Vulture (Marvel)

The Vulture is a male comic supervillain who features in Marvel Comics.

Biography

Origin

The Vulture in Amazing Spider-Man v1 #2.

Adrian Toomes

When he was young, his parents were noted to had died and Adrian came to be raised by his older brother Marcus. At some point, a motorcycle accident was responsible for leaving Marcus a paraplegic where he was confined to a wheelchair as Adrian looked after him. In this time, the young Toomes was noted for his intelligence and on the path to receiving a scholarship. Though his brother came to resent his current condition and simply wanted to die as he found it more painful to live in such a state. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man v1 #15)

Adrian used his intelligence to become an electrical engineer and inventor. At some point, he met Greg Bestman where the two decided to become business partners. The two established an engineering firm together that was known as Bestman & Toomes Electronics. Toomes would serve as the genius inventor at propelling their new developments whilst Greg was responsible for their administrative affairs. Toomes devoted the bulk of his time to his pet project: an electromagnetic harness that would enable its wearer to fly like a bird. However, this inattention to detail proved disastrous when it came to light that Bestman had been stealing Toomes' share of the company. Physically confronting Bestman, Toomes discovered that exposure to his electromagnetic harness had granted him superhuman strength. Still, he was unable to intimidate his opponent, and Bestman assumed full control of the company in the wake of his partner's threats. Toomes found himself without legal recourse: On paper, at least, Bestman was the firm's sole proprietor. Already an old man, Toomes retired to a farm in Staten Island on his meager savings. There, he continued to develop his flying harness. Realizing the potential for revenge afforded by his groundbreaking invention and new-found strength, Toomes created the costumed identity of the Vulture. (Amazing Spider-Man #240) He was starting his costumed criminal career where he robbed a bank when he was found a time-displaced Cable. The Vulture came to fight the Mutant and left him buried alive in the collapsing building. (Wolverine/Cable: Guts and Glory v1 #1) Toomes later ransacked Bestman's office, and stole his money back where after having enjoyed the experience he decided to become a costumed criminal full time. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #241) In time, his reputation began to grow where people in the city came to hear rumours about the Vulture. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #2)

Spider-Man

In time, his reputation continued to grow as a result of his crimes leading to the Daily Bugle running stories on him. The Vulture looked to perform even greater heists so that he would become infamous in the city with this leading to a confrontation with Spider-Man. Their initial fight led to the Vulture easily defeating the Wall-Crawler whereupon the villain managed to steal some valuable diamonds. Whilst flying away, he was once again challenged by Spider-Man who fought the Vulture in the air and activated a device that caused the villain's wings to malfunction. He managed to make a controlled descent back to the ground but the wings were no longer functioning and he came to be easily arrested by the authorities. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #2) The Vulture managed to escape from prison and resumed his crime spree. He fought Spider-Man, who found that the magnetic inverter no longer worked against the Vulture's wings. Spider-Man took a serious fall, spraining his arm in the process. When the Vulture later attacked the Daily Bugle, Peter changed into Spider-Man and defeated his foe by pinning his wings with his webbing. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #7) After being defeated by Spider-Man for the second time, the Vulture became a founding member of the Sinister Six. He and five other members of Spider-Man's rogues gallery united under the leadership of Doctor Octopus. The inaugural incarnation of the Sinister Six also included the Sandman, Mysterio, Electro, and Kraven the Hunter. With each villain facing Spider-Man separately due to their shared sense of pride they came to be all defeated with Toomes being sent back to prison. (Amazing Spider-Man Annual v1 #1)

Back in prison, Toomes suffered an accident in the work shop and believed he was near death. In the prison infirmary he demanded to see his cellmate, Blackie Drago, and give him an important message. Drago had pestered Toomes for months, wanting to know where he kept his spare wings. Believing himself close to death, Adrian agreed to tell Blackie where they had been hidden on the condition that he kill Spider-Man. Immediately after being told that the wings were buried right outside the prison walls, a gloating Drago told Toomes that he had arranged the 'accident' in the workshop to make the old man talk. Drago soon escaped with the flying harness, leaving Toomes to seethe with rage over the betrayal. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #48) Drago was eventually defeated in a three way fight with Spider-Man and Kraven and sent back to prison. Meanwhile, Toomes had pulled through and become healthy enough to escape prison and become the Vulture again. His first crime was to break into the museum that held the wings that had been taken by Drago. He returned to prison and broke out Blackie, ordering him to put the wings on. After getting clear of the guards guns, Blackie demanded to know how Adrian was still alive. Toomes explained that he used the confusion in the prison caused by Drago's escape to escape himself. He had overpowered a guard and used his uniform to disguise himself. In the coming months, Adrian rebuilt his wings and planned his revenge. He challenged Drago to fight him in the skies over New York, to prove who was the real Vulture. During the fight, the two collided into a balcony and nearly knocked a young boy to his death. Spider-Man saved the day and after Toomes defeated Drago, he turned his attention to the web head. (Amazing Spider-Man b1 #63)

During one of his many periods of ill health, Toomes struck up a friendship with Nathan Lubensky, a man who had become the new love of May Parker's life. Nathan was unaware of Toomes' true identity and encouraged the injured criminal to take his chances with life and not to let handicaps drag him down. Toomes followed Nathan's advice and attempted to take over his rehab clinic as the Vulture. A battle with Spider-Man led to Toomes being partly responsible for Nathan's death. The Vulture would seemingly cherish Nathan's influence, but irony would serve him a cruel blow when he was hired by the Kingpin to assassinate a high-ranking casino runner. During another conflict with Spider-Man as part of Doctor Octopus's new Sinister Six, the Vulture sought to use a hostage as a shield, and selected May Parker from the crowd. Little did he suspect though that Nathan was also with May, and he defiantly leaped from his wheelchair and grabbed Toomes. Still not realizing who it was, Toomes flew high into the air with Nathan on his back warning the man to get off. Nathan took one look down and realized how high they were, triggering a fatal heart attack. Toomes fled as Nathan fell. Though he was successfully caught by Spider-Man, Nathan died in May's arms. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #336)

During the superhuman Civil War, he was apprehended along with the Grim Reaper and the Trapster by Captain America and his growing Resistance, who chained him together with Grim Reaper to a pole and broke his nose. He was found and taken into custody by S.H.I.E.L.D. (Civil War v1 #2)

Return

Toomes then purchased a nightclub on a rooftop known as the Wake which served as his secret base of operations. He then began recruiting teenagers and outfitted them with magnetic wings of his own design to be part of his flock. Each of these minions was named after an angel and were led by Angela Death with them being sent steal riches for him. Their abilities were powered by a constant signal from his equipment which forced them to be loyal but he offered them power in exchange with whatever money he deemed fit to give them. A number of these flock ended up disappointing him with the Vulture shutting down their wings in mid-flight cause them to fall to the ground and die. At the time, New York was recovering from the Spider-Island epidemic with the police attributing this to teenagers having lost their powers in the air. Thus, there was no suspicion to Toomes involvement and had Angela recruit new members for anyone of his flock that failed. This activity attracted the attention of Officer Carlie Cooper and Spider-Man with the pair tracking the actions to the Vulture's hide-out. At that time, one of his flock was swindling money from their crimes with Toomes shutting down his magnetic wings causing him to fall only for him to be saved by Spider-Man. The rest of the flock battled the hero with Cooper determining that the minions were kept afloat by a constant signal from the Vulture. This led to Spider-Man using magnetic webs to jam the signals thus grounding them all. The Vulture then entered into the fight but determined that he could not ambush his target due to his Spider-Sense so instead threw a water tower at Officer Cooper. When Spider-Man saved her, Toomes used this opportunity to escape capture. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #675)

Along with Boomerang and the Scorpion, Toomes was incarcerated and treated in the Raft's infirmary. Alistair Smythe's mini-Spider-Slayers heal and enhances them where Smythe gives them the offer to kill the new Spider-Man. (Superior Spider-Man v1 #11)

Overview

Personality and attributes

He had an older brother named Marcus who was responsible for raising him after their parents had died. It was said that he was like a parent to Adrian when he was growing up. After a motorcycle accident, Marcus was crippled and left a paraplegic where he was confined to a wheelchair with him wanting to die rather than continue to live in such a state. He came to claim that living in such a state was unnatural and that in the wild he would have been killed for being weak. Adrian tried to console him but Marcus saw his younger brother as being weak and urged him to show some backbone by being more of an animal. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man v1 #15)

One of his children was his daughter Valerie Toomes who was separated from after a bitter divorce from his wife who kept their child away from Adrian. In time, she assumed the identity of Valerie Jessup with Toomes longing to reunite with her and making up for the time he was separated from her. (Identity Disc v1 #5) It was known he had a son by the name of Frankie Toomes who married a woman named Lenora with the pair having a child together that was Adrian's granddaughter Tiana Toomes that he lovingly called 'Firecracker'. Frankie was noted to had abandoned his wife and child with this angering his father who felt responsible for them. This saw him supporting his daughter-in-law and grandchild with him helping them financially though with clean money rather than stolen funds. After Lenora died, Adrian looked after Tiana himself and was directly responsible for her. (Miles Morales: Spider-Man v1 #10). For his granddaughter Tiana, Toomes had built a flight harness leading to her become Starling. (Miles Morales: Spider-Man v1 #6)

Powers and abilities

Even when he was young, he was noted for his intelligence with his teachers looking to give him a scholarship for his further education. (Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man v1 #15) He would later come to be a an electric engineer and inventor. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #240)

It was noted that with his harness that he was capable of flying without making a sound. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #2) He used modified anti-gravitational technology allowing him to fly without any wings and even lift large objects with ease. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #675)

The powerful wings could also be used offensively where a blow from them could topple an opponent. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #2)

He later developed a modified version of his Electromagnetic Wing Harness dubbed the Falcon Suit, with a reinforced helmet and lightweight, razor-sharp, nano-woven wings, which responded to his mental commands. (Free Comic Book Day 2017 (Secret Empire) v1 #1)

In his adult years, he came to found an engineering company with Greg Bestman that was called Bestman & Toomes Electronics. (Amazing Spider-Man v1 #240)

Notes

• The Vulture was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko where he made his first appearance in the Amazing Spider-Man v1 #2 (May, 1963).

Alternate Versions

• In Spider-Man 2099 v1 #6 (1993), an alternate version of the Vulture appeared in the Marvel 2099 reality designated as Earth-928 in the Multiverse.
• In Ultimate Spider-Man v1 #125 (2008), an alternate version of the Vulture appeared in the Ultimate Marvel reality designated as Earth-1610 in the Multiverse.
• In Spider-Man Noir v1 #1 (2008), an alternate version of the Vulture appeared in the Marvel Noir reality designated as Earth-90214 in the Multiverse. Adrian Toomes, aka The Vulture, was a former carnival freak who performed eating chicken heads before gaining a taste for human flesh. He was a part of the Goblin's mob, and was responsible for killing Benjamin Parker, whom the Vulture cannibalized after Parker was beaten by Osborn's Enforcers. He was killed by the Spider-Man when he took May Parker hostage and attempted to kill her after being ordered by the Goblin to capture Peter Parker.
• In Spider-Verse v1 #1 (2014), an alternate version of the Vulture appeared in the reality designated as Earth-803 in the Multiverse. The Vulture was one of the members of the Green Goblin's Six Men of Sinestry who participated in the theft of documents that the mayor had hidden in his tuxedo. They accomplished their goal but the six villains were forced to retreat due to the opposition Lady Spider posed for them.
• In Spider-Gwen v1 #1 (2015), an alternate version of the Vulture appeared in the Spider-Gwen reality designated as Earth-65 in the Multiverse. The Vulture was an ex-Oscorp employee who fired after his life's work was overtaken and stolen by CEO Norman Osborn. In response, Vulture used mechanical wings to attack NYPD officers and get revenge on the world that mistreated him. He later desired to kill Spider-Woman in order to feel special. After the media linked the Vulture with Spider-Woman, the arachnid hero set out to find Toomes. Once she caught her attention, both fought. As the Vulture was flying away, Spider-Woman shot a web-line in order to be carried away with him and follow him. However, the Vulture used the claws in his suit to rip the web, causing Spider-Woman to fall from a great height. With Spider-Woman believed dead, the Vulture was captured by Kingpin's henchmen and beaten up by Matt Murdock. The Vulture admitted not being certain of Spider-Woman's death, due to the lack of a body, and he was ordered to find evidence of her survival.
• In Old Man Logan v2 #8 (2016), an alternate version of the Vulture appeared in the Wastelands reality of Old Man Logan designated as Earth-21923 in the Multiverse.
• In Web Warriors v1 #7 (2016), an alternate version of the Vulture appeared in the Spider-Punk reality designated as Earth-138 in the Multiverse. Adrian Toomes, the CEO of Bestman/Toomes, used the subsidiary Toomestone Records to buy Free Medianet in an attempt at shutting down Spider-Punk and his Spider-Slayers, who were giving a concert sponsored by Free Medianet. Vulture Record's interruption of the concert led to a fight between Toomes' security force and Spider-Punk's followers, the Spider Army. However, the conflict was interrupted by the arrival of Ducktor Doom 2099's forces through a rift in the fabric of reality

In other media

Television

• In Spider-Man, the Adrian Toomes Vulture appeared in multiple episodes in the 1990s animated series with the older version voiced by actor Eddie Albert whilst the younger version voiced by actor Alan Johnson. He was shown as a brilliant aerodynamic engineer who in his old age had created Toomes Aerodynamics which built planes and anti-gravity technology. As Toomes got older, he became more obsessed with finding a way to become young again. When Hammerhead stole the Tablet of Time, he sold it to Toomes who knew of it powers to reverse aging. Toomes studied the Tablet of Time and from the research he gathered he created a pair of gauntlets that could drain a person's youth and make himself much younger. Toomes also developed a set of metal wings that allowed him to fly. Norman Osborn learned of Toomes' research into anti-gravity, reverse aging, and his Toomes Foundation Neogenics grant and believed that Toomes was just wasting company money. Because of this, Norman Osborn was able to convince the Toomes Aerodynamics board of directors to allow him to buy the company and fold it into OsCorp. This infuriated Toomes and he swore to get revenge on Osborn. Toomes then put on a flight suit with artificial wings and flew out the window of his office into New York City.
• In The Spectacular Spider-Man, the Adrian Toomes Vulture appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Robert Englund.
• In Ultimate Spider-Man, a teenage version of the Adrian Toomes Vulture appeared in the animated television series where he was voiced by actor Tom Kenny.
• In Spider-Man, the Adrian Toomes Vulture appeared in the 2017 animated television series where he was voiced by actor Alastair Duncan. He was shown as being a former employee of Horizon High under Max Modell but was fired for being caught stealing equipment with Toomes stating that he was claiming his own technology and thus sought revenge. Toomes then created a flight suit with a sonic device as he began to pillage Horizon High and steal Vibranium for his own goal. During this time, he encountered the new vigilante Spider-Man where he was ultimately defeated and sent to prison. Whilst serving his sentence, he was freed by Norman Osborn who had Adrian released and allowed to join the ranks of the Osborn Academy as a lecturer. However, he wanted Toomes help to defeat their competitors Horizon High at the upcoming Stark Expo with Adrian revealing to Osborn the existence of V252.

Films

• In Spider-Man: Homecoming, Adrian Toomes as the Vulture appeared in the live-action film set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where he was portrayed by actor Michael Keaton. He was shown as being a salvager married to Doris with him having a daughter named Liz with Toomes leading crew in order to provide for his family. He operated in the time after the Chitauri invasion to remove the alien invaders technology but they were forced to remove themselves by the newly created Department of Damage Control. However, instead of returning the alien technology, Toomes kept it and had the inventor in his crew reverse-engineer it with human technology in order to operate as criminals. Toomes had an advanced flying exo-suit created allowing him to operate as the Vulture where they raided sites of advanced technology to steal it and use them to make weapons to sell on the black market. His operations attracted the attention of local superhero Spider-Man who began targeting the criminals.
• In Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, an alternate version of the Vulture appeared in the setting of the 2023 animated film where he was voiced by actor Jorma Taccone. Adriano Tumino was the Italian-speaking Vulture from a Renaissance Era reality with a parchment look. A dimensional incident transported him across realities to Earth-65, where he ended up in the New York City's Guggenheim Museum.

Video games

• In Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, the Adrian Toomes Vulture appeared in the video game where he was voiced by actor Kristoffer Tabori.
• In Marvel: Avengers Alliance, the Adrian Toomes Vulture appeared as a boss character in the setting of the Facebook video game.
• In Marvel: Contest of Champions, the Adrian Toomes Vulture based on the MCU version appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.
• In Marvel: Future Fight, the Adrian Toomes Vulture based on the MCU version appeared as a playable character in the mobile video game.

Appearances

• Amazing Spider-Man v1: (1963)
• Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man v1:
• Identity Disc v1:
• Amazing Spider-Man v4:
• Amazing Spider-Man v5:
• Amazing Spider-Man v6:
• Uncanny Spider-Man v1:

External Links

• Marvel Database Entry
• Wikipedia Entry

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