Tom Holland’s First Major Spider-Man Villain Nearly Cast A Disney Legend

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Published Jul 13, 2026, 10:31 PM EDT

An avid comic book fan since she first read "Stan Lee's Soapbox," Allison Hambrick is your friendly neighborhood generalist writer. Journalism, editing, media production, copywriting—she does it all. From her very first blog post about Smallville as a primary schooler, Allison developed a passion for superheroes and the entertainment industry at large.

Majoring in writing and film at SCAD, Allison put her skills to work writing, editing, podcasting, and more. Currently, she moonlights as an editor at the ASHRAE Journal by day and Screen Rant by night. Allison also previously worked for Warner Bros. Entertainment and for Disney.

Through her writing, she hopes to inspire, to entertain, and to empower others to be the best versions of themselves, and her mission in life is to make Stan proud. In her free time, she enjoys reading, video game design, traveling, and spending time outside with her dogs, Loki and Elphaba. Allison is fluent in movie quotes, and her favorite film is Superman II.

Tom Holland's Spider-Man almost faced a very different foe in one of his most iconic films.

Since 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, Holland has played the titular web-slinger in the MCU. Other principal cast members in this iteration of the franchise are Robert Downey, Jr., Zendaya, Jacob Batalon, Marisa Tomei, and Jon Favreau. A key aspect of the Spider-Man film series, even before Holland's time, was memorable villains. The MCU maintained this tradition through a roster of talented actors including Michael Keaton as the Vulture, Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio, Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin, and Jamie Foxx as Electro, among others.

In an appearance on Josh Horowitz's Happy Sad Confused podcast, Lin-Manuel Miranda revealed that he almost joined this villainous Marvel pantheon. The Moana songwriter discussed being a big fan of Spider-Man, which led Horowitz to ask him about rumors he had turned down a Marvel role and prompted a humorous exchange:

Horowitz: You did say once that you turned down a Marvel role [in the] summer of 2016 when you were leaving Hamilton. I did my due diligence. I did some research.

Miranda: Can you guess it?

Horowitz: Yeah, I think I can guess. I'm going to guess it's Spider-Man Homecoming. They were shooting.

Miranda: Yep.

Horowitz: It was that and then partwise, is it like Martin Star's role?

Miranda: I would have been so miscast.

Horowitz: Is that the role?

Miranda: It's not Martin Star.

Horowitz: Is it Vulture? Is it the Michael Vulture?

"It was Vulture," Miranda confirmed. "Kevin Feige told me the entire plot over the phone, and I was like, 'Oh.' And then they get to the door, and it's her dad and I went, 'Oh!' On the phone again, [Feige said] 'You're the canary in the coal mine.' I was really the canary in the coal mine."

Miranda, most known for writing and starring in the hit musical Hamilton, then revealed why he turned down the part, and his reasoning had nothing to do with Spider-Man: Homecoming's story. "I said, 'When does it shoot?'" he explained. "And [Feige] goes, 'Basically, the moment you step off-stage in Hamilton.' And I went, 'Well, I would really like to... I love these movies, but I would really like to stay married.' So, I cannot do this."

Despite turning down a role in a major Marvel blockbuster, Miranda has no regrets, saying his casting as the Vulture "would have been terrible." He reiterated that "Keaton was perfect" and "they found exactly who they needed."

Per Miranda, he has no regrets about denying the role in order to spend more time with his family. While some might say he threw away his shot, Miranda is unbothered by not joining the MCU. As it stands, Keaton ultimately gave a great performance in Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the Hamilton scribe remains booked and busy, with a new musical feature, Octet, in the works.