There’s been quite a few rumours recently surrounding the identity of the major villain in the first solo Spider-Man MCU film, Spider-Man: Homecoming, with legendary actor Michael Keaton attached to the project for a while. We first heard of Keaton’s involvement a month or so ago, before word was received that the actor wouldn’t be joining the project, however some new information about the film’s plot may hint otherwise.

According to a thread on Reddit, which obviously contains massive spoilers if the information turns out to be accurate, the film’s main antagonist will be none other than The Vulture, a classic Spider-Man adversary and the exact character who Keaton was rumoured to be portraying when his name was first attached to the project.

It’s interesting, of course, that Keaton would be playing this particular character after his performance in Birdman, where he played a very similar character in terms of appearance, albeit not in any form of similar context! The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that Keaton is back in negotiations – and final ones at that – to play the character, “after initial conversations stalled out”. Apparently, Sony and Marvel have tried to find other names to play the character, but kept coming back to Keaton and they’re now chatting to him all over again in an attempt to lock him down for the film.

If Keaton did end up playing The Vulture, it would be a great coup for the production, which has already been confirmed to star Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, after audiences saw a burgeoning relationship between Stark and new Peter Parker, Tom Holland, in this year’s Captain America: Civil War. This relationship was arguably one of the most fun and interesting – as well as unexpected – facets of the film (which we reviewed a few weeks ago), so it’s great to know that this will hopefully be continuing when the film drops next year.

In any case, I think just the addition of The Vulture as the main villain for Spider-Man: Homecoming is a great idea, as he’s a character who hasn’t ever been explored in any detail in the previous Spider-Man films. That said, if you remember, his presence in the Sony-led Spider-Man universe was hinted at very briefly in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and he would have been one of the main characters in the Sinister Six film, if production on it had continued.

Spider-Man: Homecoming is currently on track for a 28 July 2017 UK release and is confirmed to star Tom Holland, Robert Downey Jr., Marisa Tomei, Zendaya and Tony Revolori.