John Leguizamo Says Studio Asked Him to 'Give Up' Spider-Man: Homecoming Role for Michael Keaton

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John Leguizamo says he narrowly missed out on playing a Marvel villain.

While speaking with ComicBook.com this week, Leguizamo, 62, said he was "supposed to play the Vulture" in 2017's Spider-Man: Homecoming, which was Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures' first Spider-Man film starring Tom Holland as the iconic web-slinger.

The villain role in that movie wound up going to Michael Keaton. Leguizamo said he was asked to step aside in order for Keaton, 71, to take the part.

"We had negotiated and I was about to play him and then they said that Michael Keaton wanted it back," the Violent Night actor said. "They asked me if I would give it up and I said, 'Well, okay, I guess,' and they said, 'No, we'll work with you again…' so that's what happened there."

Asked whether Marvel circled back with another part for him, Leguizamo said he declined a separate role he described as "something tiny."

"They offered me something tiny, I'm going 'nuh uh,' " he added, noting he had never spoken about the "behind-the-scenes" negotiations publicly before.

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Chuck Zlotnick/Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

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Reps for Marvel, Sony and Keaton did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment Friday.

Keaton entered early negotiations to play Adrien Toomes, aka the Vulture, in the movie in April 2016 and closed his deal to costar in the film later that spring after a brief period of uncertainty over whether he would wind up in the movie, Deadline reported at the time. Keaton went on to reprise the role in a post-credits sequence in the 2022 Sony movie Morbius.

Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

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Leguizamo was not the only actor angling to play the Vulture if Keaton had not taken the role. In 2016, Mark Hamill told Rotten Tomatoes that he "had his fingers crossed" Keaton would turn the villain part down, saying he "had his eyes" on the role at the time.

Though Keaton got the part, the Batman alum, who also appears in the upcoming The Flash movie, told Variety in August he has never finished watching a single superhero movie to date.

"I know people don't believe this, that I've never seen an entire version of any of those movies — any Marvel movie, any other," he said. "And I don't say that I don't watch that because I'm highbrow, trust me! It's not that."

Keaton added, "It's just that there's very little things I watch. I start watching something and think it is great and I watch three episodes, but I have other s--- to do!"