Malkovich In Talks As The Vulture For 'Spider-Man 4'?

You could do a lot worse than casting John Malkovich as your villain, but in the interest of fairness - Teddy KGB. Malkovich is one of those actors who is somehow better than the good material he's given and often worse than the bad material he's given. Probably has to do with getting or not getting the proper guidance for his character within the framework of the movie as a whole, and some directors can communicate that better than others. Then again, there's no reason he had to say yes to Johnny English, but whatever; I'm getting sidetracked. Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich is the latest name on the Spider-Man 4 rumor mill, according to Movieline, who has him slated to play The Vulture aka Adrian Toomes. He's not a villain on the same level as Green Goblin, but I will say it's good casting if it's true. Marvel describes Toomes as "a former electronics engineer who employs a special harness of his own design that allows him to fly and endows him with enhanced strength. Toomes is quite old, though spry, and is a virtually remorseless killer." Movieline goes on to say that Sony has trepidations about using The Lizard as a villain, so not this time. And that Anne Hathaway talk is gaining more heat; she is again listed as the top choice to play Felicia Hardy, but the character apparently won't become The Black Cat, which is asinine. To my knowledge, that's not even a Marvel character, but remember, Sony has been perfectly fine changing traits of Spidey villains before. However, this would be a rather bold an decidedly boneheaded move, in my opinion. If you want a Vulturess, create a Vulturess, but don't sacrifice another character (Black Cat) to do it. Once again in the interest of fairness, this is the first we've heard of such a switch, and it's not coming from Marvel or Sony or Sam Raimi, so take it with a grain of salt. I am, however, beginning to believe that Sony executives don't have a handle on what they want this franchise to accomplish any longer, other than continuing to pump out movies. If Malkovich is the villain here and then The Lizard might take over in part five, does that mean Mysterio is set for number six? What's the connection? Look at the Nolan Batman series, which is trying to tell one continuous story, picking villains that work within that version of Gotham City. Perhaps it's more to the point to look at the Schumacher Batman films, to point out how badly they were lacking in that structure, just throwing movie stars in as villains and hoping for the best.

Comments

[anybody]

The Vulture is a bit of a gamble unless they tinker with his powers a bit... do you include the fact that on occasion his suit can suck the youth out of his adversaries and if so how do you cast that role - young guy with old guy makeup, old guy with young guy makeup or two actors? If he just stays old but powerful from the suit then Malkovich is pretty great casting. Personally I like the Vulture from the spiderman noir comic (a kind of half-man half vulture cannibal who worked in the circus as a geek)... worth the read so check it out.