Michael Keaton Should Absolutely Be Spider-Man: Homecoming's New Big Bad

Spider-Man just keeps getting recast, but we rotate consistently through a rogue’s gallery of potential Big Bads that make this reboot nightmare worth enduring — unless they fail to launch a Sinister Six spin-off cough. Spider-Man: Homecoming is headed to theaters and it needs a strong ANTagonist to make sure this version of Spidey sticks around. Michael Keaton would be a great bad guy because he’s great in everything. Is he headed into the MCU with this role? We hope.

According to Variety, Keaton’s only in early talks, and details of who he might play are naturally somewhere near the level of a state secret. But according to Birth. Movies. Death., rumor has it that Spidey rogues’ gallery staple Vulture is part of the movie, and you can certainly picture Keaton in the role. God, another bird-man for Keaton? What a flight of fancy.

I promise we’re done.

MCU has been a mixed bag of great villains when handed great actors. Loki kept three whole films afloat but the brilliant Christopher Eccleston also got turned into a mute gnome with bad magic, so let’s hope that scoring Keaton means they’ll play to his strengths instead of CGI nightmaring him to death.

We know Keaton has the action-movie chops to strap on a bird-suit and just the right mix of dramatic prowess and comedic gusto — to make him a perfect fit for the MCU and the perfect foil for Spidey’s wisecracks, so there really aren’t any downsides here.

Now that I’ve thought about it for five minutes, I know that I need it. Do the right thing, Marvel. Make this happen.