Spider-Man Star Michael Keaton Confirms Vulture Return

Not content just to return as Batman, Michael Keaton yesterday confirmed that he will be back as The Vulture. Without naming a specific project, Keaton revealed during a conversation on Jimmy Kimmel Live that he is currently shooting something with the character. Of course, that immediately got fans wondering what it’s for, with the two obvious choices being reshoots on Morbius or maybe a post-credits stinger for Spider-Man: No Way Home. The character was last seen in Spider-Man: Homecoming, in which he served as the primary antagonist. He also had one of the best twists in the MCU when it was revealed that he was Liz’s father.

Keaton’s character had appeared in trailers for Morbius, leading fans to speculate about the film being set in the MCU. Of course, with multiverse shenanigans happening in No Way Home as well as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, it’s possible that there’s another explanation for it.

After sharing a funny anecdote about how he doesn’t really understand the complex mythology of the MCU, and that production’s attempts to bring him up to speed have been in vain, he told Kimmel, “I’m shooting tomorrow; I’m shooting Vulture stuff.” When Kimmel asked what he was shooting, Keaton just doubled down with another “Vulture stuff.”

You can see the exchange below. Marvel talk starts around 13 minutes.

Recently, Tom Holland told GQ that he thinks his remaining time as Spider-Man is limited. 

“Maybe it is time for me to move on,” Holland said in the interview. “Maybe what’s best for Spider-Man is that they do a Miles Morales film. I have to take Peter Parker into account as well, because he is an important part of my life…[but] If I’m playing Spider-Man after I’m 30, I’ve done something wrong.”

While a generation of Spider-Man fans grew up on a married, middle-aged Peter Parker in the late ’80s and ’90s, Holland is a bit too young for that. Most interpretations of Spider-Man center on his high school experience and teenage alienation, which makes the idea of a high school graduate Spider-Man anathema to some fans. Of course, both Maguire and Garfield graduated in their film franchises and tried to keep going as Spider-Man after that.

Of course, those aforementioned five years can be a long time in Marvel movie years. Holland has appeared as Spider-Man in six movies during the five years since he debuted in Captain America: Civil War. In addition to his own trilogy of Sony/Marvel co-productions, Holland has appeared in two Avengers films. In theory, another five years could be enough for Holland to have two Spider-Man trilogies under his belt before he left the building.

Starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, Jamie Foxx, Alfred Molina, and Benedict Cumberbatch, Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios’ Spider-Man: No Way Home opens exclusively in movie theaters on December 17.