Vulture

The Vulture, born Adrian Toomes in Staten Island, New York, is an American villain in New York City known for his green bird costume and power of flight enabled by magnetism.

Biography

In mid-1963, Vulture began terrorizing New York with a series of robberies, evading the authorities by sailing through the skies. He was soon confronted by Spider-Man, and easily defeated him on account of Spider-Man being preoccupied with taking photographs of him. Spider-Man later returned however, and used an "anti-magnetic inverter" to disable Vulture's flight powers during his getaway from a diamond heist. Now grounded, Vulture was easily apprehended by police. Vulture was seemingly a model prisoner, and was assigned to work in the machine shop. Over the next several months, he secretly developed a crude version of his flying device, and late in the year used it to escape over the prison wall. He hid out in a farm on Staten Island, and developed a new version of his flying suit that regularly shifted magnetic poles, countering the effect of Spider-Man's inverter. Vulture confidently made his presence known in the skies of New York, where he was predictably confronted by Spider-Man. The hero's device of course failed, throwing off his gameplan entirely. Spider-Man fell to a rooftop below, spraining his arm. The following day, Vulture set his sights on the Daily Bugle and its payroll funds. He arrived in the office of chief editor J. Jonah Jameson through the window, but was challenged again by Spider-Man. The hero had put his arm into a small web sling, and spent the duration of their battle trying to hide his injury. The two fought through the building and out into the skies of New York once more. Vulture carried Spider-Man high into the air, threatening to drop him, but Spider-Man webbed up his wings, preventing him from staying aloft himself. As the two fell, Vulture begged for his life, and Spider-Man created a makeshift parachute to slow their descent. Spider-Man left Vulture to glide peacefully down to the ground, where he was arrested once again. After getting out several months later (it is unclear whether he escaped or was released), Vulture was brought into a team formed by Doctor Octopus called the Sinister Six, alongside Mysterio, Electro, the Sandman, and Kraven the Hunter. The Six consisted of some of Spider-Man's greatest foes, but were nonetheless unable to defeat him in a series of individual battles, and were incarcerated once more. Vulture was again out of prison soon after.