Adrian Toomes (Earth-61615)

During his childhood, Adrian Toomes' met a woman named Cheryl, who became his long-time crush during high school. They would develop a romantic relationship in college and get married after graduation. They had a daughter together named Valeria and they were very happy as a couple until Valeria went missing when a hurricane struck their hometown, leading to their depression and eventually to their divorce. A year later they managed to moved on and decided to remarry, until Cheryl died from an unknown illness.

As an adult, Adrian used his intelligence working at Oscorp to honor his wife and daughter's memory. As a researcher who refurbished old or dying scientific advances in fresh, innovative ways, he was nicknamed "the Vulture" by his colleagues and employers, but was later forced to leave his job to avoid getting arrested after he was framed for stealing supplies and ideas from other companies by a jealous colleague.

Starting over, he became an electrical engineer and an inventor on his own, which led him to co-found the small firm of Bestman and Toomes Electronics, with his long-time friend from college, Gregory Bestman, who became his business partner.

Becoming the Vulture

Toomes Earth-61615 4 — Vulture encounters Spider-Man for the first time

Toomes continued devoting the bulk of his time to his old pet project during his time at Oscorp, which was an electromagnetic harness that would enable its wearer to fly like a bird. The invention was eventually finished, thanks to the help of his friend and employee, Phineas Mason. However, their inattention to detail proved disastrous when it came to light that Bestman had been stealing Toomes' share of the company. He was eventually fired by his own partner so Bestman could fully own and control the whole company by himself.

Realizing the potential for revenge afforded by his groundbreaking invention and new-found strength, Toomes created the costumed identity of the infamous criminal, known by many as the Vulture. He ransacked Bestman's home and attacked him after confessing that he was dealing with A.I.M. for Toomes' shares and other inventions in exchange for BTE rising in fame and popularity. Bestman was critically injured, but survived when the Vulture spared his life. He threatened him not to make a deal with the company or any other organizations once again or he'll come back for him to kill him, or worse.

Encountering Spider-Man

Later, Bestman hired several A.I.M. agents to assassinate Toomes, but all of them were eventually killed by Toomes' henchmen. Because of this, Vulture came back for Bestman: raiding their company's building, blowing up a section of the building, and finally attempting to kill his partner once again, until the assassination attempt was interrupted by the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. They eventually fought from the building out into the city, and onto a cruise ship, almost destroying the whole ship until he was finally defeated by the hero. Their rivalry would continue and develop over time, making him one of Spidey's oldest and most formidable foes.

Prison Cellmate

During his time in prison, he eventually meet a fellow inmate named Raniero "Blackie" Drago, who was a former hired mercenary and was also arrested after Spider-Man caught and stopped him (from assassinating a famous politician). He told Adrian that he could tell him where his winged suit was secretly being kept, if he could get Blackie out of prison. Confused, Adrian questioned how Drago knew about the whereabouts of his suit. Blackie told him that A.I.M. had kept all of his inventions (including the winged suit) after he was defeated by Spider-Man. Adrian agreed to his plan and tried to get him out of prison. Their plan was successful until the prison siren was accidentally triggered by the other inmates. He and Blackie were running to the exit and were about to finally escape, until Blackie betrayed him by thanking him for the suit (which Blackie used later as the new Vulture) before knocking him out. He successfully escaped, while Adrian remained unconscious and was sent back to his cell.

From that point on, Adrian vowed revenge against Blackie once he gets out of prison. He later broke out of prison during the Chitauri Invasion, and began his criminal career anew with the help of his former employee, friend, and long-time partner Phineas Mason, now a renowned criminal who took the alias of the Tinkerer.

New Upgrade

Toomes Earth-61615 — The Vulture's New Upgraded Chitauri Suit

During his new beginning as a criminal, he and Phineas reinvented his winged suit, now made with Chitauri technology that was recovered after the Chitauri invasion during the battle of New York, making a new upgrade to his brand new suit. He began his new career by robbing several banks in New York City and infiltrating and destroying several buildings from different organizations such as A.I.M., the Roxxon Corporation, and even his old company, Bestman and Toomes Electronics, which led to its downfall and destruction. The aftermath lead to several injuries and deaths; and many survivors lost their jobs after these incidents.

He tried to infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. by breaking into the Triskelion but was interrupted once again by his long-time enemy, Spider-Man, alongside the Avengers. Once again, he was defeated, but he managed to escape the authorities and went into hiding for a while, preparing before he could finally strike again.

The Sinister Six

After keeping a low profile for a while, he was found and confronted by Norman Osborn, revealing himself to be the Green Goblin, and recruited to his team, a group consisting of seven villains that would want to hunt down and even kill Spider-Man more than anything in their lives. During his times as the Vulture, he would rejoin the team on-and-off several times, depending on his reasons, sometimes preferring to hunt down Spider-Man alone, but was convinced many times to join once again, frequently.

Ultimate War

During the Ultimate War, Toomes temporarily left the Sinister Seven (alongside Blackie Drago, and Herman Schultz) and opted to go his own way. Toomes' didn't want to work alongside the Sinister Seven if Drago was among their number, therefore Toomes just decided it was better for him to leave the team and join Hydra for a while, only returning to the Seven once Blackie left. Toomes did eventually rejoin the group after the war after finding out that Blackie was killed by Green Goblin for betraying the team, only to find out that Norman Osborn was presumably killed after trying to battle Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. during the war, and replacing Norman as their leader was none other than Doctor Octopus.

Break-In at the Baxter Building

At some point after the Secret Invasion, Adrian attempted to infiltrate the Baxter Building to steal advanced and classified technology, some formerly owned by Franklin Storm, and some formerly owned by the Skrulls. He had plans to upgrade his lethal new superweapon based on Chitauri-Skrull Tech, which is capable of releasing powerful shockwaves that could disintegrate organic matter, stripping away their flesh and organs, and though it worked, it was still a prototype and needed an upgrade. He hacked into the computer's mainframe, searching all information on the technology he needed, until he suddenly noticed that someone named Valeria Michelle Toomes was working in the building as a biochemist. After reading that Valeria was an orphan, it was revealed that his daughter was in fact alive after all. Adrian was surprised about the revelation, although he still remained focused on finishing his mission: stealing the supplies.

After stealing the supplies he needed, he swiftly tried to fly off the building but Ben Grimm, the Thing (who was currently in the building) managed to catch his feet before he could escape. He tried to use his new weapon on Ben, but instead of his flesh and organs being stripped away, it only threw him far into their room, accidentally smashing and destroying several objects, including furniture. Weakened, Vulture tried to fire his weapon again, but Ben immediately charged at him, throwing him into a room, not knowing that he accidentally threw him into an extra-dimensional portal, not before Adrian who finally saw his daughter, all grown-up and was at the building at the time. His whereabouts remained unknown for some time.

Lost in the Wastelands

Vulture Toomes Earth 61615 — Toomes with his new modified suit, which he used in the Wastelands

Adrian eventually woke up and found himself in another dimension in what seemed to be a desert-like land. He was attacked by a pack of strange canine-like creatures, but in the end he managed to quickly kill them all in a fit of rage, which caused his suit to be severely damaged. Stranded, he lied down thinking about his daughter and how proud he was that she's all grown-up. He accepted his fate of giving up, until a wake of vulture-like humanoid creatures arrived at the area and started scavenging the mutilated corpses. Instead of devouring him, the creatures seemed to have gained respect for Toomes, showing their gratitude and loyalty to him for saving them from the canine-like creatures and because of that, they saved him. They eventually flew him out of the desert into the area where the wake lived, a wasteland full of scrap metals and disposed wastes.

There he started to build his own empire and even fixed and upgraded his suit once again built with everything that he has scavenged in the wastes, from Chitauri scraps of metal to an alternate reality version of the Reality Stone. With the help of the sentient creatures, he ruled the Wastelands for a while and with the help of the Reality Stone, he managed to create a portal to travel into several dimensions and even created an group known as the "Wake of Vultures," an army consisting of the same winged creatures that helped him, now serving as his followers.

The Wake of Vultures

While trying to cope with living in this barren and deserted reality, Adrian gained more and more knowledge and skills, such as controlling the entire Wake properly without making mistakes. Several years later (in Wastelands time), Adrian discovered how to develop and use his newly-advanced technological inventions, such as his Reality Stone-powered gateway that transports him throughout space, time, and reality itself at any point of dimension and realm whatsoever. In exchange for his increased intellect, he seemingly started forgetting his other life in the real world, from his past, his infamous long-time foe, occasional allies, and even his own daughter. As a result of testing the newly-built portal, Adrian arrived back in the real world, inside Horizon Labs, only to realize that the point he arrived in wasn't in the present day, but in fact was in the past, years ago, even before the events of Ultimate War had changed the view of history since.

Not remembering where he was in time, Adrian decided to go back into the Wastelands to try and fix the device once again, only to drop a microchip from his new device, which was a minimized version of the portal, without noticing it. Coincidentally, another individual managed to step on Adrian's microchip by the time he activated it to return into the Wastelands, transporting the man into the deserted dimension as well, which made him just as confused as well. After this individual was revealed to be the other Vulture, Blackie Drago, Drago tried to kill Toomes after thinking that he might attack him for betraying him back at what happened in the prison. Toomes told him that he came in peace in his approach, and convinced him to join him in his army of winged creatures from this dimension that became Toomes' followers.

Drago was convinced after Toomes lied about helping him get back home to the real world, and helped him build a tyrannical empire for almost thirty years, in Wasteland time. Blackie became Toomes' right-hand man, helping him conquer every other part of the dimension, stealing resources and using them to build their superweapons. All that remained unchanged, until the modern timeline's Fantastic Four and Spider-Man finally arrived in the Wastelands to find Toomes and rescue him, after vanishing for almost three months (in real-world time), which was the equivalent of thirty years in the Wastelands.

Final Showdown

Vulture Drago Earth 61615 — A Time-Displaced Drago fights a Modern-Day Toomes

With all their best efforts after several fights, the five heroes managed to convince Toomes to come back home with them after mentioning his daughter, leaving Drago extremely disappointed and believing that Toomes had gone soft. Due to this, Blackie decided to lead a rebellion against Toomes and the heroes by using the nano-tech devices implanted on the winged creatures' necks, in order to obey Drago's commands. Blackie and the entire legion charged towards the six of them and fought for a long while.

Drago finally managed to defeat Toomes after trying to disable the devices using a new device (that he had recently invented) against him. Drago almost intentionally destroyed the device, but Spider-Man distracted him, causing Mister Fantastic to take control of the device and finally disable the brainwashing method on the entire wake. After the wake had realized they were mind-controlled by their co-leader, they decided to attack both their former commanders without being unwillingly commanded.

With their army consisting of a hundred thousand creatures, even Drago himself was helpless and defenseless, only managing to take out a quarter of the wake before he was almost killed. Even after trying to kill the six of them, they still helped him get back up and defeat the creatures while Reed and Sue tried to open the portal back to the real world after it malfunctioned. They immediately and thankfully opened the portal back up, and everyone went to Drago's timeline back at Horizon Labs. After a few conversations explaining everything about what just happened, and before Drago could react, Sue used a device to wipe his memories of the future to keep the timeline in check. The others left the past so Drago could continue with his timeline from then on, while the heroes and an unconscious Adrian managed to successfully return to the modern world.

Rehabilitation

Vulture Toomes during Rehab Earth-61615 — Toomes during his recovery and rehabilitation

Months after getting rescued from the Wastelands, Adrian finally returned to the normal reality, but he has not donned the Vulture persona since and seemed to have finally abandoned his villainy. Recently, he seemed to be having daily psychological treatment in his mansion to recover from his psychological PTSD after he was revealed to have been stranded in the Wastelands for the equivalent of more than 30 years. He also finally got to meet and talk to his daughter, Valeria, who takes care of him while he recovers from the shock. She also gave him a tamed vulture as a gift, which Adrian loved very much. Right now, Adrian is currently living a very happy, peaceful, and normal life in his mansion, reunited with his daughter.

Powers and Abilities

Powers

Flight: Toomes can fly with the use of his winged harness.
Temporary/Limited Levitation: It has recently been revealed that, due to his prolonged use of the harness, the Vulture can levitate or float his body even without the harness, however at a very slow speed.
Super-Strength: With the use of his magnetic technology, Toomes can provide himself with super-strength, being able to lift a water tank easily.

Power Grid ^[1]

5

3

3

5

3

2

Abilities

Genius Intelligence

Strength level

Class 10

Weaknesses

None known.

Paraphernalia

Equipment:

Vulture's Flight Exo-Suit (Chitauri Tech Upgrade)
- Electromagnetic Wing Harness
  - Wing Blades
- Electromagnetic Helmet
  - Neural Transmitter
- Electromagnetic Gauntlets
  - Razor-Sharp Blades
  - Lasers

Vulture's Flight Exo-Suit (Original Version) (formerly; stolen by Blackie Drago)

Transportation:

Flight

Weapons:

The suit's wings can fire barrages of razor-sharp artificial feathers at his targets. He can slash his opponents using claws on his gloves and spikes on his gauntlets.

Notes

No special notes.

↑ Modern Comics: Spider-Man Vol 1 18

Trivia

The Wake of Vultures version of Vulture's suit in this reality is actually been based off of another Marvel superhero, Darkhawk. Since the original Darkhawk appearing and existing in this reality seems unlikely to happen, the name was just used as one of Toomes' aliases as the Vulture.

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Links and References

None.

[1] Modern Comics: Spider-Man Vol 1 18

[1]