The MCU's Peter Parker first squared off with Adrian Toomes/The Vulture in Spider-Man: Homecoming. The villain, who had a grudge against Iron Man, figured out Spidey's secret identity and pushed the wall-crawler to his limit before ultimately being defeated.
Now, scooper Daniel Richtman is reporting that Michael Keaton is being lined up to return as The Vulture in Marvel Studios' Spider-Man 4.
When we last saw Toomes, he was behind bars and seemingly accepting of his fate. However, Mac Gargan, a crook injured during an altercation with Spidey, suggested he was going to force The Vulture to reveal who is beneath the hero's mask.
Whether he did or not is now irrelevant as Doctor Strange's spell made everyone forget Peter exists. As for The Vulture, his MCU return comes as a surprise seeing as Morbius featured his bizarre and unexpected arrival in the "Spider-Verse" that Venom calls home.
Morbius' post-credits scene was a result of reshoots. Original plans called for the Living Vampire to cross paths with Toomes during some sort of jailbreak, likely because the movie went into production at a time when Sony Pictures had decided - during production on Spider-Man: Far From Home - to end its partnership with Marvel Studios.
That was going to see Tom Holland's web-slinger brought into the same world Sony's Venom and Morbius movies take place in, likely without any sort of explanation. Thankfully, common sense prevailed and Spider-Man will remain part of the MCU moving forward.
Spider-Man: No Way Home, however, saw Sony use the events of that movie to reveal Toomes had mysteriously been transported there when all those Variant villains were returned home. Stranded on the wrong planet, The Vulture was freed from captivity, rebuilt his suit, and decided to recruit Morbius to a seemingly heroic team.
The sequence was ridiculed by fans and this news suggests the idea - or Toomes' role in it, at least - has been scrapped.
The Multiverse could come into play, particularly with Madame Web on the horizon, but it's hard to believe Marvel Studios is willing or interested in taking cues from Avi Arad's live-action Spider-Verse.
If The Vulture has been returned to his rightful timeline, though, he may well still remember who Peter is. After all, he was off-world when the spell finished, creating a possible magical loophole. Whether this is potentially leading to Scorpion's debut is hard to say, though The Kingpin has previously been rumoured as Spider-Man 4's big bad.
Let us know your thoughts and theories in the comments section.