Spider-Man: Homecoming - 6 Things You Need To Know About The Vulture

This summer, Spider-Man comes home. Despite Marvel's promise to make something befitting the character's comic book legacy and drawn heavily from the comics, the film looks completely different to what we've seen before on the big screen.

He's a school-kid, for a start (and he's staying one), he doesn't appear to be a very good hero yet and there's absolutely no sign of the Osborns. In their place, we're finally getting the big screen debut of an even older Spidey adversary - The Vulture.

Played by Michael Keaton, who knows a thing or two about comic book movie performances, The Vulture has suddenly leapt into mainstream consciousness - where he always deserved to be.

But then, Spidey fans already know his importance: The Vulture, after all, has one of the longest and most prolific histories in Marvel Comics. That will happen when you've got 50 years behind you.

And as he finally makes his big screen appearance, there are some refresher facts it's important to remember about him...

The Vulture originated 54 years ago in May 1963. Co-created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, he first menaced Spider-Man in Amazing Spider-Man #2. The only costumed villain to predate The Vulture is Chameleon in Amazing Spider-Man #1. Coming into the Spider-Man comics so early cemented The Vulture into Spider-Man lore and supposedly due to positive fan reaction, he would return just a few months later in Amazing Spider-Man #7.

In the long history of fictional Marvel science, The Vulture is able to fly and has enhanced strength due to an electromagnetic field he engineered. This field is generated by a pack within his suit. Unlike the mechanized film version of the character, in the comics his method of flight is not visible.

The Vulture is also the first villain that Spider-Man photographed before selling the pictures to J. Jonah Jameson. With those first photos, he was able to pay his aunt's rent for a year.