- Looking for another article with the name Vulture? Check out the Vulture disambiguation page.
Adrian Toomes a.k.a. Vulture is an elderly aerodynamics engineer and inventor that developed a suit that could fly and restore his youth. Toomes used this technology to become a criminal.
History[]
Early life[]
It was implied that in his youth Adrian Toomes was in the Air Force because Toomes himself mentioned that he used to be in dog fights.
Toomes later started a company called Toomes Aerodynamics which built planes and anti-gravity technology.
Later life[]
Becoming Vulture[]
Revenge[]
As Toomes got older, he became more obsessed with finding a way to become young again. When Hammerhead stole the Tablet of Time, he sold it to Toomes who knew of it powers to reverse aging. Toomes studied the Tablet of Time and from the research he gathered he created a pair of gauntlets that could drain a person's youth and make himself much younger. Toomes also developed a set of metal wings that allowed him to fly.
Norman Osborn learned of Toomes' research into anti-gravity, reverse aging, and his Toomes Foundation Neogenics grant and believed that Toomes was just wasting company money. Because of this, Norman Osborn was able to convince the Toomes Aerodynamics board of directors to allow him to buy the company and fold it into OsCorp. This infuriated Toomes and he swore to get revenge on Osborn. Toomes then put on a flight suit with artificial wings and flew out the window of his office into New York City.
Moments later, Toomes, now calling himself Vulture, flew into Central Park, grabbed a random teenager and drained his youth. However, Spider-Man was in the park at that moment. Spider-Man tackled Vulture and Vulture attempted to kill Spider-Man. However, Vulture began to revert back to his elderly self and flew away.
Vulture then returned to Toomes Aerodynamics as Norman Osborn was walking the grounds. Norman ran off and Vulture followed him. At that moment, Peter Parker was at the Toomes Foundation Neogenics grant ceremony and when his spider sense went off. Inside a building with biplanes hanging from the ceiling, Vulture flew into the air and dropped Norman to kill him. However, Norman Osborn was rescued by Spider-Man. Vulture once again attempted to kill Spider-Man but failed. Toomes then began to revert back to his old self and flew off. Spider-Man was unable to stop Vulture but was able to get a picture of his face. Later on, Peter ran the photo through a face recognition program and discovered that he was Adrian Toomes.
The next day, Vulture flew to an amphitheater and attempted to kidnap Harry Osborn as part of his revenge against Norman. However, Spider-Man once again intervened and saved Harry. Vulture then realized that he was about to revert back into an old man and flew away.
Knowing that Vulture was really Adrian Toomes, he was able to track him back to Toomes Aerodynamics. At Toomes Aerodynamics, Vulture found Flash Thompson and began to drain his youth. However, Spider-Man arrived and stopped him. As Vulture and Spider-Man fought Vulture pushed a button on his armor which activated a self-destruct to blow up Toomes Aerodynamics.
However, Spider-Man was able to get out of Toomes Aerodynamics with Debra Whitman and Flash Thompson. Vulture then surprised Spider-Man and drained his youth. After doing this, Vulture also learned that he also absorbed Spider-Man's strength making himself younger. Vulture intended to hold Spider-Man captive and take his youth over and over again. However, Spider-Man was able to escape.
A short while later, Vulture discovered that Norman Osborn was in his helicopter flying above the city. Vulture then attacked the helicopter and caused it to crash. Osborn jumped from the helicopter and opened his parachute, but Vulture flew by and grabbed him. As Vulture landed on the ground, he revealed to Norman that he was Adrian Toomes and that he wanted revenge on him for stealing his company. Osborn was shocked to see that the formerly elderly Adrian Toomes was now a young man. As Vulture was about to kill Norman, he began to feel strange. At that moment, Vulture transformed into a giant spider creature.
Quest for a Cure[]
The next day, Vulture went to see Curt Connors and he demanded that he help him. Vulture then began to transform back and forth between a human and a spider creature. Connors then revealed that Vulture absorbed Spider-Man's mutation disease and that was causing him to transform. Vulture believed that he had killed Spider-Man and realized that because of that he might not be able to get rid of the disease. However, Connors told Vulture that Spider-Man came to see him just moments before he arrived. At that moment, Scorpion burst into the lab with Farley Stillwell and demanded that Stillwell cure him. Vulture and Scorpion fought. However, Vulture made a deal with Scorpion that if he captured Spider-Man he would give him access to his Neogenics research to help him find a cure.
Sometime later, the now elderly Spider-Man arrived at the laboratory and was captured by Vulture and Scorpion. Vulture then had Connors reconfigure his gauntlets to return the mutation disease to Spider-Man. However, Connors double-crossed Vulture. Instead of returning the mutation disease to Spider-Man, Spider-Man got his youth and spider powers back while Vulture reverted to his elderly self and then mutated into a Man-Spider. Vulture then flew away and decided to hide from the world.
Dealings With Scorpion[]
A short time later, it seemed that he somehow cured himself of the disease. Possibly with the use of the Tablet of Time. However the use of the tablet and his gauntlets took its toll on his body.
Therefore, he began to randomly switch back and forth from being elderly to becoming young again. The Scorpion had recently saved his life after Toomes Aerodynamics exploded. However, with the ulterior motive to find a way to turn him back into a normal human being again. Vulture was held prisoner in Scorpion's apartment, chained with his hands in the air to the wall.
He suggested to the Scorpion to steal the money needed, to build the new lab that would be required. Against the better advice from the Scorpion's fiancée, Sarah Baker, he agreed with him. However, Scorpion was later captured by Alistair Smythe who was working for Silvermane. Smythe wanted to use Scorpion's neogenic DNA to turn him back into an adult. Soon Sarah released Vulture from his shackles and implored him to rescue her fiancé. Vulture heard Sarah say they were going to "neogenic him". He said that hearing the word neogenic made him feel young again and he transformed into his young self once more.
Holding Sarah in his arms and listening to her directions, he soon found the Scorpion being held captive within a glass bubble at the Big Baby Diaper Warehouse. Here a procedure arranged by Alisa Silvermane and set up by Alistair Smythe was commencing. The procedure involved a "volunteer" (intended by Smythe to be either him or the Scorpion, but finally decided by toddler Silvemane to Spider-Man) to transfer their bodies psychical age to revert her father back to being an adult again.
He intercepted the procedure just as it had begun. Therefore, Smythe tried to shoot him with a laser gun. He deflected the beams with his metallic wing. In the process he released Spider-Man from his shackles. Realizing it was his own technology and what it was going to do, he gladly took Spider-Man's place. He relaxed and reverted back to his old self and went into the machine and restarted the procedure. The toddler Silvermane panicked seeing him go into the machine. Then in just a matter of moments he successfully transferred his old age to Silvermane. He had finally become young again (without a limited period of time again). He felt rejoiced having finally gotten the new lease of life that he had been in pursuit of for so long.
Equipment and Powers[]
Equipment[]
Vulture's flight harness allows Vulture to fly up to 95 miles per hour. The wings on the flight harness are razor sharp. The wings are so sharp that they can cut through trees.
Vulture also wears gloves that allow him to absorb a person's youth and make himself younger. However, Vulture can only retain a person's youth for a short amount of time.
Vulture also uses a laser gun.
Powers[]
Though Vulture never used any powers, it could be assumed that when he absorbed Spider-Man's mutation disease, he also gained spider like powers such as wall crawling, super strength, agility, spider sense, could shoot webbing, and could spit acid.
In the comics[]
Adrian Toomes was an electronics engineer and was business partners with a man named Gregory Bestman. Bestman handled the finances whilst Toomes handled the inventions. One day, after creating a flight harness, Toomes eagerly rushed into Bestman's office to share the happy news. However, Bestman was not there, and Toomes discovered that Bestman had secretly been embezzling funds and that Toomes had no legal recourse, meaning he lost his job. Enraged, Toomes wrecked the business discovering that the harness also granted him superhuman strength. Toomes then turned to a life of crime as the Vulture.
Vulture was on a burglary spree when he first encountered Spider-Man.
Vulture is one of the founding members of the Sinister Six.
- In Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Gregory Bestman was replaced by Norman Osborn.