The Hollywood Reporter has word that talks between Keaton and Sony ended up going nowhere, much to the disappointment on many a fanboy. After all, this is Michael Keaton, one of the greatest actors of his generation, and adding him to a Spidey outing in any form was going to be a winner for many genre fans. Sadly, it looks as if that is now a non-issue.

It was never known just which villain Keaton was being lined up for, but there has been plenty of speculation that The Vulture will be the ‘big bad’ of Homecoming. Regardless of which villain appears in the film, it most definitely won’t be somebody played by Michael Keaton, himself obviously a former Batman.

At present, Spider-Man: Homecoming is set for July 7th, 2017, although Tom Holland’s Wallcrawler will make his MCU debut when Captain America: Civil War hits UK cinemas next week.