If at first it was just a rumor, now it’s been confirmed - Robert Downey Jr. has signed a deal to appear in Spider-Man: Homecoming as Tony Stark/Iron Man. However, in addition to this beloved MCU actor, one other was also in talks with the studio about taking on a role, most likely a villainous one.
And that actor was Michael Keaton, who is for many the definitive Bruce Wayne/Batman - the DCEU has already cast two Spider-Man actors (J.K. Simmons and Willem Dafoe), it would have been nice to see Keaton appearing in the MCU - after all, over the past few years, the actor has once again been at the top of his game.
Michael Keaton in Birdman (Independent)
Last month it was reported that the Batman star was in early talks to play the main villain in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Since Kevin Feige said that the movie’s villain was one that’s never been seen on the big screen, it was reported that Keaton would portray the Vulture - a villain also teased in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Furthermore, this same villain was also considered by Sam Raimi in the original Spider-Man trilogy, with John Malkovich being approached for the role.
However, when it became official that Robert Downey Jr. had joined the cast of the long-awaited MCU Spider-Man solo flick, it was also announced that Michael Keaton had dropped out of the negotiations!
But maybe it’s for the better.
At this point, little is known about the movies’ plot. Considering the title, we suspect that it won't be just the first solo film in the MCU featuring the web-crawler, but also the first time when the symbiote will appear in this cinematic universe.
Vulture (Comic Vine)
