Fast on the heels of Sony announcing that their upcoming Spider-Man franchise reboot will be titled Spider-Man: Homecoming comes word as to whom may be in contention to play the film’s lead villain.
Variety is reporting that Michael Keaton is in early talks to join the film which will see Tom Holland taking over the lead role of Peter Parker/Spider-Man and that will see the character being integrated into Marvel Studios’ interconnected cinematic universe in a unique rights sharing agreement with Sony.
There is no word in the Variety story as to what Spider-Man villain Keaton could be playing. It was previously stated that the reboot’s villain would not be one that has appeared in a Spider-Man film before. Currently, there are rumors swirling that the film’s big bad could be the Vulture. If so, that would add an additional matea-textual layer to Keaton’s appearance. In addition to playing Batman in the two Tim Burton-directed films in the 1980s and 1990s, Keaton played an actor trying to overcome the sterotype inflicted on him from playing the lead in a popular superhero franchise in 2014’s Birdman.
The Vulture first appeared in print in May 1963’s The Amazing Spider-Man #2. He was a popular antagonist for Spider-Man over the decades, showing up in a number of animated iterations, and was set to be played by John Malkovich in director Sam Raimi’s aborted Spider-Man 4 back in 2010.
Holland’s will be making his Spider-Man debut next month in Captain America: Civil War before Spider-Man: Homecoming swings into theaters on on July 7, 2017.
John Watts is set to direct the film which is expected to be in front of cameras this summer.
Michael Keaton In Talks For SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING https://t.co/hW4ce42eYL