The first old enemy to demand a return bout with Spider-Man was a really old foe — the elderly felon who called himself the Vulture.
As metaphors of energy, action and freedom, superheroes and super-villains generally skew pretty young — and so, after all, did their original audience. That made artist Steve Ditko and writer/editor Stan Lee’s decision to spotlight a clearly aged villain interesting and visually arresting. Even his name — Adrian Toomes — subtly suggests someone approaching the grave.
The Vulture’s return in Amazing Spider-Man 7 (Dec. 1963) signaled that Spidey, like Batman and the Flash, would have a rotating rogue’s gallery.
Flight is a dream metaphor for freedom, a concept long dear to Ditko’s heart. So it isn’t surprising that he designed flying figures of a particular grace and visual appeal.
Superheroes’ archenemies are often their reversed mirror images, and that may explain part of the idea behind the Vulture — the teenaged animal-man hero versus the senior citizen animal-man villain.
Both hero and villain shared attitudes tinged by alienation, bitterness and isolation. But by his seventh issue, perpetually put-upon Peter Parker wasn’t quite so bitter. He even managed a humorous and happy ending with Betty Brant. Lee and Ditko were exploring the right balance between superhero action and soap operatic angst.
Had the Tobey Maguire movie series continued, John Malkovich would have been the first Vulture on screen, appearing in the fourth Spider-Man film. But two reboots later, the Vulture turned out to be Michael Keaton.
As in the comic book clashes between Spider-Man and the Vulture, 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming explored the theme of maturity versus youth.
The villains in these superhero films have been becoming progressively more relatable, building up to Keaton as the Vulture, a working-class antagonist who has what is finally a largely legitimate point of view. He’s right when he tells Peter Parker that, good lad though he is, there are certain sad facts about adult existence that he does not yet understand.
Joan Ormrod wrote: The definitive Vulture, looked as evil as he was. I don’t see the need for younger, more muscular vultures, they’re just like every other muscle bound villain. Let’s see more variety in meta human bodies.
ReplyDeleteJeff Mclachlan wrote: I’ve always had a theory that Ditko was inspired by the real-life Birdman of Alcatraz for the character.
ReplyDeleteCharles Hoffman wrote: The most prominent adult male in Peter Parker's life was J. Jonah Jameson, who continually tries to swindle him (as Parker) and destroy his reputation (as Spider-Man). Spidey gives vent to his frustration through the wisecracks he uses to mock and taunt his middle-aged villains.
ReplyDeleteEdward Lee Love wrote: It wasn't unusual for villaiins to skew middle-age or older. This was true in the pulps and serials that preceded the comics and wasn't unusual for the comics as well unless the villain was female. Think of some the great villains of the golden-age: Dr. Sivana, Dr. Hugo Strange, the original Red Skull, Adolf Hitler... It's a recurring theme for the villains of the day to be established men: factory owners, bankers, financiers. Or to be middle-aged men who had suffered financial losses and were trying recoup their wealth while keeping up appearances, or simply tired of a life of anonymity, subordination, or poverty. So, not too strange to see some of this lasting into the Silver-age, especially "don't trust anyone over 30" culture. Almost all of Spider-man's villains were close to middle-age or older: Dr. Octopus, the Green Goblin, the Big Man, Kingpin, J. Jonah Jameson. Sandman looks to be about the same age. Kraven appears to be at least 30. The Lizard is probably one of the few that conceivably could have been under 30. From the outset, he was established as a teen-age hero who chose to go by Spider-man and not Spider-lad, teenagers seeing themselves as adults. It may have been a deliberate or a subconscious theme then to set him against foes that were adults, many with quite a bit of life experiences compared to his youth. And often they were successful men in their own rights, while we saw the real life problems that plagued Peter Parker compared to the men he fought.
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