Spider-Man: No Way Home Easter Egg Sets Up Return of Michael Keaton’s Vulture

Spider-Man: No Way Home finally swings into theaters this weekend, and fans are incredibly excited to see exactly what the blockbuster has in store. Outside of the various multiversal elements of the film, one of the biggest sources of intrigue has been how it will deal with Peter Parker / Spider-Man’s (Tom Holland) own narrative, and particularly his identity crisis after he was publicly unmasked at the end of Spider-Man: Far From Home. As a newly-released clip from the film reveals, one small Easter egg could further Peter’s story in an intriguing way — and even set up the eventual return of one of his biggest villains.

The clip, which shows a fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), briefly showcases a newsstand covered in magazines surrounding Peter’s identity reveal. Among them is an issue of People magazine adorned by Liz Allan (Laura Harrier), which reads “He’s a liar.” This not only reveals that Peter’s former high school crush has a less-than-positive outlook on their former romance in Spider-Man: Homecoming, but it raises the question of what’s currently up with Liz’s father, Adrian Toomes / The Vulture (Michael Keaton).

As the trailers for Sony’s upcoming Morbius film have revealed, Keaton will be reprising his role as The Vulture in that film, although it is currently unclear if that will tie directly into the MCU canon or not. Keaton did reveal in an interview last month that he would be filming more “Vulture stuff” in the near future, although it’s unclear exactly what that will appear in. 

In Spider-Man: No Way Home, for the first time in the cinematic history of Spider-Man, our friendly neighborhood hero is unmasked and no longer able to separate his normal life from the high-stakes of being a Super Hero. When he asks for help from Doctor Strange the stakes become even more dangerous, forcing him to discover what it truly means to be Spider-Man. The film will also star Zendaya as MJ, Jacob Batalon as Ned Leeds, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, J.B. Smoove as Julius Dell, Tony Revolori as Flash Thompson, Angourie Rice as Betty Brant, and Hannibal Buress as Coach Wilson. Willem Dafoe, Alfred Molina, and Jamie Foxx will reprise their roles from previous Spider-Man films.

Spider-Man: No Way Home is set to be released on December 17th.