(man don't you just wish the logo looked like this?)
In July of 2017, Spider-Man: Homecoming will hit theaters. Three years removed from the web-slinger's last foray on to cinema screens, Homecoming will focus on a 15 year old Peter Parker/Spider-Man as he juggles being a high schooler and a hero. In Toby Maguire's Spider-Man, Peter graduated form high school by act two, and in The Amazing Spider-Man 2 we saw him rush to his graduation in the opening scene. This new franchise promises to stick Peter in high school a little bit longer, as he begins this film as a Sophomore. I am looking forward to this movie a lot! The only CBMs I anticipate more are Black Panther and Justice League. Tom Holland's Spider-Man was the 2nd best thing in Civil War (I'm a HUGE Black Panther fan), and everything I've seen so far from this movie is extremely encouraging...
Except for one thing.
This "one thing" is on display to your left.
Yes, the one thing about this movie I am not excited for is that the main antagonist is the Vulture. In case you're not too educated on the origin of the character,
Adrian Toomes was a former electronics engineer who was once the business partner of a man named Gregory Bestman. Bestman handled the finances while Toomes, the inventions. One day, after creating a flight harness, Toomes eagerly rushed into Bestman's office to share the happy news. However, Bestman was not there, and Toomes discovered that Bestman had secretly been embezzling funds. Toomes had no legal recourse. Enraged, Toomes wrecked the business, discovering that the harness also granted him superhuman strength. He then decided to turn to crime as the Vulture. The Vulture employs a special harness of his own design that allows him to fly using a pair of wings worn on his arms. The harness also endows him with super-strength, and some say it even lengthens his life-span. Although Toomes is advanced in age, he is a strong fighter and a remorseless killer. - Comic Vine
The Vulture is a classic Spidey villain, and an integral addition to Spidey's great rogue's gallery. However, when the rumors of him being the villain of this movie hit the web, I was whelmed at best. It was cool that we'd be seeing a villain we hadn't seen before, but Vulture of all people?
Director Tom Watts said this about his choice to use Vulture in an interview with Collider:
"From the very beginning, we wanted to try to keep it tech based just to keep it different initially from what we had seen before. Just getting away from anything that was too similar to [the past], and it sets up a really cool thing that I don't want to talk about yet! It's gonna be awesome."
The problem with these comments are that, they're wrong. Out of the 5 Spider-Man movies that have been released since 2002, 4 of them have had at least one "tech based" foe for Spider-Man to go up against. Green Goblin (Willem Dafoe), Doc Ock, Green Goblin (James Franco), Rhino, Green Goblin (Dane Dehaan), and now Vulture. And in the MCU characters with tech based suits include Iron Man, Iron Monger, Whiplash, War Machine, Falcon, Ultron (his body being a pseudo "suit" for his advanced intelligence), Ant-Man, Yellow Jacket, Wasp, Black Panther, and Spider-Man himself. This is getting old. Yes Spidey has fought villains that used technology to their evil advantage since he first appeared in comics, but these films are different than comics. Comics get to switch it up every month, while movies only get to switch it up every two or three years. When we think of Spider-Man villains, tech comes to mind, but their are villains whose tech isn't integral to their character, or don't use tech at all, that could be used. Examples of these villains include Rhino, Morbius, Kraven, Morlun, Sandman, Chameleon, Electro, Venom, Carnage, Green Goblin, and the various members of New York's criminal underworld like Hammerhead or Silvermane. We've seen Spider-Man go up against a villain that uses their tech to fly three times on screen. Next year it will be 4. I'm sure they can do cool new things with the character, but the problem will still be there.
Marvel Studios doesn't have the best track record with villains either; they like to focus more on the protagonist. That's an okay way of storytelling, but Spidey's rogue's gallery is too important to be wasted. With this film being so focused on Peter's high school life, it's hard for me to see them making a movie where Vulture is developed enough so that I care about him more than I have the other wasted Marvel villains. Even with Michael Keaton possibly portraying him, a great actor playing him does not guarantee a great role.
This Vulture will not only be the same old same old, but he overall isn't that interesting of a villain. His gimmick is that he flies (unique power set, huh) and his goal will probably be to get revenge on somebody for stealing his invention of the wings or revenge on Tony Stark for firing him from Stark Industries or something. It always comes back to Tony. Considering that his wings are very similar to the Falcon's, he'll probably be the inventor of those in this universe too. I've read one online theory that would be incredible if true, but doesn't seem like something Marvel has the balls to do.
[Check out the article Iinked above, after you're done with this, and tell me what you think about it in the comments section]
You're probably thinking, "Wow, Kong thinks he's SO smart. He thinks he knows better than Marvel Studios. Okay, then what villain(s) should they use instead of Vulture?" That, my friend, is an EASY question. The answer is....
M Y S T E R I O
Quentin Beck was an expert in designing special effects devices and stage illusions, as well as a master hypnotist and magician, and an amateur chemist. He also possessed a wealth of knowledge in hand-to-hand combat techniques that he learned as a stunt man. Unfortunately, all these things did little to help his career in the film industry. One day, a colleague joked that the easiest way to become famous was to take out a costumed hero. It was here that Mysterio was born. - Comic Vine
Spider-Man: Homecoming should've used Mysterio as the villain of the film. While a fake magician with a fish bowl for a head doesn't seem much better than an old man dressed as a Vulture, there are a couple reasons why he'd be a better fit than Vulture.
1) Never Seen Before, Yet Not Too Unfamiliar: Many of you are probably arguing that Mysterio is a "tech based" villain. I'd agree; tech does play a huge part in Mysterio's character. However, the difference between him and Vulture, or any of the other tech villains we've seen in the past, is that his goal is to convince you he's NOT one. Mysterio wants you to think he is a sorcerer. He wants everyone to think he has mystical powers from beyond. Spider-Man will go in to this battle thinking that there's a magical being threatening New York. That's not his forte. He will have to discover himself that Mysterio is just tricking everyone. Then he will have to think of a way to stop him, allowing us to see Peter's genius used past being able to build some web-shooters. He's different because while in reality he is technologically based, he does not look like it. He does not feel like it. So to the audience, it will feel different, but not so far off that it's foreign.
2) A Flair for the Dramatic: Quentin Beck likes to put on a performance. Being the master of illusion, extremely cool special effects naturally come along with the character. Shakespearean-esque monologs, dummy versions of himself, and overall spectacle all come along in the Mysterio package. Mysterio's grandiose performances provide our new Spidey with a new threat. Imagine Mysterio appearing in Times Square. Floating above the crowd, mystical energy floating around him, smoke rising from the ground, horrifying imagery covering all the screens. His villainous acts would also allow the filmmakers to show off more traditional looking magic, as Doctor Strange is leaning towards a more trippy, Steve Ditko, Inception, Enter the Void feel.
Mysterio's crimes won't seem to have a purpose. Robbing a bank one day, suspending the mayor from the top of the Empire State Building the next, exposing the passwords and private information of corrupt businessmen and politicians, setting buildings on fire, and more. He doesn't have a goal, past getting the world to know his name. You can't predict his next move, because even he might now know what's coming next. The best part here is that "mystery" is in his name (kind of). Mysterio is an apparition that haunts the events of the film, so we don't have to spend a ton of time on his origin or anything like that, because we shouldn't know it. For all we know this guy should be an actual magician, until we find out through Peter that he's really just playing a game. He's a domestic terrorist who terrorizes for fame. In a post-Chitauri Invasion world, it takes a lot more to become famous (or infamous) than it used to. Beck wants people to shout his name, even if they aren't praising his efforts.
3) A Very Flexible Origin Story: Mysterio does fall into the category of comic book villains whose origin stories feel dated. While his 1964 origin can still make sense in modern day, it's much too campy for modern audiences. He is a popular villain, but not so popular that a change to his backs tory would result in backlash from fans. A lot of people suggest that commenting on Hollywood's love affair with CGI and abandonment of practical effects is the way to update Quentin Beck's story to modern times, but I disagree. Even if Quentin Beck goes out for vengeance on the world because he can't do practical effects anymore, we're living in a time where filmmakers are praised for practical effects, and CGI fests are condemned by movie fans. While CGI does still rule, it seems like that commentary is not only a few years too late, but would be largely hypocritical. A Spider-Man movie is not the place to comment on the over usage of CGI. If I were to decide his origin, I would do it as follows:
Quentin Beck was abandoned by his parents at a young age. He was too young to still remember his parents today, but he does remember the feeling of loneliness and unimportance he felt as a foster child. Eventually a family did take him in, but he still didn't feel the love he craved by them either. He didn't feel appreciated or noticed. There was always something better to do; something more important than him and his needs. As a child he wanted to be a revolutionary magician. He would wow people with his use of high tech special effects to make them believe he was actually a wizard. However, his dreams were shot down by his "family" and peers who encouraged him to stay inside of the box, because of the difficulty to get out of it. Quentin gave up on his dreams of performing on a Las Vegas stage, but still craved recognition. As computer generated imagery became more and more popular in films, he decided he wanted to make people believe in the impossible through VFX. He wanted to be the one walking down the aisle for Best Visual Effects at the Oscars, one day. He wanted young, aspiring VFX artists to look to him for inspiration. After a few years in the industry it looked like he very well could've became that, but all that changed when those aliens fell from the sky. In a post Chitauri-Invasion world CGI lost a lot of it's spectacle. No one wants to see an alien invasion on film after living one. No one wants to find out what monster lives in their closet when they heard a story about one on the news yesterday. People went to big, special effects heavy, blockbusters for fun escapism. That all changed when reality became a blockbuster. Of course the VFX industry didn't die out, but the "wow" in them did. No portal from another dimension looked real in a movie if you'd actually seen one in real life. CGI made us believe and achieve the impossible, but after the invasion it was just trying to catch up with real life. Quentin ran out of things he was good at. He was good at special effects, practical and digital. Special effects meant nothing anymore. Magician's are silly when we have a Thor. Motion capture looks fake when we have a Hulk. Stunt men are rudimentary when we have a Captain America. Costumes are outdated when we have an Iron Man. Quentin then realized that the only people capable of still grabbing the world's attention were super heroes, and the people/things they fight. He was furious that these extraordinary people had taken the spotlight off of normal people like him. He decided that the only way to beat them was to join them. He had to become a superhero. Then he made an incredibly important observation. To fight crime you need a criminal. To save the day, there first needs to be someone who is putting "the day" in jeopardy. Super heroes are contingent on having a super villain to fight. Quentin couldn't take the risk of not having a villain to fight, or letting someone else get to the sight of the crime first, so he decided to become a villain. The only thing super villains are contingent on are victims, and Quentin has 7,000,000,000 potential victims out there that he can use to make the world know his name.
The point of this origin is to show that he is obsessed with being famous. He's the definition of insane, or at least Albert Einstein's alleged one. Einstein (might have) famously said, "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results." Quentin Beck, feeling ignored and unappreciated as a child set out to show the world he meant something. He wanted to change the world, purely so people could recognize him for doing it. He saw becoming a super villain as the only way fit to do so. This is the rare instance where the principal of "A good villain thinks their the hero" does not apply. He knows he's the villain. The twist here is that the villainy doesn't lie in him committing crimes, but in his willingness to do so...
Thanks for reading this editorial of mine. It's been a little over a year since I last posted an article on this site, so I'm a little rust. Tell me what you think of my ideas in the comments. Do you agree or disagree? Who would you want to see Spidey go up against in the new series. Tell me your thoughts in the comments below, and rememebr to click that thumbs up if you enjoyed it. This has been a Kong editorial, and always remember to,