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Spider-Man Encyclopedia
- Spider-Man Villains
- Vulture
| The Vulture was created by Stan
Lee and Steve Ditko in The Amazing Spider-Man #2 (May 1963). In the
beginning the Vulture was an elder villain with wings he could us to
fly with. Adrian Toomes is a former electronics engineer.
The Vulture has been in every incarnation of the
Sinister Six, and appeared in the Sinister Twelve. He has a strong
friendship with fellow villain Electro; the two of them nearly beat
Spider-Man to death.
The Vulture once stumbled across a plot by the
Chameleon and the
Green Goblin to drive Spider-Man insane by having shape shifting
androids impersonate his late mother and father; due to Toomes'
interference, the androids were destroyed, leading the wall-crawler
to a brief nervous breakdown. |
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The Vulture absorbed the artificial
life force from the Mary Parker android, and the effect on the Vulture
was twofold; not only did he become a young man again, but he was
instantly cured of the cancer that had been slowly killing him for some
time. (The Vulture has since reverted to an old man once again.)
Toomes' identity as the Vulture has
been claimed by imposters on several occasions. Blackie Drago and
Professor Clifton Shallot are some of them. The Vulture technology was
later copied by a group of thugs called "The Vulturions"; Toomes
defeated these usurpers as well. Also, Toomes himself was not the first
comic villain to use the name. In the 1941 comic Doll Man Quarterly, a
robber named the Vulture used his pet vultures carrying bombs to commit
crimes.
During the 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.
After Spider-Man goes rogue, Toomes is seen in a S.H.I.E.L.D prison cell
speaking with agent Jamie Madrox, and commenting on Spider-Man's
inherent weakness, that being his unwillingness to use his powers for
personal gain. S.H.I.E.L.D. then returns his flying harness and
encourages him to hunt down Spider-Man, saying that he "is now an
outlaw, same as you."
Cartoon Appearances
The Vulture's first appearance outside the comics was in the
1960s Spider-Man animated series, where he appeared in two episodes.
The Vulture in this series seems to be based on the second Vulture
(Blackie Drago) rather than the original Adrian Toomes Vulture (for one
thing, the Vulture in this series wears a helmet like Drago did).
The Vulture later appeared in the
1981
Spider-Man animated series episode The Vulture Has Landed.
In the
animated Spider-Man series (1994-1998), Adrian Toomes (the Vulture)
was voiced by Eddie Albert. In his first three appearances in Ravages of
Time, Shriek of the Vulture and The Final Nightmare, he is an old
person. Later, he used the Vulture talons to suck youth out of people to
make him young (when young, he was voiced by Alan Johnson). In The Final
Nightmare, Vulture got Spider-Man's mutation disease. At the lab, Dr.
Connors tricked him to hold on to his disease, which causes him to lose
control of his youth. Then, Vulture keep changing from his young to old
self. In Partners, he gets control of his transformation. In the Six
Forgotten Warriors, part 1-5, Vulture became a member of the Insidious
Six, replacing Mysterio, who was originally a member but died in an
earlier episode.
In the
Spider-Man Unlimited animated series, a Counter-Earth version
of the Vulture appeared and voiced by Scott McNeil. Like the Counter
Earth Green Goblin, this version of the Vulture is a hero instead of a
villain and also like the Counter-Earth Goblin, he first mistaken
Spider-Man as a villain. It is explained the Vulture was a human who got
Beastial powers, hanging out with Beastials and disrespecting humans,
while he was also playing with one. When he caused his human friend
trouble, he hated the High Evolutionary for what he did and rebelled
against him.
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