raimi had twice planned to use The Vulture as a lead supervillain in a movie. He wanted the character in Spider-Man 3, and had even approached Ben Kingsley to portray the character. But producer Avi Arad had convinced him to use Venom, instead.
Then he wanted John Malkovich to play the supervillain in Spider-Man 4, but that movie was never made!
During the interview with Comic Book, the director also explains how Spidey fits into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. According to the director:
If the Avengers Tower is the penthouse, and we know what it’s like to be a millionaire, billionaire playboy, to be Tony, or we know what it’s like to be a God on another planet, that’s the penthouse level of the MCU. Spider-Man is the ground floor. What does a high school in the MCU look like? What does riding the subway in the MCU feel like?
The director adds that, to him, the webslinger seems to present "the most perfect opportunity" and "a great chance" to present to the world what that angle of the MCU feels like, because the character is "the most regular person in the canon".
Here's the clip featuring the Spider-Man: Homecoming director's interview for you!
