‘Spider-Man: Homecoming’: Villains We Want To See In This New Spidey Series

Spider-Man: Homecoming is swinging into theaters next summer and recent casting announcements are really beginning to heat things up. Michael Keaton has signed on to join the film, reportedly as the main villain — yet his character has not been revealed. There are many suggesting that Keaton will be playing Adrian Toomes/Vulture, who — while being one of Spider-Man’s earliest villains — is a bit of a boring bad guy.

The Vulture is essentially an elderly man with a harness who can fly, spit acid, fire projectiles, and has bird-like talons on his hands and feet. After five Spider-Man films, this doesn’t really sound like a villain that can allow for incredible action sequences. But then again, Keaton could be playing Norman Osborn, who is a much more interesting villain and is really the biggest source of Peter Parker’s problems, in all honesty.

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that actor Logan Marshall-Green is in talks to join Spider-Man: Homecoming, reportedly as a secondary villain. And if you get a good look at the guy, one villain stands out as a strong possibility: Kraven the Hunter. But this is only based on what Logan looks like, no other information floating around out there would indicate that Kraven is indeed in the story. Fans have certainly voiced their approval to see this character finally introduced.

Below is a short list of some Spider-Man villains that would really be fantastic to see popping up in either Spider-Man: Homecoming, or one of the sequels to follow.

Norman Osborn

We’ve seen Norman before, yes, in Sam Raimi’s trilogy, and in Marc Webb’s The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Both were different interpretations of the character. However we have yet to see the Marvel Cinematic Universe Norman Osborn, and that completely changes everything. Knowing that Marvel Studios could have access to such a powerful and intelligent villain is ridiculously exciting, anticipating the kinds of stories that could be told with Norman pulling the strings in the background. This doesn’t mean he has to appear as Green Goblin in the first film, either. Also, Michael Keaton could pass for Norman Osborn, if he isn’t playing Vulture. I for one would be perfectly fine with that casting decision. And as stated earlier, Norman is Spider-Man’s greatest foe and has caused that poor boy more heartache and tragedy than probably any other villain in Spider-Man comics.

Kraven the Hunter

Kraven is a fan favorite. As a villain, he has some pretty unique motivations that we have really yet to see in a superhero film. He was first introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 in 1964, and was looking to hunt down the Spider-Man and take him out for sport.

Mysterio

Mysterio/Quentin Beck, introduced in The Amazing Spider-Man #13, is another fan favorite villain, who fans have been waiting years to see in the movies. When talking about a villain who could allow for visually striking action sequences, Mysterio’s name has to be thrown in that list. With Beck’s bag of special effects, illusions and pyrotechnics, thanks to his career as a special effects artist and stuntman, seeing Spidey go up against him would be so much fun to witness on screen.

The Chameleon

The Chameleon/Dmitri Anatoly Nikolayevich is simply a master of disguise, but seeing as he is literally the first villain Spider-Man faced in the comics, it may be nice to see him in the movies for that reason if nothing else.

Scorpion

Mac Gargan first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #19 in 1965, and was introduced as the Scorpion in issue #20. He was a P.I. hired by J. Jonah Jameson in order to figure out how Peter was getting those photos of Spider-Man. Mac is just a simple thug who found himself being a test subject of an experiment that would give him certain characteristics of a particular animal — in this case, a scorpion. If not a main villain, he could certainly work as a secondary villain.

Doctor Octopus

Definitely one of Spider-Man’s best-known villains, Doc Ock was played by Alfred Molina in 2004’s Spider-Man 2. But I say enough time has passed to see the character brought back to the big screen. Incidentally, Doctor Octopus mechanical arms allowed him to have some pretty amazing fight choreography in Raimi’s second Spider-Man film. Over a decade later with better technology and the oversight of Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige, this is definitely a villain I wouldn’t mind them revisiting.

Spider-Man: Homecoming, directed by Jon Watts, opens in theaters on July 7, 2017. It stars Tom Holland, Robert Downey, Jr., Marisa Tomei, and Michael Keaton.

[Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaCon]