Tom Holland's first solo outing as the web-slinger in Spider-Man: Homecoming will see him face classic villain The Vulture, Marvel has confirmed.

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In his initial comic book incarnation, The Vulture is the alter ego of Adrian Toomes, an electronics engineer-turned-criminal of advanced years who gets the power of winged flight and superhuman strength from a special harness of his own invention.

Spider-Man comes off worse in his first clash with The Vulture, partly because he is simultaneously trying to shoot photographs so he can sell them to the Daily Bugle newspaper.

In the original comics, the Vulture's costume is rather simple, appearing light, flexible and feathery, but based on the new concept art released by Marvel, the movie supervillain's outfit is likely to make much more of the tech behind his powers with huge mechanical wings and deadly looking metal talons.

That's apparently confirmed by the brief glimpse of the suit reported by those who were lucky enough to see the trailer for the film at San Diego Comic-Con at the weekend.

There have also been suggestions that The Vulture will be joined by another classic villain, The Tinkerer, which would make sense given that The Tinkerer and his superhuman engineering skills are enlisted by The Vulture in the original stories. This could also fit with another rumour, namely that in Spider-Man: Homecoming the Vulture's flight suit is based on tech left behind by aliens the Chitauri after their battle with the Avengers in New York. After all, adapting such advanced equipment is not really a job for your average handyman.

Despite the high-tech gizmos however, it looks as if the other side of Homecoming will be a back-to-basics story of Peter Parker and his ordinary high school struggles, with many who saw the trailer comparing it to the '80s teen movies of John Hughes. The official synopsis reads "A young Peter Parker/Spider-Man (Tom Holland), who made his sensational debut in Marvel Studios' Captain: Civil War, begins to navigate his newfound identity as the web-slinging superhero in Spider-Man: Homecoming".

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All in all it looks as if this could be the perfect blend of super-powered bust-ups and down-to-earth teen drama that many Spider-Man fans have been hoping for...

Authors

Paul Jones, RadioTimes.com
Paul JonesExecutive Editor, RadioTimes.com
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