John Leguizamo Slams Marvel For Giving His Spider-Man Villain Role To Michael Keaton

Back in 2023, while promoting Violent Night, John Leguizamo revealed that he was originally in talks to play the Vulture in 2017’s Spider-Man: Homecoming.

“I was supposed to be the Vulture,” Leguizamo told Comicbook at the time. “We had negotiated and I was about to play him, and they said that Michael Keaton wanted it back and they asked me if I would give it up. I said, ‘Well, okay I guess.’ They said, ‘No, we’ll work with you again, we’re gonna…’ That’s what happened there.”

In a new interview with Business Insider, Leguizamo still feels a certain way about it and told the outlet: “I didn’t understand it. I think another actor would’ve sued because we had agreed on terms. We went through a huge negotiation period, and we had agreed on terms. I hadn’t signed a contract, but we had agreed. I think those are sueable terms.”

Leguizamo added: “And then the head of the studio called me up and said, ‘This is terrible. I feel horrible, and would you give it up?’ And I did. I felt like, if you didn’t want me, I don’t want to be there either, you know what I mean?”

It is unclear if Leguizamo is talking about Marvel studios head Kevin Feige who produced the film, or Sony Pictures studio chief Tom Rothman, who distributed the film.

The whole experience left Leguizamo feeling “dissed,” and he said: “My grandma was like, ‘If they don’t want you at a party, don’t go.’ So I was like, you don’t want me at the party. I don’t want to be there. I felt dissed and diminished, so I didn’t really want to be a part of it.”

Although the door closed for Leguizamo to join the MCU, he is still down to be a part of DC Studios saying, “I would if I was offered The Riddler or some part like that. I would go back to other franchises. I mean, if you make it up to me. But then they offered me some tiny scientist in the movie. I was like, ‘No thank you. Thank you, but no.’”

Spider-Man: Homecoming ended up grossing $880 million worldwide at the box office.