Michael Keaton swooped in and scavenged John Leguizamo's role as the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming

Negotiations with Keaton took so long that Sony lined up Leguizamo to play the winged villain before the Beetlejuice actor finally committed

By Katie Chow | February 10, 2023 | 4:12pm

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Michael Keaton swooped in and scavenged John Leguizamo's role as the Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming

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Michael Keaton and John Leguizamo Photo: Evans Vestal Ward, Momodu Mansaray

Spider-Man: Homecoming was warmly welcomed to the Marvel Cinematic Universe upon its release in 2017, thanks to its refreshing, John Hughes-inspired take on the webhead. However, it could have looked very different, with John Leguizamo playing antagonist Adrian Toomes, also known as the Vulture, instead of Michael Keaton. Talks between the Dopesick actor and Sony had dragged on for so long that the studio secured another star.

“We had negotiated and I was about to play him, and they said that Michael Keaton wanted it back and they asked me if I would give it up,” Leguizamo tells ComicBook. “I said, ‘Well, okay I guess.’ They said, ‘No, we’ll work with you again, we’re gonna…’ That’s what happened there.”

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Keaton went on to briefly reprise the role in Morbius, seemingly setting up a fresh assemblage of bad guys in Sony’s universe of Marvel characters following the multiverse shenanigans of Spider-Man: No Way Home. Meanwhile, Leguizamo hasn’t made his promised other appearance.

“They offered me something tiny,” the The Menu actor added. “I went, ‘Nuh uh.’ That behind the scenes, I’ve never talked about that.”

If Leguizamo is still looking for a meatier role menacing Peter Parker or any of his arachnid-powered pals, there should be plenty of other opportunities coming up. Sony has been building out a line-up of live-action films focused on Spider-Man villains, starting with two Venom movies and Morbius, soon to be joined by Venom 3, Kraven The Hunter, and a Hypno-Hustler project. Madame Web is set to hit theaters this fall, Olivia Wilde is still rumored to be directing a Spider-Woman movie, and TV shows following Silk and Spider-Man Noir have been confirmed. There’s also more Spider-Verse in the works, and Leguizamo has an accomplished voice acting résumé that includes the Ice Age series, Encanto, and Fairfax. He has also gotten to play a comic book villain as the voice of the Riddler in Batman: The Audio Adventures.