A Key Way Spider-Man's New Villains Are Connected To Past Marvel Movies

Michael Keaton in Spider-Man: Homecoming

The following story contains MILD spoilers for Jon Watts' Spider-Man: Homecoming. If you really want to go in pure, hop over to one of our other stories.

We have reported, earlier on the site, that Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), aka The Vulture, has a bone to pick with Tony Stark after the billionaire playboy philanthropist creates Damage Control and cuts Toomes out of the salvaging and clean-up business, thereby costing the businessman a lucrative gig. What you might not have known is that Toomes and his crew -- as we will see in the opening scene of Spider-Man: Homecoming -- were cleaning up Chitauri alien tech after the Battle of Manhattan from the tail end of The Avengers, and they will end up using some of this stolen tech to create their villainous suits and weapons.

I learned this on the Atlanta set of Spider-Man: Homecoming, where co-producer Eric Hauserman Carroll walked us through the entire movie and told us that Toomes -- in an effort to get back at Tony Stark -- starts stealing Chitauri tech from Damage Control, then using it to build and enhance his Vulture suit. Carroll explains:

They use this wing suit to go on these little raids, to get to these sites that would normally be under Damage Control's purview and get this [alien] stuff first. Or, if they can't get there first, they intercept and rob Damage Control trucks in a stealth way, so that Damage Control doesn't realize they're being robbed. Of course, these are just trucks full of junk. [Toomes is] picking and choosing the cool stuff out of there. So before it even gets to Damage Control to be sorted, they don't know anything is missing. That's sort of his operation.

Not only is Toomes and his crew using Chitauri alien tech obtained after the Battle of Manhattan in The Avengers, we learned that the weapons utilized by The Shocker (Bokeem Woodbine) will come from yet ANOTHER previous Marvel Cinematic Universe chapter, as Eric Hauserman Carroll tells us:

One of the guys on his team goes by The Shocker, which Toomes make fun of him for. 'What is this, Pro-Wrestling?' I think this is another really cool interpretation of a pretty classic costume. He's got these insulated, yellow arms, like the Shocker in the comics. And that gauntlet, you'll recognize from the beginning of Civil War. It's what's Crossbones is using to kick the shit of Cap in that prologue. They scavenged it from the battle in Lagos, and made a couple of upgrades, so that it's not a pneumatic punch machine. It also delivers a pretty hefty jolt when it connects, as well.

There you have it. The Vulture and his crew, which will include The Shocker, are using equipment scavenged from previous Marvel battle in movies like The Avengers and Captain America: Civil War to fashion their own tools into weapons. We also see them using it to rob banks, and blow up... something. See one of those creations here:

Chitauri enhanced weapon

We'll know more about the devious motives of The Vulture and his crew when Jon Watts' Spider-Man: Homecoming opens in theaters on July 7. And for more from the set of Homecoming, click here. Meanwhile, to see the latest trailer, click on over to the next page.

Sean O'Connell
Managing Editor

Sean O’Connell is a journalist and CinemaBlend’s Managing Editor. Having been with the site since 2011, Sean interviewed myriad directors, actors and producers, and created ReelBlend, which he proudly cohosts with Jake Hamilton and Kevin McCarthy. And he's the author of RELEASE THE SNYDER CUT, the Spider-Man history book WITH GREAT POWER, and an upcoming book about Bruce Willis.