Michael Keaton To Return As Vulture In A New Marvel Movie

Micheal Keaton is going to take another superhero villain turn, coming back as Vulture in an upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film

By Doug Norrie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

michael keaton vulture

Michael Keaton has been on both sides of the superhero movie coin throughout his career, even somehow getting in the middle of the coin as well when he played an actor in an existential crisis. So this guy really does have every part of the genre under his belt. He’s been the good guy, the bad guy, and even the struggling good guy/ bad guy. Now it looks like he’s going to get back into the villain part of things again with news from Fandom Wire that Keaton will reprise his role of Vulture in the upcoming Spider-Man: No Way Home. 

The announcements about Spider-Man: No Way Home have been coming out hot and heavy over the last week with that film’s plot and cast really starting to take shape. Michael Keaton returning as Vulture signals that at least part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe story is going to carry over to this new production and this flick is likely to begin exploring the Sinister Six as the primary antagonists for the web-slinger. 

michael keaton vulture

Michael Keaton first appeared as Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming when we got something of an origin story behind his conversion from mild-mannered Adrian Toomes. He was a construction guy just looking to provide for his family but turned into a space-age, arms-dealing guy with massive wings and enough firepower to really give Tom Holland’s Spider-Man a run for his money. It was a very cool character who took some lumps, but lived to tell about it and hold a grudge against Peter going forward. 

This news of Michael Keaton joining the cast in Spider-Man: No Way Home follows up some other word we’ve gotten about what Spidey is up against in this film. Jamie Foxx had already been cast to reprise his role as Electro from Amazing Spider-Man and Alfred Molina is coming back as Doctor Octopus. And that was all before we just got word that Willem Dafoe is coming back as Norman Osborn / The Green Goblin. This is clearly the formation of the Sinister Six and will be a universe-bending problem for Peter Parker. 

michael keaton vulture

The way we are getting Michael Keaton from the Marvel Universe along with those previously mentioned bad guys coming over from different iterations of the character within the Sony set of movies is twofold. It is a combination of negotiations between Marvel and Sony as well as the addition of the Multiverse to the proceedings. We are still waiting to hear if Kraven the Hunter, now being played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson in a standalone movie for Sony, will be making an appearance here. It’s going to be a jam-packed movie that will likely throw a ton on the screen. Heck, there’s word that Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield could be reprising their web-slinging roles as well, but that hasn’t been entirely confirmed. 

And this isn’t the only superhero franchise Michael Keaton will be reprising a role. He’s also set to come back in some fashion as Bruce Wayne / Batman when the DC Extended Universe comes out with their standalone Flash film. That’s set to also explore their own version of the multiverse, this time with Barry Allen meeting different versions of the character in his speeding through various dimensions.