Supervillain Origins: The Vulture

Supervillain Origins: The Vulture This old buzzard is one of the earliest and most geriatric villains Spider-Man has ever faced. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we will explore the comic book origins of Adrian Toomes, otherwise known as The Vulture. As with most comic book characters, there are often re-imaginings and different versions to a character’s past. We have chosen to primarily follow the storyline that unfolded in 1963’s “The Amazing Spider-Man” #2 and was expanded upon in issue #241. Adrian Toomes was once a legitimate businessman and talented electronics engineer. However, all that changed when he began devoting all of his time and energy into developing an electromagnetic harness that would enable its wearer to fly like a bird. Unfortunately, his newfound fixation allowed his business partner, a man named Gregory Bestman, to secretly swindle Toomes out of his ownership stake of his company. Forced to retire and move to a farm on Staten Island, Toomes continued his work. Soon enough, he discovered that his harness had not only given him the ability to fly but superhuman strength as well. Focused on revenge against the corporate vulture that took everything away from him, he decorated his device to form a parallel costumed identity. Becoming the Vulture, he would use his powers to try and get back everything he had in one fell swoop. As such, the Vulture’s first order of business was to scour his former partner’s office for incriminating evidence. Unsuccessful, the Vulture quickly turned his attention to robbing and attempting to kill Bestman instead. Seemingly unstoppable, he was challenged by Spider-Man. Battling each other with equal physical strength, the Vulture used grenades and other homemade weapons to try and turn the tide. Defeated several times by the wisecracking web-slinger, the Vulture eventually took on the hero alongside five other supervillains as a longtime member of the Sinister Six. From all of Spider-Man’s foes, this old buzzard has remained unique for battling Spidey on equal footing, despite his advanced years. He has even developed the skill to build lesser versions of his harness from behind bars using crude materials. This has allowed him to escape from prison on several occasions by means of superhuman strength and the ability to float through the air. A thorn in Spiderman’s side for several decades, the Vulture continues to appear in countless comic and television adventures, and remains a promising potential villain for future Spider-Man films.