Sony Pictures has unveiled a new behind-the-scenes featurette for Spider-Man: Homecoming that gives us a better understanding of the film’s villain, The Vulture. Michael Keaton returns to the realm of superheroes with this character, but it’s a bit different than Batman. This featurette finds Keaton and Tom Holland explaining the motivations and origins of The Vulture, and it’s telling that Keaton refers to him as “what you all want to call a villain.” The character has no inherent superpowers, and along with his salvage crew has been picking up scraps of alien technology left behind after the Avengers’ big city battles and making their own weapons. A blue-collar guy, Vulture is none too pleased with the 1%-ers like Tony Stark, and I’m interested to see that dynamic play out in the course of the film.

It’s no secret that Marvel Studios has a pretty spotty track record when it comes to crafting memorable villains, but my hopes are high for Keaton’s Vulture. The MCU baddies usually suffer from convoluted or uninteresting backstories, lack of compelling motivation, and little or no bearing on the actual characters or plot at hand. They serve as two-dimensional obstacles for our hero to defeat, and since the MCU does such a great job with its heroes, this is an issue we’ve been able to overlook time and time again.

The best MCU villains are the ones rooted in pathos, like Loki, and it looks like that’s the track being taken with Vulture here as well. When I was on the set of Homecoming last year the film’s producer told me nearly everyone who pitched to write the new Spider-Man movie pitched Vulture as the villain, so hopefully Marvel’s found an engaging way to bring this comics character to life.

Check out the Spider-Man: Homecoming featurette below, and click here to read Matt’s positive review of the film. The movie also stars Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Tony Revolori, Bokeem Woodbine, and more. Spider-Man: Homecoming opens in theaters on July 7th.

Here's the official synopsis for Spider-Man: Homecoming:

A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Captain America: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging super hero in Spider-Man: Homecoming. Thrilled by his experience with the Avengers, Peter returns home, where he lives with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei), under the watchful eye of his new mentor Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). Peter tries to fall back into his normal daily routine – distracted by thoughts of proving himself to be more than just your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man – but when the Vulture (Michael Keaton) emerges as a new villain, everything that Peter holds most important will be threatened.

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Image via Sony Pictures
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Image via Sony

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Image via Sony