Michael Keaton’s casting as Batman was heavily scrutinized. Heck, it was arguably the original controversial superhero film casting, with angry fans endlessly complaining to the point that director Tim Burton had to fight for Keaton. The actor’s image as a comedian simply stood in the way of the public seeing him as a worthy Caped Crusader, let alone a Dark Knight worthy of the darker tone fans expected in the post-Frank Miller era of Batman stories.
Of course, Keaton proved everyone wrong and helped usher a new era for DC’s iconic superhero, one that we still haven’t entirely moved past. In fact, the actor was so successful at leaving his stamp on the role that many folks still regard him as the best live-action Batman ever
Hence, the idea of Keaton returning to the superhero genre to play a different comic book character was almost unthinkable, not least of all a villain created by a rival comic book publisher. So, when Keaton joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Adrian Toomes/Vulture in 2017’s “Spider-Man: Homecoming,” it felt like a real occasion. After all, this was the man who’d helped pave the way for the superhero movie renaissance of the early 21st century.
Sure enough, getting to watch Tom Holland’s Peter Parker square off against Keaton’s Vulture proved to be a major highlight of “Homecoming.” At the same time, Keaton never missed the chance to remind Holland of his Dark Knight days. “He’s a badass,” Holland told Short List Magazine in 2017 (via Comic Book Movie). “We have a fight in the movie, and I punch him. He turns around and says [in a deep voice], ‘I’m Batman.’ He kept doing Batman quotes on set.”
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Michael Keaton reminded Tom Holland he’s still Batman
Michael Keaton as Adrian Toomes listening carefully in Spider-Man: Homecoming – Marvel Studios
Knowing that Keaton was both playful and threatening behind-the-scenes during the making of “Homecoming” makes his portrayal of the Vulture even better, as that’s exactly what makes the character one of the MCU’s best villains. Vulture, you see, was part of a wave of MCU antagonists who were more sympathetic and victims of circumstance rather than one-off, mustache-twirling bad guys. In the case of Adrian Toomes, he’s the boss of a cleanup crew that gets screwed out of their livelihood by Stark Industries and the federal government’s joint operation, Damage Control, taking over all salvaging operations in New York City in the wake of the Battle of New York in “The Avengers.” Seeing his livelihood ruined, as well as that of his employees, Toomes takes it upon himself to become a black market arms dealer instead.
No, he’s not secretly the hero, but for the most part, Adrian seems like a genuinely decent fella and loving father who (as far as we know) didn’t personally hurt anyone until the Avengers unintentionally meddled with his business.
The character’s duality — a caring suburban family man who is also a supervillain with a flying suit — made perfect use of Keaton’s skills as both a comedic actor and also a guy who once played Batman and came up with the phrase “Let’s get nuts.” It sucks, then, that Keaton’s Vulture eventually found himself stuck in Sony’s multiversal mess with “Morbius,” with seemingly no way out. But hey, even if we never get Keaton’s version of the villain back, at least we’ll get to see one of his law-breaking associates in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.”
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