Spider-Man: Homecoming Made The Best Character Change From Comics To The Movie

Right now, Spider-Man: Homecoming has vaulted to near the top of the streaming charts on Netflix’s most watched movies. Although the film is nine years old, it remains one of the best entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Its recent arrival on Netflix stands out because there aren’t many entries in the MCU to stream on the platform, since most are readily available on Disney+ and Hulu. Plus, Spider-Man is Marvel’s most popular character, so people will flock to watch anything with the hero.

Spider-Man: Homecoming had a tall task to complete as the movie needed to mark Peter Parker’s first solo foray into the franchise, yet avoid falling into the traps of telling the same origin story that we’d seen in 2002’s Spider-Man and 2012’s The Amazing Spider-Man. It succeeded in that avenue, while also giving us a villain who had yet to appear on the big screen to that point. That antagonist was Adrian Toomes, better known as Vulture.

This was an odd choice on paper that had many fans confused since Vulture isn’t exactly near the top of the list of Spider-Man villains. You’d typically want a top-tier bad guy for Spidey to battle in his first solo film, so the MCU made some great changes to the comics to turn the character into a scene stealer.

Vulture Isn’t Anything Special In The Comics

The main reason that people weren’t excited when Vulture was announced as the villain of Spider-Man: Homecoming is that he’s kind of unimpressive on the comic book page. Technically, Adrian Toomes is the second Vulture as the first was an antagonist for the Human Torch and Toro. Toomes debuted in The Amazing Spider-Man #2 and was an engineer who turned to crime after learning his partner was embezzling funds. His access to a flight harness also enhanced his strength and he became a villain who fought Spider-Man on numerous occasions.

For the most part, Vulture is a fine street-level villain for Spider-Man to take on in a number of comics. However, he’s also kind of just there. When you think about Spider-Man’s greatest foes, you tend to consider Venom, Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, and Kingpin, just to name a few. This is not a character who you’d typically line up as the first major baddie for Spider-Man to fight on the big screen if you’re looking to establish the hero.

Spider-Man: Homecoming Made Vulture A Great Villain

Spider-Man: Homecoming opted to change a handful of things about Adrian Toomes for their version and it worked wonders. For starters, they connected his story to Peter Parker’s mentor, Tony Stark. That made a ton of sense, especially with Stark having a role in the movie. Toomes was a relatively honest man who was trying to provide for his family, only for Tony Stark to hire people to take over the cleaning of the Battle of New York, causing Toomes to lose all his business.

Toomes used some of the technology from the Battle of New York to make weapons and help power his Vulture suit, turning him into the villain. While a lot of people didn’t appreciate that Peter’s first villain was so tied to Tony Stark (and the same goes for his second, Mysterio), it was logical to fit the story within the MCU. Toomes is also often depicted as elderly in the comics, so even with his enhanced strength, he never feels like too much of a threat. He’s nowhere near as old in the film and is menacing because of it.

Another great change made to Toomes was having his daughter be part of Peter’s school life. Throughout the film, Peter has a crush on a slightly older schoolmate named Liz. He ends up going to prom with her, only to learn that Liz’s father is Adrian, which nobody saw coming. It’s one of the best twists in the entire MCU and added a personal aspect to the feud between Peter and Adrian. That raised the stakes in a big way.

The final important aspect that made Adrian Toomes into possibly the best villain in Spider-Man movie history isn’t a change, yet it’s still crucial to mention. That’s the casting of Michael Keaton as Toomes. Keaton is a tremendous actor who has a past in the superhero genre. He brought a level of gravitas and intensity to the role that allowed him to be even more imposing.

Changes Made To Other Spider-Man Villains

Image via Sony

More often than not, a movie adaptation isn’t going to be completely accurate to what happened on the pages of the comic books. Changes have to be made, including when it comes to the way villains are portrayed. Adrian Toomes is far from the only case of it happening; he’s just the best example of those changes actually improving the character.

One case of a notable change came in The Amazing Spider-Man with The Lizard. Although most of Curt Connors’ backstory remained intact, the film changed a lot about his look. He had a weird shape and didn’t wear his signature lab coat. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 completely altered Electro by changing his entire look. Rather than a man in a green and yellow suit, the movie version had his entire body turned blue and most people felt it looked goofy. The MCU righted this change when Electro returned in Spider-Man: No Way Home.

Spider-Man: Homecoming even made a change to a smaller villain. Shocker appears in the film, yet he didn’t have a notable costume or anything like that. Instead, he was just one of Vulture’s henchmen who got a weapon that was similar to what Shocker does in the comics and nothing more. The sequel, Spider-Man: Far From Home, went on to make major changes to another villain, Mysterio. On the page, he’s a disgruntled special effects artist, yet in the film, he’s a former employee of Tony Stark who uses drone technology to commit his crimes.

Along with Batman, Spider-Man is the superhero who has the best rogues gallery in the comic books. It has made for some stellar villains on the big screen and a strong argument could be made that Adrian Toomes is the greatest of them all in Spider-Man: Homecoming. He’s certainly the most surprising considering his comic book counterpart.

Release Date

July 7, 2017

Runtime

133 minutes

Director

Jon Watts